Jack Reacher

ATTN:  MOVIE SPOILERS INCLUDED

Jack Reacher

December 2012

3 out of 5 bags of popcorn for the overall movie

3 out of 5 boxes of milk duds for my own personal entertainment

My Suggestion:  DVD

The Gist:  This film is an adaptation from the novel “One Shot” by Lee Child.  After 5 random people are shot the police arrest an ex-military sniper who claims his innocence and asks them to call in “Jack Reacher”.   Jack Reacher is an ex-army policeman who sees a report on the news about the shooting and makes his way to investigate the case for himself.  He teams up with the defense attorney to find out the details of the shooting and prove the accused guilt or innocence. 

My take:

I have not read any of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels, but I am told that in the books Jack Reacher is 6’5” tall with blonde hair.  The casting director for the film must have known this and decided to look for the exact opposite when he/she cast Cruise.  If I had been an avid fan of the books I think this would have bothered me.  I am not sure what age Reacher portrays in the books, but Tom Cruise is a DAMN fine looking 50 year old so they can slide on that one. 

I was so excited for this movie, and had such GREAT hopes after watching the previews.  Maybe I built it up in my mind to be another Mission Impossible/Bourne type movie and it didn’t follow through in those respects.  I wanted to really know who Jack Reacher is and this film didn’t clear things up for me at all.  If anything it just confused me.  One of the tag lines for the movies is “the law has limits, he does not”.  I wanted that kind of grit and hard core element to the movie that just wasn’t there.  Reacher’s character was definitely a tough guy, and highly intelligent, along with being good looking, but let’s face it, every action movie hero has those things in today’s films.  He was very Ethan Hunt to me, which is a good thing and a bad thing.  See, I was just confused.  Cruise’s acting was good, he plays this type of character well (he should after playing it for so many years in the Mission Impossible franchise).  I wanted more and didn’t get it.

There are some things I did like about the movie.  The entire first ½ hour of the film is non-stop and thrilling to watch.  It kept me guessing which I really enjoyed.  I also liked how the story played out and the conclusion of the film.  Adding Robert Duvall as a shooting range owner and part vigilante was brilliant.  He was my favorite character in the movie.  I loved the scene where the police decide they need to find Jack Reacher and he walks up and introduces himself to them.  One of the great moments in the film for sure.

It can be difficult to adapt a novel of a beloved character into a film.  In books you have 300 plus pages to explain in depth the different characters and plot points.  I think they were reaching (no pun intended) with this film and it lacked that extra push to get the audience to truly love Jack Reacher.  If you like a good action flick that will keep you guessing but not get you too involved with the characters then this film is for you!