Jack Reacher

[eloisel]

I like Tom Cruise. In my opinion, he is a really good actor and chooses characters fairly interesting to me most of the time. Sometimes he surprises me in that while I wouldn't have chosen him for the part, he still did the character justice. Example of that is the Vampire Lestat.

I've not read Lee Child novels and I'm not familiar with the character Jack Reacher. However, after seeing this movie, either Lee Child wrote this character with Tom Cruise in mind, or during the filming thereof some classic Cruise was added. There are moments of movement and inflection in there from "A Few Good Men" and the "Mission Impossible" movies with a little bit of Lestat on the side. I enjoy those movies so I'm not complaining.

The story was pretty good. Not as tightly written as the last Mission Impossible movie. While this story had plenty of action, none of it was on the edge of my seat type exciting. Quite a bit I had to cover my eyes during though. In places it was pretty brutal. The unraveling of the mystery didn't have quite the impact as "Courage Under Fire" (not a Cruise vehicle), and some of that was because the audience knows from the beginning of this movie that the conclusion is wrong.

The bad guy is very nasty but the explanation of why he is such a bastard is a little convoluted.

Spoiler

It seemed like it isn't enough that a bad guy be a bad guy because he is so greedy for money he doesn't care who he hurts. It also appeared that having the type of horrendous past that makes a person insane isn't enough. In this story, the bad guy is orchestrating nasty happenings to cover up his greedy corporate practices while coercing people to do his dirty work while he remains invisible because he has a pretty memorable visage and he'll tell you quickly he had an awful past which is why he is the nasty bastard he is today except he doesn't really talk about those things, blah, blah, blah.

I'm wondering why someone didn't just shoot him long time ago for being such a nasty, whiny little bastard.

However, Tom Cruise can still kick somebody's butt and it is important that we all know that.

 

[Filthy Whore]

Nope, this casting will never work for me. I've read all the books and Jack Reacher is a 6'5", 250 pound force of nature that Tom Cruise will never be able to portray. He's the most ridiculous choice for the part I can imagine.

No no no no no no no.

 

[eloisel]

That is kind of how I felt about Cruise playing Lestat. But, he did a very good job of that.

 

[curiousa2z]

I dont think Lestat's height was as emphatically described in the books as Jack Reach's is. He's huge; that's part of his persona. Choosing Cruise is just.... odd..... Did they have all tiny actors around him to make him look tall?
(Serious question - I havent seen the film.)

and I also think Cruise did a good job playing Lestat.

 

[eloisel]

LOL.

The beginning of the movie has the Jack character walking around and the girls all smiley faced at him. There is one scene where he is standing in a room with his shirt off and the girl in the room gets a little hot and bothered by it. I like Tom and think he is a nice looking person but I wouldn't get all hot and bothered over him.

The Jack Reacher character is definitely about action and Tom is good at action. He is very physical. Even though I know he is 50, I didn't have a problem believing he was kicking the crap out of a ruthless and trained killer much younger than him.