Jack Reacher

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, & Jai Courtney 

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Jack Reacher was nothing like I expected it to be. The previews made this film look like a comedy, featuring some bad ass cop that doesn't play by the rules. The film itself couldn't be more different from how it was packaged and I think that's why it didn't do as well as it could have at the box office. The character, Jack Reacher, comes from a series of novels and the film is taken directly from one of the books. Strangely enough, they didn't choose the first book written to introduce us to the character, but one written much later. Reacher has spent his whole life in the military and retired as a military police detective. He had enough of not really helping those who deserved help and went off the grid. Now, Reacher only shows up when someone is in need of his help and in this film, that person is a former suspect of his. Reacher knows the man is guilty, but doesn't think he'd do this horrible crime on his own and he goes to investigate. The film was fast-paced and had an interesting story to tell, but they don't let us figure anything out! Jack Reacher has all the answers and tells us everything we need to know and how he figured it out way before we did. I get it, he's some kind of police savant, but it really is frustrating. I love a good mystery and the allure is in figuring it out on my own, but this film never gave me the chance. Tom Cruise stars and fans of the book series were mortified by the choice of producers to have him star as Reacher. I don't care much for Cruise either, but the fans protest had to do with the book describing him as a 6'7 powerhouse. Well who would they rather have had play Jack Reacher, The Rock? This was a major, high budget film, and it needed a big name. Cruise actually does a decent job and was very believable, as was the story, but the one major drawback for me was just how little was left to the imagination.