Movie Review #24: Jack Reacher (2012)

I rented this movie thinking it would be a typical Tom Cruise action flick. Turns out I was wrong and pleasantly surprised.

Now I haven't read any of the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child but hardcore fans say that Cruise is an odd choice. In the novels Reacher is 6'5" and Tom Cruise is a measly 5'7". Since I am not familiar with the source material, his height didn't affect me.

The plot of the film is that Jack Reacher is a homicide investigator who has to solve a case of why a sniper killed five random civilians. I thought this would be a generic action movie, but it turns out that it's a well crafted thriller and a masterfully written mystery! The movie had a great script that  will captivate you and leave you wondering why the sniper killed five civilians until the credits appear on the screen. Even though this movie doesn't have many action sequences, the action it does have is fantastic. There is a bar fight scene that is a lot of fun to watch and honestly pretty realistic. My favorite scene in the entire movie is the car chase scene. Now even though the chase scene didn't have flashy visuals, pointless explosions or unrealistic crashes, it is beautifully shot and even crazier that Tom Cruise did all of his own stunts! Yeah, the Dubai Tower scene in Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, that was him up there. He's insane and is going to kill himself one of these days.

Speaking of insane, Tom Cruise was great in this role. Fans of the novels might not think this way but I thought Cruise was great. He was charismatic, witty, though and serious when he needed to be. This movie reminds us that Tom Cruise is one of the best actors working today. He's committed to his roles and gives his all in every movie he gets. The supporting cast is fine even though they could have been played by anyone. The only supporting character that stood out to me was Jai Courtney's character. He plays the assassin and he plays an unlikable villain and he works for this movie.

The main problem I had was that there were quite a few moments that were complete cornball. Example: Reacher is investigating a house and he gets hit on the back of the head with a baseball bat by a pair of hit-men/goons. Once he is knocked down, the goons are fighting amongst themselves on who gets to kill him. They were beating each other up when they could have taken out their target once and for all. Now I'm no goon or paid assassin, but I'm pretty sure that that is not the correct way to take out your target. I found that complete cheese and completely unrealistic. Aside from that it didn't bother me.

Final Report: Jack Reacher is a well written and skillfully directed mystery with Tom Cruise in top form. What more could you want?