Jack Reacher (2012)

I'm not familiar with the Lee Childs' novels on the Jack Reacher character but I do remember the media hoopla over the rather diminutive Tom Cruise being cast as a plus 6' male. The other just-as-important matter for consideration is whether he can carry off such a tough-as-nails persona. I know you could argue that Ethan in the Mission Impossible franchise is similarly indestructible but I don't think even that characterisation calls for the sheer cussedness of Reacher here and in the end I think he falls short (no pun intended).The film starts off with an intriguing set-up as a lone assassin, in a scenario too sadly familiar from real life, ruthlessly guns down five apparently random people. However a series of perhaps too obvious clues leads to an ex-military marksman being arrested for the crime who breaks his silence only to reach out (sorry!) for Reacher to come to his aid.From there though it goes down a rather predictable set of paths which I personally doubt would be as written in the novel, like the way Reacher takes down five toughs sent to scare him off the scent in the now familiar ninja-style from any number of Marvel / DC movies or even TV series or the inevitable car chase through the night streets of Pittsburgh. I had also guessed the killer's M.O. too although there's a satisfaction of course in so doing.I also felt that the conclusion in the driving rain as Reacher, with the unlikely help of mean and ornery target range owner Robert Duvall faces off against the Mr Big, his right-hand man and assorted henchmen, as you'd expect taking them down one by one until there were none as the saying goes. Personally I felt a little awkward seeing Duvall's trigger-happy character being lionised as he was, in this day and age.In the final analysis I felt I'd have probably preferred to read the source novel more than watch this Hollywood blown-up version. I was entertained but too many of the situations and characterisations seemed hackneyed, repetitive and derivative for me to really savour what I had hoped would be a grittier detective drama and not just the outsized actioner it proved to be in the end.

I watched this with my husband last night. It started off well and got cheesy fast. I think the dramatic entry of the cops did it for me, with the camera landing on the black cop who stood there and posed for his entrance shot with gun drawn and his best intense look. Then the female lead - I kept asking my husband, why is she loud whispering all of her lines? After about 1/3 of the movie, hubby hung in there like a trooper, enduring the badness while I jumped on IMDB and started reading reviews. I kept laughing out loud and hubby paused the movie while I read him some of the funnier comments. We were waiting in anticipation for the "drink blood from your boots line" since I had already read about it. It did not disapoint. It was as bad as we hoped it would be. We also re-watched the botched "attack" in the bathroom scene several times while cracking up at the slapstick comedy. How did Jack Reacher walk away after being bashed in the back of his head with a baseball bat? He sat in the tub looking up as if he had just had lunch! But I got two things out of it. One, a fun movie night with my husband and two, I'm going to go out and get some Jack Reacher books right away. I look forward to meeting the REAL Jack Reacher.

The storyline has nothing of interest and the people act boringly. Even the villain is boring. Don't get me started on Tom's character. He plays Tom Cruise, which is boring, not a Jack Reacher. Maybe they are equally boring? A total waste of time. Make sure you make out at least if you're forced to a chance on this one.

Tom Cruise just believes he was made for action roles such as Jack Reacher. After all, it seems those are pretty much all the roles I have seen him in during the last few years. (Not being a Tom Cruise fanatic maybe I missed some of his more dramatic roles?)With military snipers all the rage, it's not surprising the movie revolves around the killing of several people by a sniper in a US city. In comes a beautiful lawyer who just happens to be the District Attorney's daughter to defend the accused; then throw in uber detective macho man drifter, gun fighter, ex-soldier (and martial artist too!) Jack Reacher and we have the makings of an action movie. Gripping at times, predictable at others but eminently watchable as action movies go. But only if you enjoy action movies with a little bit of gratuitous violence ... because if you're searching for a Sundance Film Festival movie then Jack Reacher is not the one!