Jack Reacher Review

Published on January 1st, 2013 | by Chris Suffield

Jack Reacher Review Chris Suffield

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A year on from the biggest film in his prolific career and following his brief but memorable performance in Rock of Ages, Cruise returns to leading man duties in an adaptation of Lee Childs One Shot the ninth book in the ongoing series.

After the police identify and arrest James Barr (Joseph Sikora) a lone gunman who apparently killed five random people, he claims they have apprehended the wrong man and demands they Get Jack Reacher.

Once a military police officer Reacher now lives a lonely life off the radar, as soon as he enters the scene he stakes a claim on the type of man he is. Reacher doesnt care about rules or the law, he only pursues whats right at all costs and his unorthodox methods make him an appealing anti-hero. Theres a dash of Dirty Harry about him but hes ultimately a nice guy with a questionable moral compass and some excess baggage.

Foll! owing the evidence Reacher and his new found team are hot on the trail of the true gunmen and in the process they unearth a conspiracy that goes deeper than they expected. The somewhat generic marketing campaign might have left some people indifferent to going to see it, truth be told the plot is nothing new but the whole thing is just so well put together you can forgive the familiarity of the story.

The action takes second place to the script (a lesson more directors could do well to learn), the dialogue is razor sharp and theres still time for some moments of trademarked Cruise humour. The signature car chase is breathtaking, had the movie been filled with loud action scenes it would have detracted from the impact of this show-stoping sequence performed by Cruise who insisted on driving the car himself.

Robert Duvall arrives late in proceedings and gives a touch of class in a brief but memorable cameo. Filmmaker and occasional actor Werner Herzog gives a chilling performance as The Zec a ruthless character unexpectedly played with menace by the acclaimed director.

Christopher McQuarrie won a well deserved Academy Award for writing The Usual Suspects, he finally returns to directing after the underrated The Way of the Gun in 2000. He previously collaborated with Tom Cruise when he wrote the script for Valykrie and an uncredited re-draft on Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, as you might expect he does an exceptional job here with the script and direction.

Its not without a few flaws, the narrative doesnt run as smoothly as it thinks it does and occasionally relies on too many spoon fed clues so the audience can keep up. The added twist of the defendants lawyer Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike) pitting her legal wits against her District Attorney father (Richard Jenkins) is an unnecessary subplot that doesnt add much to the overall movie. Since The Bourne Identity was released Hollywood has been quick to replicate the cold brutal style, whilst this works well for Jack Reacher it is ra! pidly bec! oming an over used stylistic choice in mainstream cinema.

When Cruise was cast in the role a wealth of backlash from fans of the books came about, the character is written as 6ft 5in, whilst the 50 year old movie star might fall short in stature he gives a knockout performance that has silenced the criticism and Cruise embodies the essence of the character completely.

Currently McQuarries up coming writing projects include The Wolverine and another Tom Cruise blockbuster All You Need Is Kill directed by Doug Liman (Bourne Identity), the sci-fi thriller will be released summer 2014. McQuarrie is also in line to direct the next Mission Impossible entry which would be a masterstroke for the franchise. Even if he doesnt accept the mission we can only hope its not another twelve years before he directs again.

In order to obtain a 12A rating a couple of brief scenes of violence were cut but this is still a hard edged thriller thats as slick as it is entertaining.

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