Based on the book One Shot by Lee Child, the film is the first that puts Child’s famous Jack Reacher character on screen.
In this film, an expert sniper shoots and kills five people. The shooter is quickly identified and police arrest the culprit.
The case against him seems solid, but instead of confessing, the man writes the words ‘Get Jack Reacher’.
Reacher goes to the city to confirm for himself the man’s guilt. But during his investigation he gets more than he bargained for.
As I’m not a Tom Cruise fan and having read a couple of Jack Reacher books and knowing the character, I was pretty certain going into the film that I would be disappointed because of this bad casting choice.
Despite a solid story (which remained true to the book as far as possible), the movie was seriously lacking due to Cruise’s portrayal of the character.
For one, Jack Reacher is over six feet tall, bulky and he is a bit of an animal who takes life seriously and rarely cracks a smile. Cruise falls short (excuse the pun) and could not fill the shoes of the imposing, strong figure I’ve always pictured in my head.
If you haven’t read any of the Jack Reacher books, you might enjoy this. But if you have, I bet you’ll be sorely disappointed too.
