COLD BLOODED: a review of "Jack Reacher"

"JACK REACHER"

Based upon the novel One Shot by Lee Child

Written For The Screen and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

*** (three stars)

Just because a film is recommended as being a good home video rental does not necessarily mean that it is a bad film.

As I have expressed to you in the past dear readers, I have not even one connection to the film industry, therefore when I go to the movies, there are no private screenings and I utilize my hard earned wages to purchase a ticket just like you. When it comes to my decision making in regards to what I will choose to see, please allow me to give you a little window into my process. 

There are the films that I will see regardless as it could be a treasured filmmaker's latest project or just some title that I have been anxiously awaiting. Then, there are the ones that I already know that I would not spend one cent or one second of my time over. In between to opposing ends, there are all of the films of which I am on the fence. Some I may be unsure about and I may wait to see what the tenor of reviews will be to see if they can sway me one way or the other. (For the record, since beginning Savage Cinema, I purposefully do not read reviews in full before I write so as to not influence my own thoughts or writings but I am able to capture a flavor of what critics are feeling.) Others may be films that I just had not thought of but something inexplicable pushes me towards trying it out. Then, there may be some films that I am curious about but they just get lost in the shuffle. In the case of "Jack Reacher," Director Christopher McQuarrie's adaptation of author Lee Child's highly popular and prolific thriller series starring Tom Cruise in the titular role, was such a film as all of the holiday film releases just happened to eclipse this particular film. As hard as I try, I sometimes just cannot see them all when I wish to and this film did go unseen months ago despite my curiosity. 

Now that I have seen "Jack Reacher," I must say that I was actually glad that I did not see this film in a movie theater. Let me first assure you that it was not because I though that it was a bad film. In fact, and while it's not great, it certainly is not bad at all and I quite enjoyed it. I am just glad that I didn't see this film in a theater because, in some ways, "Jack Reacher" never struck me as being all that...cinematic. Incidentally, as I watched, I found that the film seemed to be better suited and at times, absolutely perfect for the television screen due to the film's modesty, and overall downplayed nature that actually goes against the cacophonous films that are typically being released currently.  In fact, as I ruminate over the film while I write, "Jack Reacher" kind of feels like a throwback, the very kind of thriller being made in the very kind of way that thrillers are just not being made anymore.

Set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  "Jack Reacher" opens in a most chilling fashion as we witness a sniper (played by Jai Courtney) pull his car into a garage across from a park, pay for parking, load his rifle and then, randomly murder five innocent people before driving away in his van. The police, led by Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo), soon locate the shell casings which leads them to the van and the identity of James Barr (Joseph Sikora), a former U.S. Army sniper, whom the police apprehend but are unaware that they have arrested the wrong man. While Barr is being interrogated by Emerson and District Attorney Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins), Barr responds by only writing "Get Jack Reacher" upon a notepad.

After seeing a television news report about the shooting and the incarceration of James Barr, we meet Jack Reacher (played by Cruise), a highly decorated yet volatile former U.S. Army Military Police Corps officer who has voluntarily slipped completely off the grid and lives his life as a drifter. Reacher quickly arrives in Pittsburgh and forges a tentative partnership with Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), the District Attorney's daughter as well as the defense attorney who has been saddled with the seemingly impossible task of saving Barr from the death penalty. As Jack Reacher and Helen Rodin gradually uncover the mystery behind the sniper murders and the killer's real identity, their lives invariably fall into mortal danger and can the twosome solve the mystery in time?

The good news is that McQuarrie has ensured that "Jack Reacher" is a taut, tight, cleanly simple and economical action thriller that is executed with no frills or superfluous material from needless CGI effects, over reliance upon fancy editing or visual tricks, blessedly no usages of the dreaded shaky cam, and even a surprisingly minimal amount of music. There is nothing about "Jack Reacher" that could be considered over-bearing and in these times during which movie after movie is bludgeoning us with sight and sound, there is something about McQuarrie's approach that is thankfully welcome. His creative restraint is most notable during perhaps three or four extended action sequences, including one car chase and the extremely effective opening sniper shooting sequence, which is disturbing without ever descending into any stretches of gratuitous gore and violence. McQuarrie has essentially figured out how to visually render all of the action, stunts, fights and mayhem to their most essential elements. He has even rejected the usage of any extraneous dialogue during those actions sequences as well, making all of them function as near Hitchcock-ian pieces of work due to their crispness and efficiency. 

As Jack Reacher, Tom Cruise surprised me once again as I was terribly unsure as to how he was going to differentiate this character from his work as Ethan Hunt in his "Mission: Impossible" series, most especially, his feverish and ferocious performance in Director Brad Bird's stellar installment "Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol" (2011). Additionally, for fans of the book series, much has been written about the physical differences between the hulking figure of Reacher in the novels and the comparatively diminutive Cruise. On both counts, Cruise has succeeded once again. In regards to his own past performances, like Ethan Hunt in his most recent adventure, Tom Cruise cuts a menacing figure with absolutely no traces of his "boy scout" persona from his past work. As far as what makes the two characters different, where Ethan Hunt is a daredevil with a wild physicality, Jack Reacher, like McQuarrie's directorial approach to the film itself, is intensely patient and only strikes when necessary. And when Reacher strikes, may the universe have mercy on you! 

With regards to Cruise's size in relation to the character...well, I have not read the book series, so I just didn't have that considerable difference to contend with as I watched the film. That said, what Tom Cruise may lack in height, he more than makes up for it with a commanding and darkly charismatic presence that instantly lets the audience know that he means business, will not suffer fools lightly and that he should never be crossed. Additionally, and like the character, Tom Cruise also elicits a punishing sense of justice that possesses no regards for the law, just the unforgiving, unemotional and cold blooded sweep of what is morally right and wrong...kind of like television's "The Equalizer."  

I had previously mentioned that "Jack Reacher" felt to be like a bit of a throwback to an earlier era--maybe the 1970's as it carries a hard boiled, pulpy, film noir quality. But as I also previously stated, and for all of its assets, "Jack Reacher" is not terribly cinematic. It is a film that often feels like the pilot episode of a TV series where Jack Reacher, the solitary ex-military drifter who never carries a gun but unleashes swift justice against any tormentors, travels from town to town and gets into adventures like "Kung Fu," or "The Incredible Hulk" or even better yet, those old detective programs like "McCloud," "The Rockford Files," "Mannix," or any show that boasted the pedigree of being "A Quinn Martin Production." 

Because of that quality, "Jack Reacher" feels tailor made for the small screen instead of the big screen, a characteristic that does make me question its validity as a feature film. Beyond that, for everything about it that works (Cruise's performance, the curt, snappy dialogue, the surprising presence of celebrated documentarian Werner Herzog in a highly enjoyable acting performance), there are other elements that do not (the film's hefty 2 hour and 10 minute running time, Rosamind Pike's fairly wooden performance) and the movie overall feels rather inconsequential. All of that being said, I did enjoy myself... 

...and for a rental, that is not a bad thing at all.