Jack Reacher is based on Lee Child’s novel, One Shot. A former U. S. Army sniper shoots five people in Pittsburgh (in the book, it was a city in Indiana). When arrested, the sniper says, “Get me Jack Reacher.” Tom Cruise shows up (which is shocking because Jack Reacher in Lee Child’s novels is 6’5″, 250 pounds of muscle). There are plenty of twists in the plot (both in the movie and the book) that will produce plenty of head-scratching. But, no matter. Jack Reacher is an effective action movie. If you’re up for some high-grade excitement, watch Jack Reacher. I saw this movie with a Free Ticket provided by Regal Theaters. GRADE: B+
This one interests me not at all. It’s not about who plays Reacher. I’m not a fan of the evil dwarf and haven’t been in many years. I read the first Jack Reacher novel, don’t remember the title at this point, and enjoyed it. but not enough to inspire me to read anymore. I have a few been lying around the house, bought all at the same time, but just don’t care.
I found ONE SHOT’s convoluted plot unconvincing, Randy. But, like Jack Bauer, when Jack Reacher gets revved up, there’s plenty of action.
Even for free I’m with Randy on this (and Cap’n Bob, needless to say). Not gonna watch.
The operative word is FREE, Jeff.
Saw this at a matinee last week. Better as an action film than as a mystery. Not a big fan of Cruise but he does a decent job here. Mostly enjoyed German film director Werner Herzog as the villain.
Steve, you’re right about Werner Herzog as “The Zec.” The character is chilling in the novel version, too.
Although I detest Cruise personally, he usually gives a good performance-works hard at it. But I couldn’t get anyone to see this with me and my desire to see it wasn’t great enough to go alone.
The new book on Scientology looks worth reading.
I have GOING CLEAR on order, Patti. JACK REACHER is an above-average action movie, nothing more.
It bothers me when the movie version of a character, especially the hero, is quite different than the book version. What, they couldn’t find an actor who resembled the Reacher of the books? Pfui.
My guess is that Tom Cruise bought the rights to the Jack Reacher series, Rick. That gives him the power to morph the character any way he wants. He who pays the piper gets to call the tune.
I wouldn’t watch that smirking dwarf unless he caught fire. People who support this jackass ought to know that a part of their money ends up in the coffers of the evil Scientology Organized Crime Family. That alone should convince any thinking person to boycott the creep.
I have the GOING CLEAR expose of Scientology on order, Bob. Can’t wait to read it!
If you won’t listen to me, maybe you’ll listen to it.
I’ll echo my earlier Will Smith comments in regards to Tom Cruise here. I don’t care for either guy personally, but why would I? I don’t hang out with them. But both guys are ones I’ll usually happily plunk my money down to see on the big screen because they are convincing in the roles they play. And for the most part each of them looks at themselves as a brand and so the films they have done these last several years are relatively “clean” action films. You won’t see gore, or excessively unnecessary language, in most of their action movies and I like that. I go to films to be entertained and Jack Reacher was a very entertaining movie. I’d be happy to see them make more.
And even though I should let it go I’ll have to point out here that if we didn’t go see movies or read books from people who believed things and did things that we despise then we wouldn’t be reading or watching anything.
JACK REACHER was an above-average action-movie, Carl. And it followed Lee Child’s ONE SHOT fairly closely. If the profits are good, I’m sure we’ll see a sequel.
It was better than my expectations were going in so I was pleased.
My expectations for JACK REACHER were low, Carl. But the attention to detail and the movie plotting paralleling the novel’s plot made for a better-than-average action movie.
I hadn’t read the novel but what I enjoyed was that there was a bit of wry humor (not sure if that is the right word) that I didn’t expect and I really liked the character. Also loved all the old muscle cars in the film which were an unexpected visual treat.
You’re right about the humor in the movie, Carl. I’ve read several Jack Reacher novels and there isn’t much humor in those books.