cinemabon
01-06-2013, 11:22 PM
Jack Reacher – Directed and Written by Christopher McQuarrie
A man enters a parking garage and moments later, seemingly guns down five innocent people. A swat team led by investigator Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo – who also appears in “Lincoln”) finds enough evidence to track the killer down. They burst into his home, find corroborating evidence and arrest him. During his initial interrogation, Emerson offers the man a chance to confess. He gives him paper and pen and instead of a confession, he writes: “Get Jack Reacher.”
So opens the latest film from Tom Cruise, reunited with the studio that brought him so much fame and fortune – Paramount Studios. Based on a story written by Jim Grant, whose pen name Lee Child has produced no less than 17 Jack Reacher novels and vaulted him to numerous awards and accolades for that accomplishment. Child, who began writing in England for Granada television working on such series as “Brideshead Revisted,” “Jewel in the Crown,” “Prime Suspect,” and others, was subsequently let go in restructuring and decided to write a novel based on an ex-military man more interested in justice than following the rules. His first novel, “Killing Floor,” was such a success, Child went on to write sixteen more murder/mystery novels based on the character and gained a huge fan base in the process. When it came time to translate his first novel to the screen, it was decided by the producers to choose his ninth book in the series, “One Shot.” The screenplay is nearly a verbatim condensation of the novel (Initially adapted by Josh Olson, McQuarrie wrote the final screenplay and took sole credit. He also penned “Valkyrie,” another Cruise film, and won an Oscar for “The Usual Suspects” ). Although Jack Reacher is described in the novels as a man who is six foot five inches tall, Child actually approved of Cruise’s choice for lead actor, stating: “Cruise has the intensity to bring the Reacher character to life in a cinematic way.” Cruise also served as one of the film’s producers.
While on the surface a typical action thriller, the film has several qualities that give it more appeal than your usual Cruise-in-your-face, stunt-reliant Hollywood movie. For one, the score from the opening is dynamic and inviting. Composer Joe Kraemer has given a wonderful underlying tension to the helicopter shots that is above your standard drum-drum-drum beating score that usually drives the plot of similar star oriented vehicles. This is more or less Kraemer’s initial foray into feature film scores and his work is clean, precise, and the cues work well, while still fresh. I thought the music worked well to bring me into the film from the start and was an important part overall to the film’s ultimate success in the way a score by Bernard Herrmann might work for Hitchcock (although I am not comparing Kraemer’s work to the level of Herrmann’s, only the way it supported the film with the same kind of individuality). In addition, the cinematography by five-time Oscar-nominated Caleb Deschanel was superior to your usual action shoot-em-up picture. These elements helped me focus more on the plot and less on their superior level of quality in a way that did not distract but lent credence to the film’s excellence. These valuable elements did not pass notice of this long time critic’s eye and ear and bear mentioning.
Probably thanks to McQuarrie’s direction, the level of acting, along with an excellent cast, served this production well. For starters, Cruise portrayal of Jack Reacher does not make the character too overbearing in underplaying a part that requires little emotional expression. Cruise manages to make Reacher appear both benevolent and generous while simultaneously ready to boil over in an instant, keep us on edge as to how he will react in nearly every scene. However, it is the part of Jack’s foil, the mysterious figure Zec, which changes “Jack Reacher” into a film with superior supporting cast. From the film’s start, Zec’s gruesome disfigurement plays well in shaping his underplayed and yet frightening portrayal brought brilliantly to the screen in its small but no less important way by Werner Herzog, a figure well known on this website. Herzog, who is set to direct a film based on the life of T. H. Lawrence, plays a man like Reacher, one who has a past that is never revealed much but hinted in ways that help create a persona to be feared. “I did what I did to survive. Now you must do the same,” he says when confronting one of his lackeys while he ordered the man to bite off his fingers, just as he had done in a Russian gulag.
During the course of the film’s plot, Jack Reacher must also deal with the shooter’s defending attorney (Rosamund Pike) who also happens to be the daughter of the District Attorney (longtime character actor Richard Jenkins). As the investigation deepens, Reacher becomes suspicious of everyone involved after he is set up, confronted and outnumbered during a fight on the streets of Pittsburgh. The city is the principle setting to the film and is star in its own right when several prominent landmarks serve as backdrops. Once his presence is known to all the parties involved, someone is working against him. Reacher soon finds he must battle both the police and the bad guys after he becomes a suspect. Eventually, he takes on the assistance of cantankerous rogue retired officer Cash (Robert Duvall). That Jack often enlists the assistance of former members of the military is a reoccurring motif in the Reacher novels. McQuarrie also adds nice little touches, such as including a scene from William Wyler’s “The Big Country” playing on a TV in the background of a suspenseful scene, probably as an homage to the master craftsman. Followed by a clue that includes a murder in a bathtub with a torn shower curtain, aka Hitchcock’s “Psycho” along with other subtle visuals and sounds McQuarrie uses to enhance this production noticeable only to knowledgeable film critics.
The novels, like the film, have a familiar theme – similar to Batman or the Punisher, Jack Reacher (whose name arose from Child’s wife, before his first novel was published, observed him help an old woman take an item down from a high shelf – “You can always get a job as a Reacher.”) is a gifted vigilante who comes to the rescue of ordinary citizens, using his extraordinary talents to right some terrible wrong while solving the mystery of some crime at the same time. “Reacher” is entertaining while not employing too much pontification or the excesses of blood and gore that other Christmas films contain (and you know of whom I speak). Recommended.
A man enters a parking garage and moments later, seemingly guns down five innocent people. A swat team led by investigator Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo – who also appears in “Lincoln”) finds enough evidence to track the killer down. They burst into his home, find corroborating evidence and arrest him. During his initial interrogation, Emerson offers the man a chance to confess. He gives him paper and pen and instead of a confession, he writes: “Get Jack Reacher.”
So opens the latest film from Tom Cruise, reunited with the studio that brought him so much fame and fortune – Paramount Studios. Based on a story written by Jim Grant, whose pen name Lee Child has produced no less than 17 Jack Reacher novels and vaulted him to numerous awards and accolades for that accomplishment. Child, who began writing in England for Granada television working on such series as “Brideshead Revisted,” “Jewel in the Crown,” “Prime Suspect,” and others, was subsequently let go in restructuring and decided to write a novel based on an ex-military man more interested in justice than following the rules. His first novel, “Killing Floor,” was such a success, Child went on to write sixteen more murder/mystery novels based on the character and gained a huge fan base in the process. When it came time to translate his first novel to the screen, it was decided by the producers to choose his ninth book in the series, “One Shot.” The screenplay is nearly a verbatim condensation of the novel (Initially adapted by Josh Olson, McQuarrie wrote the final screenplay and took sole credit. He also penned “Valkyrie,” another Cruise film, and won an Oscar for “The Usual Suspects” ). Although Jack Reacher is described in the novels as a man who is six foot five inches tall, Child actually approved of Cruise’s choice for lead actor, stating: “Cruise has the intensity to bring the Reacher character to life in a cinematic way.” Cruise also served as one of the film’s producers.
While on the surface a typical action thriller, the film has several qualities that give it more appeal than your usual Cruise-in-your-face, stunt-reliant Hollywood movie. For one, the score from the opening is dynamic and inviting. Composer Joe Kraemer has given a wonderful underlying tension to the helicopter shots that is above your standard drum-drum-drum beating score that usually drives the plot of similar star oriented vehicles. This is more or less Kraemer’s initial foray into feature film scores and his work is clean, precise, and the cues work well, while still fresh. I thought the music worked well to bring me into the film from the start and was an important part overall to the film’s ultimate success in the way a score by Bernard Herrmann might work for Hitchcock (although I am not comparing Kraemer’s work to the level of Herrmann’s, only the way it supported the film with the same kind of individuality). In addition, the cinematography by five-time Oscar-nominated Caleb Deschanel was superior to your usual action shoot-em-up picture. These elements helped me focus more on the plot and less on their superior level of quality in a way that did not distract but lent credence to the film’s excellence. These valuable elements did not pass notice of this long time critic’s eye and ear and bear mentioning.
Probably thanks to McQuarrie’s direction, the level of acting, along with an excellent cast, served this production well. For starters, Cruise portrayal of Jack Reacher does not make the character too overbearing in underplaying a part that requires little emotional expression. Cruise manages to make Reacher appear both benevolent and generous while simultaneously ready to boil over in an instant, keep us on edge as to how he will react in nearly every scene. However, it is the part of Jack’s foil, the mysterious figure Zec, which changes “Jack Reacher” into a film with superior supporting cast. From the film’s start, Zec’s gruesome disfigurement plays well in shaping his underplayed and yet frightening portrayal brought brilliantly to the screen in its small but no less important way by Werner Herzog, a figure well known on this website. Herzog, who is set to direct a film based on the life of T. H. Lawrence, plays a man like Reacher, one who has a past that is never revealed much but hinted in ways that help create a persona to be feared. “I did what I did to survive. Now you must do the same,” he says when confronting one of his lackeys while he ordered the man to bite off his fingers, just as he had done in a Russian gulag.
During the course of the film’s plot, Jack Reacher must also deal with the shooter’s defending attorney (Rosamund Pike) who also happens to be the daughter of the District Attorney (longtime character actor Richard Jenkins). As the investigation deepens, Reacher becomes suspicious of everyone involved after he is set up, confronted and outnumbered during a fight on the streets of Pittsburgh. The city is the principle setting to the film and is star in its own right when several prominent landmarks serve as backdrops. Once his presence is known to all the parties involved, someone is working against him. Reacher soon finds he must battle both the police and the bad guys after he becomes a suspect. Eventually, he takes on the assistance of cantankerous rogue retired officer Cash (Robert Duvall). That Jack often enlists the assistance of former members of the military is a reoccurring motif in the Reacher novels. McQuarrie also adds nice little touches, such as including a scene from William Wyler’s “The Big Country” playing on a TV in the background of a suspenseful scene, probably as an homage to the master craftsman. Followed by a clue that includes a murder in a bathtub with a torn shower curtain, aka Hitchcock’s “Psycho” along with other subtle visuals and sounds McQuarrie uses to enhance this production noticeable only to knowledgeable film critics.
The novels, like the film, have a familiar theme – similar to Batman or the Punisher, Jack Reacher (whose name arose from Child’s wife, before his first novel was published, observed him help an old woman take an item down from a high shelf – “You can always get a job as a Reacher.”) is a gifted vigilante who comes to the rescue of ordinary citizens, using his extraordinary talents to right some terrible wrong while solving the mystery of some crime at the same time. “Reacher” is entertaining while not employing too much pontification or the excesses of blood and gore that other Christmas films contain (and you know of whom I speak). Recommended.