Synopsis:
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.
Story:
The movie was adapted from the novel written by Lee Childs so I have no knowledge whatsoever of who and what Jack Reacher is. Moving on, the movie tells a very complicated story and may lead to some confusion if you didn't pay any attention. However, even though the story is complicated, it was very detailed and it was told pretty well although sometimes I felt that it became somewhat heavy due to so many things happening, yes the problems were resolved but not as fast as possible.
Acting:
Let's get to the supporting roles first, Richard Jenkins and Rosamund Pike plays a good father-daughter hate relationship. You can feel the hatred of Pike towards Jenkins and you can feel the love and care of Jenkins to the character of Pike. Next is David Oyewolo who plays Det. Emerson, he is a character who wants to do the right thing and he played it not bad but also not good, just average. Jai Courtney plays a really good villain, he is threatening even though he was only a henchman. Now, the main villain is Werner Herzog who plays The Zec and I find this a very smart casting choice (kudos to the makers), he was scary and even more threatening than Courtney's character, whenever he appears on screen, he brings out a different level of fear. Lastly is Tom Cruise as the titular character Jack Reacher, he made this character very different from Ethan Hunt (M.I. series), this guys is smart, calculating, logical and very skilled in both hand-to-hand combat and in firearms, quite frankly I like this character more than Hunt.
Action/Violence:
Yes, the rating for this is only PG-13 however this film was violent despite showing minimum amount of blood. The action scenes were realistic and it made me cringe at times. So again, kudos to them.
Music:
The music here really helps to build up the action scenes, the scores helped deliver the intensity of each scenes. In addition, the sound editing here was also really good and I really felt that I was also inside the car with Cruise.
Cinematography:
It was just average, not good but also not bad, so I have no say here anymore.
Direction:
I haven't seen 'The Way of the Gun' (which is McQuarrie's first film) however he is definitely one hell of a writer. Moving on, Jack Reacher is his second directorial effort and I can gladly say that he didn't ail on this one, he was able to deliver a good story, an awesome lead and a convincing supporting characters.
Overall:
'Jack Reacher' is a smart action-thriller that is both and entertaining and mind boggling. Tom Cruise was awesome as ever, Werner Herzog was also an awesome villain and the performance of the supporting characters were good. If McQuarrie will really direct the next installment of the M.I. series, well I have confidence in him. Also, I am pleased to say that this film is very different from the M.I. series. I give this a 3.5/5.
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