Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Jack Reacher


Tom Cruise is still looking for the truth, even after Jack Nicholson has warned against it.
Jack Reacher is a former Army detective, who after serving a great portion of his life to the service disappears in America and hasn't been heard tracked down for years. He rises up out of the shadows when former Army Sniper James Barr is arrested for shooting and killing five random people in downtown Pittsburgh. Reacher has a history with Barr and wants to make sure Barr is locked up for good. (I resisted the urge to say "put Barr behind bars") Once Reacher gets to Pittsburgh, much to his surprise, he finds out that Barr asked for him by name. Unfortunately Reacher can't ask him why because of a coma, and the only thing that is keeping him from disappearing again is Barr's attorney Helen. She is fighting to give Barr a fair trial, because her dad, the district attorney, is doing everything he can to put Barr to death. Add a few plot twists, car chases, street fighting, and more Tom Cruise one-liners than Jerry Maguire, and you get Jack Reacher.

 It's easy to say that Jack Reacher tried to put more twists into this movie than a Twizzler. It's easy to get away with this in a book because there is more material to surround the twists. It's easier to add depth to the characters that these plot twists and cover ups happen to. Jack Reacher never really had any flow to its storyline. You never get to see any personal storyline for Jack Reacher, you get a nice list of his accomplishments, but that's about all you get as far as knowing who Jack Reacher is as a person. Reacher was presented more as a machine than a person. There was never any doubt that things would wrap itself up in a nice little bow throughout the movie because Reacher was presented without any weakness. The fighting and shooting scenes were nice and well choreographed and they were mainly the highlight of the movie. The car chase is  the climax point of the movie. When Jack Reacher gets set up for a murder, he gets chased down by the police while also chasing the guys that set him up. The ending of the chase is also the most memorable. Reacher turns onto a street, slows the car to a roll and steps out of the car. He slowly walks over to a group of people waiting for the bus. Suddenly cop cars and helicopters swoop in and surround the now empty car. The group of people help surround this stranger they don't know and one man even gives Reacher his baseball cap to better hide himself. Welcome to Pittsburgh! As the police surround the empty car the bus fills and drives off...... Am I the only one who doesnt see how, in any way, the police would let that bus go anywhere? Yes, its meant to be a funny scene where Reacher gets out of the grasp of the cops but could they have found a better way of doing it? Couldn't it have been a little more believable?

 Tom Cruise played Jack Reacher well. As stated before, you don't really know who Reacher is through out the movie, but Tom gave us the little emotion needed for his character. There were only two supporting actors worth mentioning in this movie, Jai Courtney and Robert Duvall. Jai Courtney plays Charlie the cold hearted killer that sets up Barr. Jai is a new face and seems to have the demeanor to really break out as the next action star. Robert Duvall is the most experienced actor in this movie and he does a great job with the little screen time he has. Duvall plays Cash, a former Marine who runs a shooting range that Barr and Charlie went to every weekend. Duvall plays this character naturally and I might be biased, but he does the best job out of everyone in the movie. Also I'd like to point out this is the first time both Robert Duvall and Tom Cruise has shared the screen since Days of Thunder. I really have nothing to add to that, I just liked that movie.

 Also Tom Cruise is known for always having one scene where he runs with with absolute no abandon. If you don't believe me I have proof. Sadly you wont see an intense running scene in this movie. If there was a scene where Tom Cruise ran  intensely, this movie would have gotten a full point higher grade from me.

 This movie had quite a bit of downfalls. If you're looking for a brainless action movie and you dont care about acting or a plot, this movie is for you. For the rest of you, look elsewhere.
Also I might be bringing in a few new reviewers to write for this site. So look for reviews to come out at a faster pace.

 Don't forget to vote for the Netflix review this week. Voting ends Wednesday night.

1 comment:

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsEaoqpT1Lo

    He runs for cover between rocks near the climax to avoid getting shot.

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