Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher (2012)
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 60%

Jack Reacher is based on the novel, One Shot (2005), by Lee Child. I have not read the book so I am not sure if it remains faithful to the source text but I do know that it is actually a pretty solid movie. Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is a drifter that used to serve in the Army as a Military Police Investigator and was quite good at what he did. Reacher is said to have keen observational skills and is highly trained in hand to hand combat. According to his Wikipedia page, Jack Reacher is 6 ft 5 inches tall (which is funny that he is being played by a notoriously short (5 ft 7 inches) actor but I digress.
The film starts with a man driving a van into a parking garage, unpacking, assembling, and loading a sniper rifle, and then systematically firing at seemingly random people across the river from his location. This scene is very well done. It is unnerving how long it takes for him to begin firing. The scene is done in a first person point of view. The audience is looking through the scope at the people enjoying their day on an average day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When the shooter fires his first round you see the people react through the scope. It then follows each victim as he takes them down. It really is an interesting way to do the scene. The suspected shooter, James Barr (Joseph Sikora) is taken into custody but is put into a coma after he is mercilessly beat when he is put into prison. Reacher sees Barr's name on the news and immediately begins to head to Pittsburgh. It is revealed that Barr has gotten into trouble while in the Army and Reacher promised him if he ever did anything again then he would personally put Barr in the ground. Reacher wanted to make sure he was good on his promise.

This film was a lot of fun to watch. Despite some questionable moments (if you see a man that is obviously fleeing the cops are you really going to help him escape by hiding him in a group of people at a bus stop?) Jack Reacher delivers an exceptional story. It is one of the best thrillers I have seen in a while and definitely one of the best that Cruise has done recently. Also, Werner Herzog is probably the most gruesome villan I have ever seen. He rivals the best Bond villans!

No BS

Jack Reacher is a great film but the story can get out of hand if you are not keeping things straight in your head. The pacing is a little sluggish at times but if you get captivated by the plot and all the moving parts then you are not likely to notice long enough to check the time. I don't believe there is a lot of language (if you read Jack Reacher's bio on his wiki page you'll see that he rarely swears), there is not much bloody violence but the opening scene can be hard to watch. If you like thrillers or Tom Cruise or you just like good movies then don't miss this one.

My Score: 7.5/10