Jack Reacher (12A.)
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney and Werner Herzog. 130 mins.
British author Lee Childs has turned a pretty penny with his Jack Reacher books, potboiler thrillers featuring his hero, a 6”5’ hobo James Bond and the casting of Cruise in the film adaptation of his book One Shot outraged fans. Generally I wouldn’t touch the short actor plays tall man angle but here it is not simply a matter of Cruise being diminutive; it’s that his whole career, right from Top Gun onwards, has been based on playing overbearing, overcompensating, uppity pipsqueaks who are desperate to assert themselves, chest swollen alpha males striding around on their tip toes. Reacher’s confidence needs to come from a relaxed almost casual physical and mental assurance, but with Cruise the stacked heels are a built-in part of his screen persona.
Reacher is a 12-year-old’s conception of a hero, which is basically all of them rolled into one. A quiet loner and former military policeman who wanders around America getting into and then resolving trouble, he’s both Bruce Banner and The Incredible Hulk. And Sherlock Holmes. All shoved into the frame of a taciturn Liam Neeson and given the sexual magnetism of a man in a Lynx advert. Any other performer would have realised such a blunt character would need to be carefully tailored to their appeal but Cruise wears this ludicrous omnipotence as if it came as naturally to him as Bogart sliding into a raincoat.
The plot is about a patsy who is framed for the killing of five random people by a sniper and you could almost wonder if Cruise hadn’t himself been set up, barreling his way into a subtle and cunning trap designed to expose his delusional lack of self awareness. A fanciful notion perhaps but it’s hard to imagine any other American leading man making such a total fool of himself while not appearing in an Expendables film.
The film is written and directed by the man who wrote The Usual Suspects and the wordless opening five minutes are a slick and enthralling bit of filmmaking but then someone opens their mouth and ruins it. The story is the kind of tosh Steven Seagal might lumber through on Channel 5 late on a Friday night, Reacher exposing a conspiracy that goes, well wouldn’t you know it, all the way to the top. It’s a creation made up purely of other bits of TV and films.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
Starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney and Werner Herzog. 130 mins.
British author Lee Childs has turned a pretty penny with his Jack Reacher books, potboiler thrillers featuring his hero, a 6”5’ hobo James Bond and the casting of Cruise in the film adaptation of his book One Shot outraged fans. Generally I wouldn’t touch the short actor plays tall man angle but here it is not simply a matter of Cruise being diminutive; it’s that his whole career, right from Top Gun onwards, has been based on playing overbearing, overcompensating, uppity pipsqueaks who are desperate to assert themselves, chest swollen alpha males striding around on their tip toes. Reacher’s confidence needs to come from a relaxed almost casual physical and mental assurance, but with Cruise the stacked heels are a built-in part of his screen persona.
Reacher is a 12-year-old’s conception of a hero, which is basically all of them rolled into one. A quiet loner and former military policeman who wanders around America getting into and then resolving trouble, he’s both Bruce Banner and The Incredible Hulk. And Sherlock Holmes. All shoved into the frame of a taciturn Liam Neeson and given the sexual magnetism of a man in a Lynx advert. Any other performer would have realised such a blunt character would need to be carefully tailored to their appeal but Cruise wears this ludicrous omnipotence as if it came as naturally to him as Bogart sliding into a raincoat.
The plot is about a patsy who is framed for the killing of five random people by a sniper and you could almost wonder if Cruise hadn’t himself been set up, barreling his way into a subtle and cunning trap designed to expose his delusional lack of self awareness. A fanciful notion perhaps but it’s hard to imagine any other American leading man making such a total fool of himself while not appearing in an Expendables film.
The film is written and directed by the man who wrote The Usual Suspects and the wordless opening five minutes are a slick and enthralling bit of filmmaking but then someone opens their mouth and ruins it. The story is the kind of tosh Steven Seagal might lumber through on Channel 5 late on a Friday night, Reacher exposing a conspiracy that goes, well wouldn’t you know it, all the way to the top. It’s a creation made up purely of other bits of TV and films.
