Jack Reacher

It seems as if Tom Cruise is not satisfied with having the successful Mission Impossible franchise so with The Jack Reacher books Cruise attempts to launch his next series of films. I have never read any of the Jack Reacher books but early word was that Tom Cruise was too short to play the title character. The story is about a homicide investigator who digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims. The movie is well cast but there is not a lot of punch (no pun intended) in the screenplay. Cruise does his best with the material and he has surrounded himself with a good supporting cast but the movie lacks some of the action that you now can now see at home on cable TV with great shows like Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, & The Walking Dead. There is however a great car chase as well as an interesting view from a sniper’s perspective that I have not seen on film.

Verdict:

This movie builds the foundation on the Jack Reacher character. Cruise fans may feel cheated and want more but I wouldn’t count out this franchise. This could be the case where the second film in this franchise is better than the first.