Jack Reacher yes,no, maybe so

[Aragorn]

Pingfah wrote:

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I don't care if the film is like the books or not, it's unimportant. I only care if they make a good movie.

The Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum don't follow the books at all, and no one on message boards ever complain.

Even if you don't like Cruise as Reacher, he's not gonna play the part for 17 movies. If it's successful, there will be more movies and more actors in the role.

If it's not successful, several years down the road Rob Cohen might make a Reacher movie with Tyler Perry.

[Davros]

I'll wait till it's on cable or something similar.

[the G-man]

I never heard of the books until the movie was announced. It looks like an entertaining action flick. I might go.

[Rhaven]

While Cruise can act, I just don't see him as Reacher.
I'll wait for the movie to go to DVD and even then, meh.

[ElimParra]

Not really. Seen the previews. Maybe wait for DVD, but won't be rushing out to see it.

[Trekker4747]

Jack Reacher

My Grade: B+

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For what it is worth I am not familiar with the source material for this character/movie nor am I fan of Tom Cruise, but I honestly think he was pretty good in this movie.

Cruise plays Jack Reacher a former army MP who is now a roguish man living off the grid roaming around the country, seemingly taking on tasks and jobs at his own whim. He's sort of like if you mixed Jack Bauer, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond and the cast of the A-Team together in a blender, forgot about it for a while and it fermented a bit and some Tom Cruise got in.

Fortunately for us Tom Cruise is not playing his usual "smirking jackass" trope in this movie and actually turns in a pretty hard-core performance.

The movie opens with a scene that sort of chilling and unsettling in the wake of recent events, where a sniper kills five seemingly random people from a parking ramp near PNC Stadium in Pittsburgh. After a remarkably swift investigation the DA the chief detective have found the man they believe to be the sniper, James Barr. He's given the option of pleading guilty where he'll get life in prison or going to trial where he'll like lose to an unbeatable DA with a fancy for the death penalty. He simply asks for the men to find Jack Reacher before being beaten into a coma enroute back to prison.

The investigator and DA are confused on who Reacher is until he literally walks right into their office, inquisitive about Barr who was a former sniper in [a middle-eastern war] he never "got his kill." Being the type who join the army in order to kill and get away with it he killed a handful of men on the last day of his tour. A combination of the men having actually been criminals and government cover-up got him his freedom when he left the service, Jack vowed to get Barr should he ever slip-up again. Now it seems he has.

Reacher meets with the attorney representing Barr in his defense (ummm.... She took a court appointment? The Public Defender's office was booked? I dunno) finding herself not only going against her father (the DA) in court but with a case she cannot win. She just hope to at least find grounds to avoid the DP. Reacher is reluctant at first but eventually comes around to helping her out but as their investigation wears on it seems that maybe Barr was set-up, a pawn in a larger conspiracy.

The movie has plenty of good action scenes in it and Tom Cruise is actually pretty likable in the role of our infalliable action hero. Again, I'm not sure how the character is portrayed int he books but here I think Tom Cruise did a good job.

If there's one flaw in the movie it's that I don't know what the stakes in it are for me as the viewer. Yes, once our characters get in over their heads their own lives and reputations become at risk but for most of the movie they're working to prove the evidence of an innocent man whom we never get to meet or identify with. It doesn't matter to me that the character might be innocent because I don't know him enough TO care.

That aside there's a lot of good, fun, action movie moments in this movie and a great part played by Robert Duvall as the estate-keeper of Reacher's home Skyfall... (or something.) Most of the other secondary characters (including Rosamund Pike as Helen the defense's counsel) are just that: Secondary. They're there pretty much to give Reacher someone to talk to and look like a badass against. Which, really, Tom Cruise sort of pulls off here.

Can't say how fans of the book(s) will take the movie, but I enjoyed it.

[Lonemagpie]

^ sounds like it should be OK, then, plot/drama/action-wise at least

[Captaindemotion]

Aragorn wrote:

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The Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum don't follow the books at all, and no one on message boards ever complain.

Even if you don't like Cruise as Reacher, he's not gonna play the part for 17 movies. If it's successful, there will be more movies and more actors in the role.

If it's not successful, several years down the road Rob Cohen might make a Reacher movie with Tyler Perry.

Both of you are right. It's an adaptation, it can't be exactly the same and the existence of this movie doesn't mean that the books stop existing and being good.

But as a big fan of the novels, despite still wanting to see this and expecting it to be a good movie, I can't help but be disappointed that they have cast someone so totally and utterly unlike the guy in the novels in every way. It's not just height, it's looks, demeanour, attitude and personality. I do like Cruise as a leading man and I expect him to bring something interesting to this role - I just wish he'd kept it for another character!

As regards Bourne, I suppose the difference is that the books were nearly 30 years old by the time the movies were made. They were very much set in the 1970s, as I recall and would have been period pieces had they been adopted for the big screen by Damon and co. And by and large, period set action movies don't succeed. Not to mention that most people would have forgotten the original novels.

OTOH, the Reacher novels are fairly recent and for the most part won't need a lot of updating (indeed, One Shot, which this movie is based on) was written in 2005 and there have been one a year ever since.

But hey, here's hoping it's a good movie at least.

[Garak]

People who write off Tom Cruise movies without seeing them are some of the most foolish people this planet has to offer.

[Trekker4747]

Santa's Balls wrote:

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People who write off Tom Cruise movies without seeing them are some of the most foolish people this planet has to offer.

No, I don't agree. It IS possible to not like an actor and as a consequence of that avoid going to see his movies.

[Admiral_Young]

I had no idea Chris McQuarrie wrote and directed this. He previously worked on the script for Bryan Singer's "Valkyrie" that starred Cruise so there's a little history between the two. I am a little more interested in this than I was before because of this. Plus the TV spots have been pretty decent.

[Trekker4747]

It really is an enjoyable movie. I recommend it.

[Captaindemotion]

^Oh, and thanks for your helpful review Trekker

[Gaith]

This strikes me as an odd movie in that looks like the sort of paperback pulp thriller that hits shelves all the time, but rarely really crosses over to movie screens. Maybe it's that TV utterly dominates the anthology book style of various crimes being solved by lightly drawn recurring characters?

This definitely isn't a ticket purchase for me, and probably not a Netflix/Rebox, either. Per Trekker's review, it just doesn't sound too interesting.

[JarodRussell]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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^Oh, and thanks for your helpful review Trekker

Mark this day in your calendars.

Finally someone gets bitched at because he likes a film without going into details.