Jack Reacher a Victim of Really Bad Timing

DVD Release Date: May 7, 2013
Theatrical Release Date: December 21, 2012
Rating: PG-13 (for violence, language and some drug material)
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama
Run Time: 130 min.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Robert Duvall, David Oyelowo, Werner Herzog

In what’s the worst possible timing for a film with five gun-related fatalities in the first few minutes, Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol) plays yet another action hero with panache in Jack Reacher, the creation of popular British novelist Lee Child.

Considering that Child’s protagonist was 6’5", brawny and blonde, playing the part is a tall order (quite literally) for Cruise, who makes up for what he lacks in height (he’s 5’7") and flaxen locks with convincing expertise in taking down the bad guys by any means possible. And trust me, he’s forced to get creative, really creative, in a slew of prickly situations, using skills that were honed during his character’s years of dedicated military service.

Like the amnesiac with killer instincts before him, Jason Bourne, Reacher is also a bit of an enigma. While his memory is fully intact, no one even knows much about him until someone accused of the aforementioned shootings scribbles “Get Jack Reacher” on a sheet of paper. As it turns out, Reacher is a former military investigator who spent most of his life overseas. Now wandering from city to city by bus (off the grid, naturally) in the country he’s always served, Reacher makes his way to Pittsburgh.

Since the accused, now lying comatose in a hospital bed, got away with a similar crime in Iraq, Reacher is eventually hired by a dedicated defense lawyer (Rosamund Pike, An Education) to investigate exactly what went down. While the evidence at the crime scene seems to seal the ex-soldier’s fate, she’s ultimately committed to ensuring a fair trial for her client.

Not surprisingly, Reacher discovers that these seemingly random civilian shootings weren’t all that random at all. Uncovering an international crime ring’s elaborate plan to frame the case’s #1 suspect, the movie quickly segues into a crafty cat-and-mouse game with a big body count. While the car chases and ensuing brawls are nothing that moviegoers haven’t seen before from Bourne, Bond and the like, it’s Reacher’s deadpan sense of humor a la Dirty Harry that helps lighten the mood.

Rather than flashing his trademark toothy grin, it also helps that Cruise, now 50, actually looks a little weathered and rough around the edges. Instead of being Tom Cruise, one of the world’s most recognizable movie stars, he actually disappears into the character. Managing to even one-up his own relatively humorless Ethan Hunt character, master of impossible situations, Cruise shares a couple of great scenes with his Days of Thunder co-star Robert Duvall (Get Low), who brings a welcome wackiness to these serious proceedings as the owner of a gun range.

Jack Reacher goes down smooth as a compelling action movie, but it’s not exactly what you’d call escapist entertainment—not in light of such horrific events in Connecticut recently. As the civilians in the opening frames just go about their business on a sunny day before facing their untimely, unnecessary demise, one can’t help thinking about the fallen from Sandy Hook Elementary and elsewhere.

While the poor timing for a violent movie isn’t ultimately the fault of the filmmakers behind Jack Reacher, it still can’t help but give many potential viewers pause when considering whether watching on the big screen this Christmas is ultimately worth their time.

CAUTIONS:

• Drugs/Alcohol: Social drinking. Mention of a character who cooks crystal meth. We also see an older woman who’s strung out on drugs.
• Language/Profanity: Instances where Jesus’s name is misused. A handful of expletives including sh--, dam-, he--, as- and one use of fu--. A man is called a pu--y.
• Sex/Nudity: We briefly see a woman’s bare back as she puts her bra on after an implied sexual encounter. A young woman used to unsuccessfully seduce Jack is labeled a “whore,” “slut” and “easy.”
• Violence: Five people are shot in the opening sequence, including a young woman holding a child. The shootings are shown a few times throughout the case, even from the vantage point of the shooter as he readies his kill shot. Gunplay is shown in several other scenes as well. There are several scenes where people’s heads are bashed with heavy objects or someone’s fist. Hand-to-hand combat, stabbings and the snapping of people’s necks shown. A man is kicked repeatedly in the groin. A woman has a gun pointed to her head. A man graphically details how he surrendered his fingers by chewing them off in order to avoid frostbite. He commands another man to do the same, but when he refuses, he’s immediately shot.

Christa Banister is an author and full-time freelancer writer, specializing in music, movies and books-related reviews and interviews and is the author of two novels, Around the World in 80 Dates and Blessed Are the Meddlers. Based in Dallas, Texas, she also weighs in on various aspects of pop culture on her personal blog. 

Publication date: December 21, 2012