'JACK REACHER'

'JACK REACHER' (PG-13) (3 STARS)

Written by Christopher McQuarrie based on a book by Lee Child
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Actors: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Werner Herzog, Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins, Michael Raymond James.

There has been great criticism towards the movie "Jack Reacher" from fans of the "Jack Reacher" books by Lee Child. It goes towards the casting of Tom Cruise who is supposedly shorter, much shorter, than the book's Jack. Jack is I guess supposed to be 6'5 and Cruise is definitely shorter than that. I have not read the books so I don't really care about that discrepancy. If I did read the books I still wouldn't get that upset but I would if the movie wasn't loyal to the book's story. I am glad I didn't read the book because I had a good time watching Cruise and this movie.

It reminds me of an old fashioned mystery and a "Dirty Harry" movie rolled in to one. In fact one fun fight scene reminded me of a similarly shot scene in Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" movie "Sudden Impact". It is in the style of a 70's mystery picture, clean and with no tricks up the sleeve. It just relaxes us into the story though after an unsettling first ten minutes. The real stir should be caused by a opening scene where a sniper picks off some innocent people. You automatically think of the shooting in Conneticut and other tragedies like that. I started to get a little disturbed and choked up. That is more important than whether Cruise is miscast.

It is tough to get over that opening but I did forget all that after the first hour. The movie has a story I found intriguing and comepelling thanks to the direction of Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise. This is not a happy Tom Cruise role but Cruise does very well here playing the conflicted hero Jack Reacher. If you haven't read the source material the movie concerns that sniper from the beginning and whether he was actually the shooter. We find out right away what the answer really is but the movie really concentrates on who is behind it all and why? Was the shooting actually random?

Jack Reacher is an ex Army soldier who tries to get to the bottom of everything by his own rules. He is like a young Dirty Harry but Cruise brings his own cockiness and cool to the role. He also gets good support by the beautiful Rosamund Pike as a defense lawyer. Those two character's relationship is refreshingly not romantic and that is a plus. We can concentrate on the story then and to the great director Werner Herzog wonderfully playing a creepy, evil bad guy. He has a lot of fun as does Robert Duvall in a small role that becomes big and made me smile. Add to that my dependable and trusty character actor Richard Jenkins and a very good David Oyelowo as a cop.'

I was never bored by and was always into "Jack Reacher". It is a solid film, well made, acted and directed by Christopher McQuarrie who wrote the very popular crime movie "The Usual Suspects". It is a movie that could have fit Eastwood's "Dirty Hary" character or a Burt Reynolds back in the 70's. It is clean, no nonsense with a good mystery, good action, chase scenes and cool vintage cars. You might not remember it a year from now but at the time you are watching it, it goes down smoothly.