Jack Reacher

I have to admit that even though I like Tom Cruise and action movies, I didn’t find Jack Reacher interesting at all when it launched in cinemas. I don’t even know why. In the end, I decided to watch it and I have to say that when it comes to action scenes, I haven’t seen a better movie. The main problem is the story. It starts our pretty interesting, but I somehow couldn’t get in sync with the intimate mood that follows the opening scene. Also, Tom isn’t a character I would grow very fond of at first sight. Well and there’s nobody else in the movie who could accomplish that. About halfway through the movie, I was getting pretty bored. But that was only until the scene with the Chevrolet Camaro. If nothing else, this scene was overflowing with energy in a way that I haven’t seen in any action scene in a long time. Too bad Jack Reacher isn’t the type I would love to go out and grab a beer with. He might convince me with his next movie. (13/01/2014)

A decent enough film, almost a "thriller comedy" at times. It’s something in the style of Gibson's Payback, with one big minus - why did it have to be clear from the beginning that the person who did the shooting was not the arrested man, but someone else? Couldn't they have deceived us for at least half the film? I wouldn't have minded that at all. Otherwise, it’s a quality film in all respects. The opening shot through the rifle scope may steal from Two-Minute Warning, but then it's one great scene after another, with the bathroom scene being somehow perversely successful and the sensational car chase making me feel sorry for the beautiful mustang. I liked Tom Cruise better here than I did in Mission: Impossible, I liked Rosamund Pike as much as always, i.e., very much, and Robert Duvall was just the cherry on the cherry cake. As for composer Joe Kraemer, I hope that after Jack Reacher he will start getting more jobs like this, because he obviously has ideas and he knows how to do it. (15/06/2013)

It's hard to expect anything from a film with such a trivially simple title, ordinary marketing, and average posters. But the opposite is true. It is incredibly cleverly shot within its genre, and you have to praise the director's inventiveness and cleverness. Tom Cruise is more than just an ordinary protagonist, unlike Jason Bourne or Daniel Craig’s Bond (I love all three), but while those are followers of dynamic editing, raw directing, camera filters, and kinetic action, Jack Reacher takes it easy, with thoughtfulness and full-contact fights without any enhancements – it’s beautifully slow and hypnotic. One of the best crime films in recent years, brilliantly cast and stylistically stunning. Some shots deserve a “Hall of Fame” award, and the sound design deserves an Oscar. (11/01/2013)

This was great! It’s a fantastic genre film, which sprinkles one cliché after another in such a cadence that I snorted with joy for two hours. The film works in every conceivable way, from the (un)predictable story, the fitting music, and the hero’s catchphrases, to a few scenes that want to be quoted time after time (the opening, the bathroom, the chase, and even the rainy ending). This isn’t going to be the only movie theater screening. (02/01/2013)

Today was the day I'd been saving the Jack for. It suited me perfectly. Great action, at times the shots of Jack driving reminded me of similar shots in Speed Racer. Jack was smart and cocky, but he wasn't immortal and he didn't know everything. He's just a really good ex-soldier. Helen had beautiful eyes that hid an intelligence that could expect not to be subjected to blonde jokes. Honestly I'd quite like to read the book because I'd like to know what was going through Jack's mind, that's how intrigued I was by his character. I had fun, Tom didn't come across as stunted, and the story moved along smartly. There was no room for pity, finally. (21/03/2016)