Jack Reach-off (did I do that right?)

Okay, so it's not quite the disaster we might've been worried about, or even hoping. It's a touch generic, but I think the MVP here is Christopher McQuarrie (The Way of the Gun, The Usual Suspects), directing and writing, who takes the usual tropes of wrong men accused, damsels in distress, and beating up petty methheads... but does it with style. Tom Cruise is... game, but you never feel like you're watching Jack Reacher. More like Tom Cruise is hosting Saturday Night Live and doing a very subtle parody of himself and some alternate-universe Jack Reacher movie where they actually cast someone who fit the character's description, even if it's (gasp) a black guy.

Part of it, being a little unfair to Cruise, is that he's pretty much the movie stariest of all movie stars, so he can't disappear into the role any more than Britney Spears could play Batman. And he does try. I don't think Cruise even does any sprinting in this movie. But Cruise is also, ya know, something of a robot, so his Reacher comes off as a bit of a 'hole. Like when the villain has sent a local girl and some thugs to start a barfight with Reacher, he takes the opportunity to drop several bon mots about what a slut the girl is. Headcanon: Sure, Jack Reacher's a drifting badass-paladin, but he really wanted to be... an insult comic.

Also, the female lead is pretty weak. Getting into mild spoilers...( Read more... )

Oh, and Werner Herzog is the villain, no real backstory, he's pretty much just playing himself as a Russian crime lord. It's delicious. "Always the bullet-I don't understand." If not for Bane, he'd be a sure shot at Best Ungodly Villain Voice Of The Year.