Jack Reacher (2012)
Jack Reacher is a movie where the glass is half-empty. I really enjoy a good murder mystery/conspiracy, which is no surprise considering my love of The X-Files, and Jack Reacher has just that. I genuinely enjoyed the way this movie unraveled and was also resolved. The opening sequence was shot wonderfully and felt similar to thrillers from the 1970's, especially Dirty Harry. This opening sequence where a gunman shoots innocent victims in a park is revisited in the middle of the movie, and its even more chilling when shown from the perspective of those victims.
However the characters (not named Jack Reacher) didn't do as much for me, except for Robert Duvall's performance as the much-needed comic relief. When you're spending two hours watching characters on-screen, you really need to connect with them and I felt left out for much of the movie. Rosamund Pike plays an attorney for the defense and Richard Jenkins is her father, who's also the D.A. They're supposed to have a rocky relationship except I feel like I'm told that rather than shown it. We're told that Jack Reacher is a loner but we're actually shown that fact as well. He steals (or "borrows") cars, doesn't even have a spare change of clothes, and collects money through Western Union tranfers. I really enjoyed the character of Reacher, who's selfless and only out for justice. It's a noble quality of many heroes, much like Dirty Harry that I mentioned before.
While I liked Reacher, I'm not so sure that Tom Cruise is the best candidate for that role. He seems much more laid back than the brooding that this character seems to call for. Maybe that's where the glass is half-full; while Cruise might not be perfect, he actually does his own stunt work. I really took notice of that fact when watching his recent Mission: Impossible movie, which really helps my enjoyment of action movies by knowing it's a real guy doing those stunts and not some computerized person.
With Jack Reacher being the character who's worth watching and investing in, I think this actually would work better as a tv series than it does a feature film. Reacher is a loner that helps people when needed, much like the characters of Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk series and also Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive series. In fact, I think this movie should have been done as two-hour pilot to launch a tv series and I'd be all for it. Instead, it's just a movie that is half-empty.
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| Credit: Paramount Pictures |
However the characters (not named Jack Reacher) didn't do as much for me, except for Robert Duvall's performance as the much-needed comic relief. When you're spending two hours watching characters on-screen, you really need to connect with them and I felt left out for much of the movie. Rosamund Pike plays an attorney for the defense and Richard Jenkins is her father, who's also the D.A. They're supposed to have a rocky relationship except I feel like I'm told that rather than shown it. We're told that Jack Reacher is a loner but we're actually shown that fact as well. He steals (or "borrows") cars, doesn't even have a spare change of clothes, and collects money through Western Union tranfers. I really enjoyed the character of Reacher, who's selfless and only out for justice. It's a noble quality of many heroes, much like Dirty Harry that I mentioned before.
While I liked Reacher, I'm not so sure that Tom Cruise is the best candidate for that role. He seems much more laid back than the brooding that this character seems to call for. Maybe that's where the glass is half-full; while Cruise might not be perfect, he actually does his own stunt work. I really took notice of that fact when watching his recent Mission: Impossible movie, which really helps my enjoyment of action movies by knowing it's a real guy doing those stunts and not some computerized person.
With Jack Reacher being the character who's worth watching and investing in, I think this actually would work better as a tv series than it does a feature film. Reacher is a loner that helps people when needed, much like the characters of Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk series and also Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive series. In fact, I think this movie should have been done as two-hour pilot to launch a tv series and I'd be all for it. Instead, it's just a movie that is half-empty.
Well a CW show might mean it has staying power. Do they ever cancel any tv shows?
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