Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: Jack Reacher

Monday, December 24, 2012

Jack Reacher - Review

Jack Reacher
(2012 - December 21)
Action | Crime | Drama
2 hr. 10 min.

Rated: PG-13 Violence, Some Drug Material and Language | What parents should know
Grade: B+

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay), Lee Child (book)
Stars: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike and Richard Jenkins | See full cast and crew

Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me. And sure enough, ex-military investigator Jack Reacher is coming. He knows this shooter-a trained military sniper who never should have missed a shot. Reacher is certain something is not right-and soon the slam-dunk case explodes. Now Reacher is teamed with a beautiful young defense lawyer, moving closer to the unseen enemy who is pulling the strings. Reacher knows that no two opponents are created equal. This one has come to the heartland from his own kind of hell. And Reacher knows that the only way to take him down is to match his ruthlessness and cunning-and then beat him shot for shot. -- (C) Official Site

Jack Reacher (previously titled One Shot) is a 2012 American crime film. It is an adaptation of Lee Child's 2005 novel One Shot. Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

Jack Reacher is a fictional character created by British author Jim Grant (who writes under the pen name of Lee Child) and is the main character in 17 Books. The Jack Reacher (film) starring Tom Cruise was released on December 21, 2012.

Having never read any of the Jack Reacher books I have an unbiased perspective regarding the screenplay and whether it is true to the novel. After seeing the film I did a little research on the character Jack Reacher.

Lee Child, unemployed and midway through writing the first Reacher novel, had not been able to come up with at name for the main character. On day while shopping with his wife at their local supermarket, an elderly lady approached him and asked him to reach an item off a high shelf for her. His wife jokingly remarked: "Hey if this writing thing doesn't work out, you can be a reacher in a supermarket."

Jack Reacher is a former United States Army Military Police Major. He was born on a military base in Berlin in 1960. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he served 13 years in the Military Police, during which time he became part of a fictional military police unit, the 110th Special Investigations Unit, created to handle exceptionally tough cases, especially those involving members of the United States Army Special Forces.

Though he was demoted from Major to Captain in the prequel novel The Enemy, he regained the rank of Major by the time he mustered out in 1997. He received many military awards during his career, including the Silver Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

After leaving the Army Reacher became a drifter wandering the United States, a reaction to having been told where to go, when to go and what to do for every day of his life from military childhood to military adulthood. He wanted to get to know his own country since most of his young life had been spent living overseas on military bases and at the military school West Point. He prefers to travel by bus or as a hitchhiker. He travels light as a drifter, his only possessions are money, a foldable toothbrush and, after 9/11, an expired passport and an ATM debit card. He doesn't have nor has he ever had a driver's license.

This film devolves into one of my 'pet pieves' the conflict comes down to a fist fight between the well armed hero and villain...just shoot the gun and put an end to it. It's supposed to be a dramatic 'mano a mano' moment but it's just plain stupid and annoying.

Plot

In his first film, sure to become a franchise, a sniper kills five seemingly random Pittsburgh citizens. The police quickly identify and arrest a suspect, former military sniper James Barr (Joseph Sikora) says little more than 'Get Jack Reacher' (Tom Cruise), a drifter and former Army Military Police officer. The authorities have no idea how to find him when he suddenly, Reacher, having seen a news report featuring James Barr prompting him to seek him out so that he can take care of unfinished business between himself and Barr. Reacher appears in the District Attorney Rodin's (Richard Jenkins) office. Barr's defense is pleased and relieved; but Reacher has come to bury Barr not to save him. He is shocked by Barr's request that Reacher prove his innocene and Reacher sets out to confirm for himself the absolute certainty of the Barr's guilt.

Appearances aren't quite what they seem to Reacher who agrees to work as an investigator for Barr's defense attorney, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), who happens to be the District Attorney's daughter, and a local detective (David Oyelowo) to try to find out the truth behind the shootings and prove Barr's innocence. Reacher methodically begins to unravel a treacherous and deadly case involving a hired killer (Jai Courtney) and a Russian known only as "the zec"...the prisoner (Werner Herzog).

In the book the film is based on One Shot, the events take place in a small Indiana town, the film moves the events to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Author, Lee Child, makes an brief appearance as the Desk Sergent.