The JACK REACHER Thread

Did you like it?  It's kinda unclear.

Has Cruise had work done?  His face looks a little Uncanny Valley-ish in the tv spots.

Pretty sure there's a whole sub-industry devoted to making sure Cruise looks 35 for as long as humanly possible.

I only became interested in this after hearing that Werner Herzog plays the villain. Shame to hear that he doesn't have much to do except glower and work his creepy fake-blind eye. But it seems like a movie my dad would like (middling action film) so maybe I'll end up seeing it anyway with him.

 

Hang on, that's not an actual credit, is it? Surely not. That would be just one farted synapse away from 'A Homer Simpson Joint'.

It's been in front of all the Mission Impossible movies, so yeah, it's real.

It was Cruise/Wagner Production for most of his career. I think it only became a Tom Cruise Production with MI4.

Is Jack Reacher THIS movie?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6Z5KUja4k

 

Cause this looks god damn fun to me. 

Blamo! http://www.chud.com/121009/tag-team-review-jack-reacher/

 

See it.

Nice! And surprising. But mostly nice. I love it when movies are better than I expected.

I'm inspired enough that I'm going to read One Shot tonight.

Love the tag-teams. Genuinely excited about seeing this flick now.

Yeah...I dug this and am genuinely surprised at the complete lack of buzz, discussion, threads, etc. here and elsewhere (Tag team review excepted).

 

It's a straightforward, badass whydunit procedural, and Cruise is believable both as the intuitive detective and the hardass.

 

Some touches - like the fact that every time Reacher enters a bar, club or other public establishment, there's always a hot chick nearby who starts smiling and eyeballing him - are a little overdone. But I loved the Courtney/Herzog tag team for villainy, and Cruise finally seems to not be playing a riff on Ethan Hunt for a change. 

 

Shame the trailers and TV spots blew so many cool moments. Still, McQuarrie has some dialogue gems here that haven't been blasted to death by the marketing materials.

I'd say the lack of buzz is due to the fact that it looks generic as hell.

I just realized, this looks like what I want out of a Batman movie...

Loved it. Unabashed Cruise fan, but this just works. It doesn't try to be anything it's not, it knows that all it needs is Tom Cruise being badass, Rosamund Pike looking damn fine and a few fun turns from Werner Herzog. Oh yeah, and a plot that's whatever and unfortunately timed, but who cares? It's Tom Cruise being awesome for two hours. Thoroughly entertaining B-movie as mentioned above.

 

I did like the assault scene at the end. Something about McQuarrie, but I always feel like he's either got a good background in weapons or is just a clever writer because (and granted I know absolutely nothing about tactics) it felt almost like how you'd train people to take a defensible position. Minus the driving car part, but it felt a little more grounded than most "actioners" are these days and I like that.

 

Now, I'm going google Rosamund Pike...

Just saw it and really dug it. Tom Cruise is a friggin' PRO as usual and David Oyelowo reminds me of a young Yaphet Kotto. If I had criticisms it would be I would have liked more Jenkins and would have ended the movie at the construction site with Reacher walking into the sunset. Otherwise a fun thriller that may squeeze into my top 10 of the year possibly. 

@Doc McQuarrie"s brother is a Navy seal who did the action choreography for Way of the gun.

The film has had lukewarm reception on this side of the pond, there's been a couple of
articles recently on Cruise been right for the role playing 6'5 Reacher and making the film just another Cruise vehicle.

I really couldn't stop ogling Pike in this. Weird, since I thought she looked totally weird in Wrath of the Titans.

The movie was good fun! Cruise laying down cliche after cliche with his reliable intensity was delicious.

 

Did you just give Rosamund Pike an underhanded compliment? I'm gonna end you if you don't apologize.

 

My friend and I spent the majority of WRATH's dull run time complaining about Pike. This movie caused me to flip 180 on her. And her role was fairly worthless here too.

SHUT UP! 

 

What he said.

I'm pretty sure you're on eggshells Miller.

Slant (God love 'em!) calls bullshit:

 

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/jack-reacher/6749

Well I like her now. I found her distractingly mesmerizing at times.

 

But she was a walking hole in the screen in WRATH. Which was tough to do with Worthington working hard to turn his own walking hole into a vortex that consumed the whole screen.

"[Werner Herzog]'s welcome, campy appearance feels more like a calculated appeal by McQuarrie to Herzog's fan base."

 

I love the thought of Christopher McQuarrie saying "Damnit, we're not testing high enough with the teenage girl demo! GET ME HERZOG!"

 

She's stunning to look at in Pride and Prejudice.  There's a scene where she and Keira Knightley are having a chat in bed under the covers (DOWN BOYS), and she looks downright ethereal.

Boy, I really had a good time with this. Which surprised me some since I read the first Reacher novel and didn't bother to read another. So either Child's stories have gotten better since Killing Floor or McQuarrie really brought something to this. I don't know where that Slant review is coming from, because I thought the direction, as well as his script, was really well done. 

 

And Cruise is terrific. I shouldn't be surprised at this point in his career, but I somehow always am when he pulls off a role you wouldn't automatically picture him in. He's convincing as a total badass, because-- let's face it-- the guy just exudes awesome awesomeness. It's why he's a movie star.

 

"I'm gonna beat you to death. Then I'm gonna drink your blood from a boot." Cruise sells that shit, in my opinion. 

 

Also, put me in the camp of Rosamund Pike admirers. There's one shot where she leans slightly over her office desk and... Good God.

 

Loved to see Herzog in this. I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the theatre who knew who the hell he was. There was, on the other hand, a collective murmur of appreciation the second Robert Duvall appeared on screen. It was mostly an older crowd in my showing today, but still it was a nice thing to hear.

Think we'll get a sequel based on this week's numbers?

 

Time for me to finally see dat girly movie!

Don't forget to catch that girly movie DOOM as well.

Just a solid, entertaining, no-nonsense kind of movie. I certainly wouldn't mind a franchise about a blue-collar, ass-kicking Sherlock Holmes. (The "Jack Reacher is the best at everything" element of the character initially took me out of the movie a bit, but I was OK with that once I starting thinking of it as a violent Sherlock Holmes story set in 2012 Pittsburgh.) I especially liked the mix of suspense and humor, not only throughout the movie as a whole but even in particular scenes. Two of the best scenes in the movie—the ridiculous fight at Jeb's house where the two thugs end up doing more damage to the bathroom and each other than to Jack, and the "drink your blood from a boot" scene where Jack keeps hanging up and calling them again—are perfect examples of this. It takes the story as seriously as it needs to, but it's by no means dour. Just a fun little ride.

$15.6 mil. Wonder if this will have word-of-mouth legs. Everyone I've recommended it to can barely believe it isn't horrible because of all the ads. So I imagine a lot of people stayed away opening weekend.

I liked it--had really no idea what to expect, but I enjoyed it.  If you watch NCIS, I sort of considered this, what if Gibbs worked alone and was in the army instead of the marines?  And yeah, Pike was mesmerizing.  I was like, was she wearing push-up bras this whole film, because I don't remember her boobs like that in Doom and Die Another Day.

 

Ticket sold!

(Since YouTube is being uncooperative, kindly skip to about 5:45.)

 

 

Plus Cruise hasn't done his usual promotion for this movie.  I would bet it's hardly on people's radar.

 

Sounds like wait for a rental anyway

I don't know why that line about beating someone to death and drinking their blood wasn't in the ad. If I'd seen Tom Cruise say that in the trailer, my estimation of the film would have shot right up accordingly.

I didn't doubt Reacher might be fun, but now I'm legitimately looking forward to it based on the Word of Mouth. Still going to have to be a rental for me, as I just can't realistically work out a way to go see it in theaters, but I hope the film has some legs. Rosamund Pike was very fetching in Wrath of the Titans, too. I thought more of her after having seen that film. Glad to hear she continues her winning streak into this latest release.

Man I ADORED this movie. Badass cool smart guy character who you want to be who's always one step ahead investigates a horrible crime.  You feel like you're figuring it all out, you're NEVER bored.  Man I loved this movie so much. 

 

"I will kill you and drink your blood out of a boot!"

It is a testament to the mystery and characters that this in no way felt like a two + hour movie. Coulda swore it was a breezy and badass 90 minute 'very special NCIS' (the comparison is quite apt).

Yeah, I had no idea this was over 2 hours.  I automatically assumed it was just under 2 hours.  Damned good pacing.

Loved Reacher fist fighting the big bad.  First of all, it's SOOO good to have a big bad villain in this kind of movie who's hateable and scary and capable.  As cheesy and cliche as it is, it's also kind of awesome that Reacher doesn't want to put a bullet in this guy.  That's TOO easy for this cunt. 
 

Agreed. I feel much better about Jai Courtney being in A Good Day To Die Hard now.

 

Like to pose a question. Think Harrison Ford could have played Reacher 20-25 yrs ago?

 

I could absolutely see that... Only you never saw a Ford character very deliberately break someone's neck with his bootheel. Or coldly shoot another villain in the head.

 

So has Tom Cuise become our all-purpose, cool cinematic badass the way Ford used to be? As incredible as it may sound-- between the Mission: Impossible movies and this, it nearly seems so now.

 

I keep seeing JACK REACHER compared to NCIS, or shows like it. But do any of those have the hero beating a man unconscious with the skull of another man? If so, I need to be watching more CBS procedurals.

Cruise certainly plays Reacher the way i read him in the books. Still i can't get over the fact that its Tom Cruise playing him.

 

The film is sold and entertaning enough. I consider it this year's Shooter.

 

Rosamund Pike sure is a beauty. Her character is pretty much useless though.

 

Could go either way, but I can't see it underperforming enough to be an embarrassment.

 

 

Same here.  That or they thought it didn't come out until Tuesday or next Friday.  They all seemed to brighten when I told them that not only was it getting good reviews, but I loved it.  I think it will get a lot of play throughout this week.  I can't see it bombing (budget is only $60 mill), but whether it will earn enough to score a sequel is anyone's guess at this point.  I hope it does.  I want a series of sequels with Chris McQuarrie, Shane Black, etc. alternating directorial duties, please!  If Cruise does indeed intend to "pass the torch" in a future MI film (be it MI5 or not), this is a great replacement franchise for him.

 

 

You're dead on there.  "I mean to beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot" is definitely going to get some use from me for years to come.

 

 

Agreed on Jai.  As for Ford?  I don't know.  I do think this felt entirely like something Steve McQueen would have done in the 70s though, which was incredibly refreshing.  We don't get enough of that kind of "action" movie these days.