Sunday 6 January 2013

Film: Jack Reacher


A former Army sniper is accused of killing 5 people but despite the overwhelming evidence he does not confess. Instead he simply asks the cops to “Get Jack Reacher”.

Enter Tom Cruise as the ex military cop now drifter from the novels of author Lee Child. In the novels Reacher is a world-weary 6 foot 5 man-mountain, so the casting of Tom Cruise, who still looks pretty much like Maverick from Top Gun, was met by scoff and scorn from many fans of the books, including me. Does he “nail it” as the recent posters proclaim? Read on...

Reacher is soon convinced to help the defence attorney (Rosamund Pike) investigate the evidence and inevitably there is much more going on than meets the eye.

With Reacher’s previous knowledge of the accused he quickly focuses on the mechanics of the sniping “mission” and concludes that it’s a set-up. A trail of corruption and cover-ups is then followed leading to a confrontation with some suitably nasty Eastern Europeans.

The choice of making the 9th book in the series the first film adaptation is a curious one, I don’t remember it being a particularly exciting book but the interesting thing is, it does make a good film. The script is sharp and witty and there is plenty of tension, throw in enough action to keep fans happy and you have a surprisingly cool film.

So, does Cruise nail it as a man I imagine as a cross between Dolph Lundgren and Liam Neeson?
Considering that no film is ever gonna be a match for your imagination I have to say that, almost unbelievably, yes he does.

Jack Reacher is in UK cinemas now.

Ric’s Rating: Essential   

2 comments:

  1. I might still go see this. Just had too much with the holidays and Django took precedence.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm looking forward to Django Unchained. I thought Inglorious...was brilliant.

    ReplyDelete

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