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Jack Reacher

by | Jan 26, 2013 | Book and Movie Reviews

Jack Reacher is an 80’s style macho action flick with an emotionally distant, butt-kicking Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher) who occasionally makes mincemeat out of bad guys while looking cool in his leather jacket, great hair, and stiff, campy delivered dialogue. It isn’t a great film. It isn’t a bad film.

The movie opens up with a sniper who picks off several people. The officials quickly grab a suspect who, when interrogated, writes on a piece of paper, “Get Jack Reacher.” He won’t say anything else. Who’s Jack Reacher? Well, he’s someone you can’t find unless he wants to be found. Apparently, he wanted to be found in this rather slow-moving flick that is occasionally peppered with some pretty decent fight scenes. I thought the dialogue was a bit canned and predictable in places, but I found myself enjoying it.

Cruise plays a highly competent investigator who slowly unravels the truth about the killings. Of course, everything isn’t as it initially appears–otherwise, we wouldn’t have a movie; and, as with all of Cruise’s movies, there’s got to be a babe. That part was fulfilled by Rosamund Pike, who played an intelligent blonde lawyer that eventually needed to be rescued. Cruise did just that in a predictable, but enjoyable, rescue sequence filled with gunfire and hand-to-hand combat in a dark rainy rock quarry.

Tom Cruise is a great actor and he did a fine job. However, Robert Duval, who appears later in the film, breezed through his lines with the experienced excellence of a master and gave the best performance of the movie. During the film, I leaned over to my wife and I said, “Duvall is such a great actor.” She nodded in agreement.

There’s a little language, no nudity, but there are definitely some well-done fight scenes. Would I recommend it? Yes and no. If you’re a Tom Cruise fan and like well-done retro style movies of a stiff cop figure who kicks butt and rescues the babe, then this is for you. If you’re more interested in sophisticated plot development and introspection, then save your money and wait until it comes out on DVD . . . or Blue Ray.

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