jack reacher movie review 2012

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, jack reacher.

Now streaming on:

It's well-established that Tom Cruise is too short to play the Jack Reacher of Lee Child's novels, a broad-shouldered giant of an ex-military policeman described by the author in terms usually reserved for horror movie beasts. But between Cruise's often steely, obsessive screen persona and his multiple-decades-long career as a leading man, he's built up a gravitas that translates to "menace" easily, and he's effective in "Jack Reacher," adapted by Christopher McQuarrie ("Way of the Gun," " The Usual Suspects ") from the novel "One Shot." Even when he's laughing and grinning, Cruise seems like the sort of person one wouldn't want to cross. He can also do icy minimalism (see Michael Mann's " Collateral " for proof), and that's the mode McQuarrie is operating in here, so it's an effective match of leading man and filmmaker, even though the overall impact is that of a superior proof-of-concept pilot for a TV show rather than a rich stand-alone film.

The story begins when a man drives a van into the parking garage across the Allegheny River from a stadium and murders five people with a sniper rifle. Local cops pull a fingerprint from a quarter deposited in a parking meter near the garage where the killer set up and arrest ex-Army sniper James Barr ( Joseph Sikora ). Detective Calvin Emerson ( David Oyelowo ) and District Attorney Alex Rodin ( Richard Jenkins ) offer Barr a choice between confessing to the crimes and going to prison for life. Barr adds a third option: writing "Get Jack Reacher" on a notepad. 

Reacher, who came to Pittsburgh after watching TV news coverage of the shootings, visits Barr in the hospital, where he's in a coma with memory loss after having been attacked by fellow inmates during incarceration. Reacher meets Barr's defense attorney, Helen Rodin ( Rosamund Pike ), who happens to be the D.A.'s daughter. The case has a few peculiar details, notably the fingerprinted quarter: what sort of mass murderer pays for parking? What really happened here? 

Helen and Reacher (they call him Reacher, almost never Jack) discuss the incident and embark on their own investigation. Well, not exactly: Reacher drives the movie to such a degree that it makes Cruise seem insecure as a leading man (he's more generous in the "Mission: Impossible" movies). He does most of the talking here, trying out his own theories and picking apart Helen's. Mostly Helen is there to (1) help Reacher do things he doesn't have the clearance or access to do for himself, (2) be proved wrong or made to seem naive, and (3) get kidnapped and used as a hostage/leverage in the final stretch of the movie. 

Reacher is a sharp and often sardonic investigator in the books and usually becomes the alpha in whatever room he's in. But there's something misguided in this film's tone. It tips things so that we spend two hours watching Reacher be right about (almost) everything. Helen isn't insulted or degraded by the movie, but she's not respected, either, and almost every person who dares step to Reacher gets his butt handed to him in a lunchpail. That gets dull after a while. If Cruise weren't so naturally intense and the filmmaking so assured, it would have gotten dull a lot faster.

The mystery ultimately leads us to the bad guys, but they're introduced to the audience long before Helen and Reacher figure out how they're involved in the mass murder and why they engineered it the first place. The chief henchman is a Reacher-like paramilitary badass played by Jai Courtney . The Big Bad is a gangster posing as a legitimate businessman who goes by the ominous one-syllable name Zec (Russian for "prisoner") and is played by director Werner Herzog . 

Zec is a cipher, more a satanic presence than a man. It makes sense that Cruse and McQuarrie would want to fill the part with somebody who is as much of a "brand" in his own way as Cruise. Herzog has chronicled so much madness and evil as a director that it's rubbed off on him by osmosis, even though he comes across as a cheerful eccentric when discussing his art. His work in "Jack Reacher" is one of the best pieces of director stunt casting since Martin Scorsese played the president of Geritol in " Quiz Show ." Herzog brings a genuine sense of menace and a hint of cosmic irony to the role, making the performance feel like more of a statement than a gimmick. You look into Zec's eyes and think that here is a man who has not just seen hell, but purchased real estate there.

There's another cagey old veteran in the cast:  Robert Duvall , who acted with Cruise in "Days of Thunder." He plays Marine Gunnery Sgt. Martin Cash, who helps Reacher go after the bad guys and is an artist with a rifle. The scenes between Cruise and Duvall are the most pleasurable in the film because Duvall is such a thousand-pound bull of an actor that Cruise knows he'll get the best results from a scene by waving a cape at him, then stepping aside to let him gallop and kick. Duvall often seems to be busting Cruise's chops, more so than Cash busting Reacher's. This levels out Cruise's control-freak approach to the "hero" part just when it threatens to suffocate the film. 

McQuarrie deserves credit for having enough faith in the power of his filmmaking to limit himself to a handful of self-contained action scenes, none of which are big by modern Hollywood standards, and make them feel wild, messy and harrowing rather than hide inside of the software-buffed vague digital slickness that has become so common. A fight between Reacher and three men in a house, two of whom corner him in a bathtub and try to kill him with bats, feels real even when Reacher is making like 1980s Schwarzenegger and using one man's head as a makeshift bowling ball to beat another man's face in. 

Cruise has that Harrison Ford gift for acting his way through action and reacting to things the way we might, even if we had the hero's experience and training. The movie is never funner or more exciting than when Reacher is facing off against men whose machismo has poisoned the part of their brain that produces common sense and who fail to read Reacher as somebody who makes promises, not threats. Sometimes things will get intense even by Reacher's standards and he'll throw off a reaction that says, "I can't believe I'm in a life-or-death situation for the fourth time this week" right before he rallies and neutralizes the people who are causing him problems. 

The climax should serve as a model for anybody hoping to stage comprehensible action in a vast, dimly lit space (the cinematographer is  Caleb Deschanel , who shot " The Black Stallion ," " The Right Stuff " and other classics). Every moment is so cleanly conveyed that you could write out a police report and not forget anything important. "Reacher" is a solid mystery-action picture, made memorable by the caliber of craft that its cast and crew brings to the table.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

Now playing

Peyton Robinson

I Saw the TV Glow

Robert daniels.

Clint Worthington

Christy Lemire

Back to Black

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Tomris laffly, film credits.

Jack Reacher (2012)

Rated PG-13

130 minutes

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher

Rosamund Pike as Helen Rodin

Richard Jenkins as D.A. Alex Rodin

David Oyelowo as Det. Emerson

Werner Herzog as Zec Chelovek

Jai Courtney as Charlie

Robert Duvall as Martin Cash

Vladimir Sizov as Vlad

Joseph Sikora as James Barr

Nicole Forester as Nancy Holt

Michael Raymond-James as Linsky

Alexia Fast as Sandy

Josh Helman as Jeb Oliver

James Martin Kelly as Rob Farrior

Dylan Kussman as Gary

Denver Milord as Punk

Susan Angelo as Oline Archer

Julia Yorks as Chrissie Farrior

Delilah Picart as Rita Coronado

Joe Coyle as Darren Sawyer

Alicia Murton as Mrs. Sawyer

Peter Gannon as Mr. Archer

David Whalen as Mr. Holt

Tristan Elma as Marcos Coronado

Sophie Guest as Little Girl

Michael Minor as Eyewitness

Scott A. Martin as Wesley

CJ Ramirez as Secretary

Teri Clark as Night Manager

Jarid Faubel as Man on Bus

Sara Lindsey as Woman on Bus

Jace Jeanes as Zec's Thug

Andrei Runtso as Zec's Thug

Efka Kvaraciejus as Zec's Thug

Lee Child as Desk Sergeant

Tommy Lafitte as Man with Ballcap

Kristen Dalton as Mindy

Jordan Trovillion as Goodwill Cashier

Annie Kitral as Pawn Shop Cashier

Lissy Gulick as Diner Waitress

Catherine Albers as Jeb's Mom

Larissa Emanuele as Sportsbar Waitress

Jason McCune as Construction Foreman

Shane Callahan as SWAT Guy

Joshua Elijah Reese as SWAT Guy

Nathan Hollabaugh as Cop

Christopher Stadulis as Cop

Joe Fishel as SWAT Officer (uncredited)

Robert Liscio as Man in Bar (uncredited)

Ronn Surels as Jeb's Wingman (uncredited)

Jackson Nunn as Passenger / Bar Guy (uncredited)

Production Design

• James D. Bissell

Art Direction

• George A. Weimerskirch

Costume Design

• Susan Matheson
• Kevin Stitt

Original Music Composer

• Joe Kraemer
• Don Granger
• Gary Levinsohn
• Paula Wagner
• Christopher McQuarrie

Music Supervisor

• Denise Luiso

Set Decoration

• Douglas A. Mowat
• Mindy Marin

Key Hair Stylist

• Nancy Keslar

Camera Operator

• BJ McDonnell

Music Editor

• John Finklea

Steadicam Operator

Script supervisor.

• Jessica Lichtner
• Marvel Wakefield

Hair Department Head

• Angel De Angelis

Supervising Sound Editor

• Alan Rankin
• Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

• Anna Behlmer
• Terry Porter

Costume Supervisor

• Charlene Amateau

Makeup Department Head

• Trefor Proud

Production Coordinator

• Lindsay Feldman

Still Photographer

• Karen Ballard

Director of Photography

• Caleb Deschanel

Assistant Editor

Visual effects editor.

• Mark Edward Wright
• Josh Sutherland

Art Department Coordinator

• Jenn Albaugh

Sound Mixer

• Jay Meagher
• Jim Emswiller

Property Master

• Peter Gelfman

ADR Supervisor

• Kelly Oxford

Dialogue Editor

• Julie Feiner

Second Unit Director

• Paul Jennings
• Dixon McPhillips

Stunt Coordinator

Executive producer.

• Kevin J. Messick
• Dana Goldberg
• Paul Schwake
• David Ellison

First Assistant Director

• Cliff Lanning

Second Assistant Director

• Rhys Summerhayes
• David Kelley
• Deanna Leslie

Unit Production Manager

• Andrew Saxe

Associate Producer

Post production supervisor.

• Susan E. Novick

Second Second Assistant Director

• Walter E. Myal
• Mikey Eberle

Assistant Director

• Eric Yellin

Executive In Charge Of Production

• Kirby Adams
• Ronn Surels
• Kimberly Shannon Murphy
• Janene Carleton
• Zack Duhame
• Peter Epstein
• Alice Rietveld
• Amy Lynn Tuttle
• Eddie Perez

Supervising Art Director

• Christa Munro

Assistant Hairstylist

• Winfrey Izear

Makeup Artist

• Sarah Monzani

Key Makeup Artist

• Marianne Skiba

Foley Mixer

• Scott Curtis

Boom Operator

• Chad Djubek
• Michael Piotrowski

Foley Editor

• Victor Ray Ennis
• Jerry Gilbert
• Chris Navarro

ADR Engineer

• Tamas Kurina

Utility Sound

• Kelly Roofner
• Amishjim Schulze

First Assistant Sound Editor

• David Stanke

Sound Effects Editor

• Bruce Tanis

Sound Editor

• Jay Wilkinson
• Juan Álvarez
• Cody Brunty
• Chris Ervin
• Doug Spilatro

Visual Effects Coordinator

• Caitlin Atherton
• Rachel Faith Hanson
• Charles Baden
• Travis Wade Ivy
• Roger Mocenigo
• Shoban Narayanan

Visual Effects Producer

• Daniel Chavez

Visual Effects Supervisor

• Bryan Godwin
• Mike Uguccioni

Rotoscoping Artist

• James Kawano

Compositing Supervisor

• Harimander Singh Khalsa

Digital Compositor

• Valy Lungoccia
• Jale Parsons

CGI Director

• Mare McIntosh

2D Supervisor

• Denise O'Neill

Digital Colorist

• Mitch Paulson

CG Supervisor

• Joel Sevilla

Senior Visual Effects Supervisor

• Shane Strickman

Executive Visual Effects Producer

• David Van Dyke

Set Costumer

• Melanie Cargioli
• Alison Evans

Key Costumer

• Michelle Christensen
• James Eidel
• Kelli French
• Nancy Thompson

Assistant Costume Designer

• Elaine Perlmann

Key Set Costumer

• Virginia Smith Phillips

Score Engineer

• Greg Loskorn

First Assistant "C" Camera

• Markus Mentzer

Stunt Driver

• Chris Palermo
• Jimmy N. Roberts
• Clay Cullen

Stunt Double

• Casey O'Neill

Latest blog posts

The Language of Horror: Ishana Night Shyamalan on The Watchers

Everybody Wants Some!! Told Us Everything We Needed to Know About Glen Powell

Cannes 2024 Video #9: Festival Wrapup

The Future of the Movies, Part 3

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Jack Reacher – review

T here is a rich and varied tradition of great directors taking cameos in other people's films. Fritz Lang appeared in Jean-Luc Godard's Le Mépris . François Truffaut appeared in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind . And now the legendary German director Werner Herzog appears in this movie, which stars Tom Cruise as hunky military investigator Jack Reacher, directed by Christopher McQuarrie and adapted by him from the bestseller One Shot by Lee Child.

Herzog just happens to be playing the sinister-looking, scary European guy with the heavy German accent. At first glance, this looks hurtfully close to typecasting. When he read through the script, we can only imagine Herzog's subsequent, tearful phone call to his agent: "I thawwwwd I would heff the rrrole of Reeeacher, the meff -erick aaaah-mee cop . I would be fenn -tastic in the pahhht because men would vant to bee me and women vant to bee wiss me and, plus, I could look into Rosamund Pike's eyes wissout heff -ing to stand on a box ."

But Herzog's role is sadly pretty small in this outrageous but entertaining pulp-melodrama thriller. It is watchable, though, of course, easily mocked: I discovered for myself recently that the joke about adding "-round" to the hero's surname is so prevalent online that it has almost caused Twitter to crash. Given its gun theme, the distributors might have pondered the possibility that this release should be postponed. It comes out this week in the US and on Boxing Day in the UK. But the film does show gun enthusiasts as, by and large, loathsome creeps, and that goes especially for people who drone on about their Second Amendment rights.

Tom Cruise is naturally Reacher, who in the book is a big guy . Cruise is not a big guy. So he remedies matters by bulking out east and west and walking with a shoulder-rolling, sub-Mitchum gait as if getting his arms past his pecs was a big problem. He does, however, appear to be at eye-level with Rosamund Pike. Cruise gets one fairly cheeky shirtless scene – which McQuarrie ironises with a throwaway gag – and his chest dimensions have evidently expanded mightily, while his tummy is sort of contracted into a muscular scrunch, as if you'd removed the plastic holding together a six-pack of beer and tied it in a knot. He wears leather bomber jackets and tan shoes, and in one scene a Persil-white top that is almost as low-cut as Pike's.

Reacher is a wild card, a highly decorated warrior once employed as a brilliant internal investigator, who has now quit the army and disappeared off the map, living a mysterious and somewhat ascetic life. We get to glimpse his file, which is regarded with the same awestruck respect and fear as that of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.

This Pimpernel of the US military re-emerges when a trained army sniper is arrested for the fatal shooting of five people, apparently at random. The investigating officer Emerson (David Oyelowo) is certain of his guilt, but to Emerson's astonishment and chagrin, a brilliant and beautiful lawyer, Helen (Pike), has stepped forward to defend this man, simply to spite her overbearing dad, the district attorney, played by Richard Jenkins. It is the defendant himself who mysteriously calls on Reacher's help – the only man who can prove his innocence.

The story pans out in a long, involved and more than faintly preposterous style, though with a few procedural diversions along the way. Reacher begins by telling Helen that he will help, if she agrees to interview the victims' families: an unthinkably tactless thing to do, but it elicits important details about the crime.

Perhaps the most purely enjoyable scene comes when Reacher (trained in badass unarmed combat) is challenged to a fistfight by five bullies outside a bar. It's five against one, smirks one. Three against one, corrects Reacher coolly, because the last two guys always turn and run. Then the action kicks off in a scene so elaborately edited and choreographed, it looks like an adaptation of Matthew Bourne's famous all-male Swan Lake.

Reacher must eventually confront the evil one himself, played by Herzog with a weird contact-lens to make one of his irises milky-white – as if he wasn't scary-looking enough as it is. In one horrible scene, he demands that a cringing underling bite off two of his own fingers. By the end of that, I and quite a few other members of the audience were attempting to bite our own fingers off, in the grip of an intense, unclassifiable emotion. Perhaps there will be more Reacher films after this: I hope Mr Cruise rises to the challenge.

• Action and adventure films
• Werner Herzog

More on this story

Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher is BBFC's most complained about movie of 2013

Tom Cruise on board Jack Reacher sequel

Jack Reacher film gives New Zealand viewer too little bang for his buck

No Jack Reacher sequel? How else will Tom Cruise rescue this ridiculous film?

Jack reacher - video review.

Werner Herzog: 'I've made bigger films than Jack Reacher'

Comments (…), most viewed.

Jack Reacher Review

Cruise is cool in cliche action pic..

We’ve seen almost everything in Jack Reacher done many times before, and much better, though the film does excel during the action scenes when Cruise is behind the wheel.

In This Article

IGN Recommends

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

Jack reacher: film review.

Tom Cruise is in fine form as the mysterious tough guy from Lee Child's novels finally reaches the big screen.

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Send an Email
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

Jack Reacher is an old-fashioned type of guy — he doesn’t use a cell phone or credit cards, he travels by bus — and the first film adaptation of one of Lee Child ’s Reacher novels has a correspondingly gritty, low-tech, real-muscle appeal. Tom Cruise might not be the 6-foot-5 rock described in the books, but he makes the title role fit him like a latex glove in a winning turn that could spawn a popular new franchise for the star, if public reaction to Christopher McQuarrie ’s film is as strong as its fun quotient warrants.

PHOTOS: Hollywood’s Private Jets: From Oprah Winfrey to Tom Cruise, Who Owns What

The British television veteran Child wrote his first Reacher novel in 1997 and since then has cranked out 16 more, of which One Shot , the basis for Jack Reacher , was the ninth. The central character, an Army vet and military policeman who knows all there is to know about weapons and hand-to-hand combat, possesses the same appeal as classic Western heroes — he’s a loner, self-sufficient, a man of few words who comes and goes without explanation — mixed with a touch of Philip Marlowe ’s tough determination to peel back layers of deception and official cant to arrive at a satisfying form of justice. He also is hard as nails physically, as he proves in fight after fight.

Related Stories

Glen powell finally conquered hollywood. so why is he leaving, "this is the glen powell decade": actor receives glowing praise from tom cruise, adria arjona.

In short, he’s a great male fantasy figure. Happily, Cruise plays him with no fuss in a direct, pared-down way with little sense of amped-up intensity or vanity; he can even take a joke at his own expense, as when he’s stripped to the waist in a motel room, and Rosamund Pike says, “Could you put your shirt on, please?”

Jack Reacher, then, is all business, taking a break from whatever he does with the rest of his time to help solve a case that initially looks open and shut. The disturbing opening — which, like much of the film, is shot and cut with taut precision — shows a sniper position himself in a parking garage across the water from Pittsburgh’s baseball stadium and methodically picks off what looks to be five random targets on the riverfront promenade.

PHOTOS: Holiday Stuffing: Why Long Movies Hit the Box Office This Season

Quickly apprehended, the apparent shooter is seriously roughed up and mysteriously asks for Jack Reacher, who then equally mysteriously appears as if from nowhere to begin assessing the situation. The other key players include Detective Emerson ( David Oyelowo ), who made the arrest; District Attorney Rodin ( Richard Jenkins ); and Helen Rodin (Pike), the hospitalized suspect’s savvy lawyer who just happens to be the DA’s daughter, a relationship fraught with personal and professional tensions.

Reacher knew the accused from their Iraq War days and impressively analyzes why Helen’s client was a perfect candidate for going off the deep end and committing such a horrific crime. At the same time, he suggests she learn everything she can about the victims, which prompts her to think that Reacher, who’d been off the grid for two years before this, might be a bit of a conspiracy freak.

As it becomes evident, however, it’s normal for Reacher’s very focused mind to be two or three steps ahead of everyone else’s. While the plot is not complex — it’s simplicity itself compared to McQuarrie’s labyrinthine classic The Usual Suspects — it nonetheless provides the tasty satisfactions of sturdy mystery thrillers of yore, in which you know things are not what they appear and you’re happy to be led by a capable expert through a maze of obstacles and suspicious characters to a satisfying denouement.

VIDEO: ‘Jack Reacher’ Trailer: Tom Cruise Is ‘Not a Hero,’ But Werner Herzog Is the Villain

Said suspicious characters begin to accumulate when five stupid guys challenge Reacher to a fight outside a bar after he allegedly has dissed their friend Sandy ( Alexia Fast ). Big mistake on their part; Reacher takes them down in a bone-crunching display of scary combat techniques. It’s the first of several intense physical encounters in which Cruise puts on an impressive show of quite credible mano a mano skills, which, refreshingly, are not edited in a flurry of cuts designed to obscure either an aging star’s inadequacy or the participation of a stunt double.

Another action sequence that delivers the goods and doesn’t cheat is an extended nocturnal car chase through Pittsburgh streets that harks back to the propulsive realism of Bullitt and The French Connection days; it’s no coincidence that the car Reacher drives is a 1970 Chevy Chevelle. As it races through the city’s shadowy canyons, the set piece delivers a fine sense of real speed and is prolonged enough to achieve a sense of genuine occasion rather than seeming just an obligatory action interlude to offset the talk scenes.

The actual unraveling of the plot might contain limited surprises, but again, McQuarrie provides satisfactions with the surprise casting of director Werner Herzog as a creepy bad guy, introducing Robert Duvall as a late-appearing key character and setting his action climax at night in a visually arresting quarry that carries the connotations of both a wartime battlefield and an ancient combat arena. The writer-director, whose behind-the-camera skills have jumped considerably since his debut on The Way of the Gun a dozen years ago, delivers the narrative and the visuals with clarity, dispatch and style, aided greatly by Caleb Deschanel’ s bracingly sharp cinematography, Jim Bissell’ s nuanced production design and on-the-mark editing by Kevin Stitt that never calls attention to itself and helps 130 minutes go by in what feels like less than two hours.

At least in terms of his action-film portfolio, Cruise is in top form here; if he feels like working really hard as a star and producer, he could alternate big-budget Mission: Impossible outings with less expensive Jack Reacher installments for a number of years, with other projects slipped in between them. Other important castmembers are classy, led by the ever-welcome Pike as the smart but conflicted lawyer and not-quite love interest, Jenkins as her suspicious dad and Oyelowo as the lead investigator.

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Carrie coon and shea whigham talk their ‘fargo’ reunion in ‘lake george’ and ‘mission: impossible 8’, why you should be watching ‘the watchers’, box office: will smith’s ‘bad boys 4’ delivers huge victory for actor with $56m u.s. debut, $104.6m globally, will smith surprises moviegoers at ‘bad boys: ride or die’ los angeles screening, ‘adult best friends’ review: endearing debut tackles the awkwardness of aging friendships, betty anne rees, actress in ‘the unholy rollers’ and ‘sugar hill,’ dies at 81.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

'jack reacher': well beyond cruise's grasp.

Stephanie Zacharek

Helen (Rosamund Pike) and Reacher (Tom Cruise) work together after being summoned by an accused killer. Karen Ballard/Paramount Pictures hide caption

Jack Reacher

• Director: Christopher McQuarrie
• Genre: Thriller
• Running time: 130 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and some drug material.

With: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall

Watch Clips

'Who He Was'

Credit: Paramount Pictures

'Walk Away'

Whenever James Stewart played a character, he was always a little bit James Stewart; that's a good thing. Cary Grant was always a little bit Cary Grant — also a good thing. But Tom Cruise, through a career that's spanned some 30 years, is almost always very much Tom Cruise. And that, particularly in Jack Reacher , can be a very tiresome thing.

Among those who have read and loved Lee Child's enormously popular Jack Reacher novels, the big complaint about Cruise's having cast himself as Child's burly, laconic protagonist is that he's the wrong physical type. Cruise doesn't have the strapping stature of Child's Reacher, although he is extraordinarily fit — lest we fail to notice, he appears shirtless several times in the picture. He's also pretty good at pulling off the hand-to-hand combat at which Reacher excels.

The bigger problem is that Cruise, as Reacher, has no wit and no style, other than the studiously applied kind. He's so desperate to do everything right that nearly everything he does comes off all wrong. And though director Christopher McQuarrie — who also adapted the screenplay, from Child's novel One Shot — shows some visual intelligence, he doesn't do enough to goad Cruise into giving this performance some shape. Cruise's idea of characterization consists chiefly of glaring and tightening his jawline. How could readers who love Jack Reacher not expect more?

At least McQuarrie, a veteran screenwriter who made his big splash with The Usual Suspects and also did some reworking of last year's moderately enjoyable Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol , has good storytelling instincts. (This is the second film he's directed; the first was 2000's The Way of the Gun , with Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro.) The picture opens with an extended wordless sequence that sets up the plot in precise visual language: A man whom we later learn — or believe — is a trained Army sniper heads to a specific urban locale in Pittsburgh and coolly picks off five human beings in the span of a few minutes. The suspect, an anonymous-looking guy named Barr (Joseph Sikora), is immediately arrested and taken into custody, where he's quizzed by a detective (David Oyelowo) and the DA (Richard Jenkins). The two try to force a confession out of the suspect, but instead, he scrawls on a sheet of paper, "Get Jack Reacher."

Enter Reacher — eventually, at least. Reacher is a former Army investigator, now a drifter who moves hither and yon, taking action whenever justice needs to be served. (In one case, he does so by bashing the craniums of two meatheads together until the poor sods fall into a heap on the floor.) Reacher knows something about Barr's past, and he agrees — or at least doesn't refuse — to help the man's attorney (Rosamund Pike), who also happens to be the DA's daughter, keep the guy off death row.

Emerson (David Oyelowo) helps investigate the case, which is much more complicated than it appears. Karen Ballard/Paramount Pictures hide caption

Emerson (David Oyelowo) helps investigate the case, which is much more complicated than it appears.

Through it all, Cruise's Reacher breaks the limbs of thugs as if they were twigs, makes wry remarks that don't quite qualify as jokes and drives fast cars, crazily, though the streets and the forlorn outskirts of Pittsburgh.

Watching Cruise wrestle the role of Reacher into submission isn't exactly painful, but it isn't particularly enjoyable, either. Even when Cruise allows himself to be the butt of a joke — when, for example, Reacher is being assaulted by guys with heavy-duty automatic weapons and looks down forlornly at the weapon in his hands, a knife — he's always in complete control; he can never relax and let go.

There's more than a whiff of desperation in the performance: When Reacher enters a bar, or any other place where womenfolk tend to congregate, the ladies in the room fix the female gaze upon him with a "What's that aftershave you're wearing?" intensity. Naturally, Reacher is hot, and obviously irresistible to women. But Cruise plays these moments with faux-cool cockiness that speaks more to his own middle-age insecurity than to anything inherent in Reacher's character.

And again, Cruise never passes up a chance to show what a great bod he's got. (Pike, an actress who's generally cool as a cuke, is called upon to act flustered when she's treated to an eyeful of Reacher's brawny bare pecs.) Luckily, there are other actors to look at here, and they manage to throw off some intelligent energy when they're around: Werner Herzog plays a mysterious baddie with a milky eye and a silky voice, and Robert Duvall, as an extremely helpful ex-Marine, steps in at the 11th hour to show Cruise a thing or two about how to sling a joke. (His buoyancy, even when he's playing your stock, squinty-eyed Marine type, is key.)

But none of it is enough to make Jack Reacher exciting or even just vaguely fun. The picture is joyless and perfunctory. Call it Mission: Possible .

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Hit Man Link to Hit Man
• Am I OK? Link to Am I OK?
• Jim Henson Idea Man Link to Jim Henson Idea Man

New TV Tonight

• The Boys: Season 4
• Bridgerton: Season 3
• Presumed Innocent: Season 1
• The Lazarus Project: Season 2
• The Big Bakeover: Season 1
• How Music Got Free: Season 1
• Love Island: Season 6

Most Popular TV on RT

• Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• Eric: Season 1
• House of the Dragon: Season 2
• Sweet Tooth: Season 3
• Evil: Season 4
• Dark Matter: Season 1
• Ren Faire: Season 1
• Tires: Season 1
• Star Wars: Ahsoka: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1 Link to Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Glen Powell Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Star Wars TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Movie Re-Release Calendar 2024: Your Guide to Movies Back In Theaters

Vote For the Best Movie of 1999 – Round 4

• Trending on RT
• Netflix's Best Movies
• Vote: 1999 Movie Showdown

Jack Reacher Reviews

Casting Tom Cruise as the former military policeman Reacher is far-fetched to say the least. That said, this is enjoyably boisterous.

Full Review | Feb 5, 2024

Jack Reacher entertains with a good bit of pulpy dramatic irony.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 4, 2023

Other characters keep telling us how mysterious and dangerous Jack Reacher is, and yet Cruise’s appearance, clean-cut and trim, doesn’t fit the bill.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 20, 2022

Im not sure what level of recommendation it is when you say a film was better than you thought it would be, but there it is.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 1, 2022

Fans of Cruise films like The Firm or A Few Good Men will lap this up, but those seeking a vibrant, contemporary action-thriller would be better off looking elsewhere.

Full Review | Feb 7, 2022

Both a competent mystery movie and an exciting action film.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 2, 2020

There's quite a bit of fun to be had in the film if you're willing to lower your expectations.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 12, 2020

Regardless of its problems, this was still a fun movie, with good dialogue and some nice supporting work. It won't change the world, but honestly, it doesn't need to.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 29, 2020

There's fun action throughout and a solidly constructed puzzle to solve. It's not great, but it's sufficiently entertaining as it goes.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 30, 2019

Jack Reacher is a solid, whodunit mystery that will keep you entertained.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2019

As far as guilty pleasures go, Jack Reacher is surprisingly smarter than most.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 18, 2018

The film has a very 70's feel to it, reminiscent of classics like Bullit or The French Connection.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Nov 1, 2018

Piles on action hero cliches with precision but little flair, and it goes on for way too long.

Full Review | Aug 30, 2018

Uncommonly sharp writing, a twisty puzzle and a darkly wry sense of humor elevate "Jack Reacher" well above the level most big-screen police procedurals attain.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 7, 2018

a highly enjoyable throwback to gritty '70s crime thrillers that were made without wires, CGI, or hyperkinetic editing and instead relied on stunts, narrative twists, and star power

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 19, 2018

[Jack Reacher] is slick and superbly shot.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 11, 2017

This hard-charging action flick, based on the bestselling series of novels by Lee Child, is a throwback to the tough-nosed crime dramas of the 1960s and 1970s.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 14, 2016

It's so forgettable that its rewatchability factor could be off the charts.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 14, 2016

Plain, cleanly directed meat-and-potatoes action filmmaking that aspires to competence and simplicity. A nice change of pace.

Full Review | May 3, 2015

Usually McQuarrie keeps things light, letting us enjoy the fantasy of one man defending himself against five enemies with nothing but his fists.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 13, 2013

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

• DVD & Streaming

Jack Reacher

• Action/Adventure , Drama , Mystery/Suspense

Content Caution

In Theaters

• December 21, 2012
• Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher; Rosamund Pike as Helen; Richard Jenkins as Rodin; David Oyelowo as Emerson; Werner Herzog as The Zec; Jai Courtney as Charlie; Alexia Fast as Sandy; Robert Duvall as Cash

Home Release Date

• May 7, 2013
• Christopher McQuarrie

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

Five people are gunned down in the middle of the day, shot at random by a single killer. In a matter of minutes, the police examine footprints, recover bullet casings and view surveillance tape of the apparent assailant’s van. They find the quarter the guy used to feed the meter, covered with fingerprints. They belong to James Barr, an Iraq War vet with a problematic past.

He’s quickly apprehended and presented with a choice: Confess now and live, or go through a trial and face execution. But when he’s given a piece of paper, he seems to reject both paths. “Get me Jack Reacher,” he writes.

The movie Jack Reacher is based on the book One Shot , which is the ninth installment in Lee Child’s crime series. It places Reacher in Pittsburgh. And it quickly plops us down in the middle of a problem. Certainly a problem for James Barr. And a problem for his defense attorney too. You see, Jack Reacher is practically, literally, a nobody. Oh, he used to be a talented military cop—a guy with a near photographic memory and a positively frightening left hook. But two years ago, he disappeared. He has no credit cards, no driver’s license, nothing. There’s no possible way anybody can track down this guy.

And then Jack just shows up. He strikes up a conversation with Helen, Barr’s lead attorney, who promptly tries to hire him as her lead investigator.

Maybe that’s not a great idea—even setting aside the fact that it’s probably not the best legal practice to hire a mysterious, homeless drifter—no matter what his presumed past might boast. And here’s another problem for Barr: Jack thinks the guy is guilty. And he knows the vet has killed before.

But Jack’s curious about the case, so he agrees to help. And, as he digs around, he starts to form some questions: How could Barr, just an average marksman in the army, kill so efficiently? Were the victims really as random as they looked? And why on earth would a murderer plug a parking meter before going on a shooting spree? Wouldn’t he have more pressing concerns than a parking ticket?

Positive Elements

“You think I’m a hero?” Jack says. “I’m not.” And as we shall see, Jack is no liar.

The best we can say here is that while he does some bad things (a lot of bad things), he does them for what he thinks are good reasons. He’s all about meting out justice (or at least his version of justice), and he’s determined to make sure the right person pays for the crimes at hand. When Jack realizes that Barr’s not the killer he thinks he is, he sets aside his personal animosity for the guy and pursues the real culprits with the tenacity of a rabid wolverine.

He’s aided in his pursuit by an idealistic defense attorney, who also shows a good dose of righteous gumption and very little quit. Both of them go above and beyond (sometimes waaaaay beyond) the call of duty.

Sexual Content

Sandy, a woman in a midriff-revealing top, makes some moves on Jack in a bar, telling him that perhaps they could go somewhere quieter.

“You’re old enough to drive?” he asks.

“I’m old enough to do a lot of things,” she answers. But when he says he can’t “afford” her, she takes offense and calls her “brothers” over. The words “whore” and “slut” are thrown around before the men usher Jack out of the bar. (She admits to Jack later that it was a setup—that she was told Jack was a pervert and would have his hands all over her.)

Later, we see Sandy again, wearing a different midriff-revealing top. A woman wearing just a pair of black panties puts on her bra. (She’s shown from the back.)

Helen and Jack discuss the case in Jack’s hotel room. He’s walking around shirtless, flustering Helen a bit. And when he tells her she should get some sleep, she takes it as a come-on. Turns out it wasn’t. He sticks her car keys in her hand and leads her to the door. Jack speculates that two of the victims were having an affair.

Violent Content

The conflict outside the bar with Sandy’s “brothers” shows the softer, gentler side of Jack: He only beats three of them senseless. He merely kicks two of them in the crotch, and just comes close to breaking a couple of limbs … even allowing two others to run away.

Later, two thugs make like the Three Stooges as they attack Jack—doing far more damage to an innocent bathroom and each other than to Mr. Reacher. After one thug is knocked out by the other with a baseball bat, Jack takes down the conscious culprit by pounding his face into what little remains of the bathroom tile. He then repeatedly thwacks the bad guys’ heads together and, as a finale, nearly breaks some fingers with a gun—forcing those fingers’ owner to release his car into Jack’s less-than-careful custody.

But these evildoers get off easy. Jack guns down a handful of bad guys—including one at point-blank range, in the face, after the man had pretty much surrendered. He tells another over the phone that he aims to kill him, saying, “I mean to beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot.” And then he apparently does beat the guy to death—breaking his leg and fingers, kneeing him in the face … before pushing his boot down on his head.

“What about bringing them to justice?” Helen gasps.

“I just did,” Jack says.

None of those violent scenes feel quite so visceral or so wrong, though, as the opening sequence in which we see the five innocents gunned down. Little blood is shown (except in crime photos after the fact), but with real-life killings (such as the ones in Newtown, Conn., perpetually fresh in many moviegoers minds, the sight of these civilians falling prey to a killer’s bullets feels especially painful. And we see the carnage twice—once from the shooter’s point of view and then in flashback, watching as they run helplessly from the bullets. A young nanny, for example, runs while carrying her 6-year-old charge to what she hopes will be safety. “We’re going to be OK,” she tells the girl in a breathless mantra. “We’re going to be OK. We’re going to—”

A bullet silences her forever. (The child survives.)

Elsewhere, a bad guy is encouraged to chew off his own fingers in a show of strength and loyalty. When he fails to do so, he’s shot and killed. (The killer takes out a saw, suggesting that the body will be dismembered.) Two thugs kill a woman—one punching her in the back of the head, knocking her out, the other covering her nose and mouth and smothering her. Her body is later found in an alley, and we see her mottled face. Another woman is Tasered.

A detective wishes Barr a long life in prison “with all your teeth knocked out.” Indeed, Barr is brutally beaten by other prisoners, leaving him comatose. (We see part of the attack, as Barr’s face is bloodied, and him in a hospital bed where he’s barely recognizable.) In flashback, Barr guns down four men in Iraq. Though he didn’t know it at the time, the men had just finished what Jack calls a “rape rally,” assaulting women and girls as young as 11.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word. About 10 s-words. We hear flurries of profanity that include “a‑‑,” “b‑‑ch,” “h‑‑‑,” “p‑‑‑y” and “p‑‑‑ed.” Jesus’ name is abused eight or nine times; God’s is misused two or three (once with “d‑‑n”).

Drug and Alcohol Content

Helen drinks beer. A scene takes place in a crowded bar, where scores of folks are holding and drinking alcohol. We hear that a henchman cooks meth. That man’s mother, sitting on the porch, looks nearly catatonic, drug paraphernalia on the table beside her. References are made to being “wasted.”

Other Negative Elements

Jack either steals or forcibly “borrows” three cars (destroying two of them). He flees from authorities, launching a crash-bang-bombastic car chase. Bystanders help him evade the police.

Folks make reference to passing gas and menstrual cycles.

When Helen asks Jack why he lives as he does, Jack pulls her over to a window and shows her buildings full of cubicles and folks working hard to pay off mortgages and credit cards. “Tell me, which ones are free?” Jack asks.

Jack believes he is the one who lives in almost perfect freedom. He has no debts, no fixed place of residence, no attachments. He comes and goes as he pleases. The guy’s such a free spirit he doesn’t acknowledge anyone or anything that could possibly restrict his freedom—including the laws that he, in his own twisted way, tries to uphold.

“He doesn’t care about the law,” we hear. “He doesn’t care about proof. He just cares about what’s right.” Which, seems to me, would be the mantra of many a lawbreaker—from the woman who runs a stoplight because she’s late to an important meeting, to a man who assaults his girlfriend’s presumed lover with a knife. “Don’t bust me,” they might say to the officers arriving on the scene, “I had reason. I was doing what I thought was right.”

As I already reported, Jack himself says he’s no hero. But within the confines of a movie that practically fawns over his actions (and arriving onscreen in the always charismatic guise of Tom Cruise), Jack might be mistaken for one by a lot of moviegoers.

All of us can confuse justice and vengeance, I think. Given the right circumstances, the right killers, we can all reach Jack’s conclusion: Real justice is cowboy justice, doled out in lead and blood. And watching evildoers pay, as they do here in Jack Reacher, can indeed be satisfying. But that doesn’t make it right.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Latest Reviews

Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation

The Watchers

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Weekly reviews straight to your inbox.

• Become a Critical Movie Critic
• Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: Jack Reacher (2012)

• Greg Eichelberger
• Movie Reviews
• 9 responses
• --> December 22, 2012

Reacher at the ready.

Take some of his more familiar action vehicles (“ Minority Report ,” “ Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol ,” etc.) and add a dash of Bourne, “ The Shooter ” and even “ JFK ,” and you have a Tom Cruise film that, while certainly not his best, is quite effective, entertaining and keeps the suspense simmering until the last bullet has been shot.

In fact, Cruise, as the mysterious former military policeman title character, Jack Reacher, has not had this much fun killing people since playing the Zen hitman in 2004’s “ Collateral .”

Directed and written by Christopher McQuarrie (“ The Way of the Gun “) and financed by the star himself, Jack Reacher features Reacher being contacted by a former Army acquaintance, Barr (Joseph Sikora, “ Boardwalk Empire ” TV series), accused of sniping five innocent people in Pittsburgh in broad daylight. Captured all too easily, he is beaten until comatose, but requests that someone find the mystery man responsible.

Joining with defense attorney, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike, “ The Big Year “), Reacher begins to unearth an ever-increasing conspiracy which may show that Barr, while indeed guilty of several unauthorized killings in Iraq, may be innocent of these slayings. That doesn’t matter to Helen’s father, the District Attorney (Richard Jenkins, “ The Cabin in the Woods “), who just wants to put Barr on Death Row if he can.

Meanwhile, Reacher is being set up, chased down, shot at and generally harassed by petty thugs, local police (led by Lt. Emerson, David Oyelowo, “ Lincoln “) and a violent shady Slavic organization headed by The Zec (famed director Warner Herzog in a short, but creepily effective appearance). Aiding his cause is a doddering, but wiser-than-wise gun range owner, Cash (Robert Duvall, “ Crazy Heart “), who always seems to know more than he lets on.

Confrontation.

At times, Cruise’s character is unbelievably indestructible, then all at once completely vulnerable. The action, however, is gritty and mostly realistic while his performance of the lone wolf is well done, and he does get to show off his well-chiseled body, as well. There is also the obligatory shoot-outs, punch-outs, head stomps and car chases, that while clichéd, offer a great deal of zest and zing here. As for the villains involved with said violence, there is not a legion of bad guys to get lost in a confusing shuffle. It’s quality over quantity all the way.

In addition, McQuarrie keeps everything in Jack Reacher moving along smartly, though there will certainly be no awards for his work or the acting here, although — as previously mentioned — Herzog does the best job with what little he is given and Duvall is good in almost anything he shows up in.

Like “ Safe House ,” Jack Reacher is a movie that dares you to take a bathroom break until the credits roll. Certainly not the worst thing one could write about a production with so many mediocre efforts out there — and all of this with a PG-13 rating. Who’d a thought it?

Tagged: detective , military , novel adaptation

I have been a movie fan for most of my life and a film critic since 1986 (my first published review was for "Platoon"). Since that time I have written for several news and entertainment publications in California, Utah and Idaho. Big fan of the Academy Awards - but wish it would go back to the five-minute dinner it was in May, 1929. A former member of the San Diego Film Critics Society and current co-host of "The Movie Guys," each Sunday afternoon on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego with Kevin Finnerty.

Movie Review: Despicable Me 3 (2017) Movie Review: Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) Movie Review: All Eyez On Me (2017) Movie Review: The Mummy (2017) Movie Review: Baywatch (2017) Movie Review: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Movie Review: The Promise (2016)

'Movie Review: Jack Reacher (2012)' have 9 comments

December 22, 2012 @ 3:33 am Jess

Very middle of the road actioner to me.

Log in to Reply

December 22, 2012 @ 9:23 am no name needed

Tom Cruise wouldn’t have been my first choice for this role (he doesn’t exactly scream tough-guy investigator) but he held his own on screen.

December 22, 2012 @ 11:17 am Chaz

A typical Cruise flick of late.

December 23, 2012 @ 1:22 pm Vidiot

That’s a good thing. He makes for a very capable action hero.

December 22, 2012 @ 11:39 am Rose James

Good review.

December 22, 2012 @ 4:20 pm jive-ghost

as much as I try to not let it influence me, the crazy behavior and scientology mumbo-jumbo tends to keep me away from anything tom cruise touches.

December 22, 2012 @ 5:46 pm Dakster

I was going to see it for Rosamund Pike anyway but its good to know the movie is halfway decent.

December 24, 2012 @ 3:53 pm boredlike

Thats as good a reason as any.

December 23, 2012 @ 2:35 pm Groove Tiger

I didn’t appreciate Duvall’s character. He too conveniently showed up to help the investigation along to conclusion .

Privacy Policy | About Us

 |  Log in

Search Filters

Result type.

• All (1,000+)
• People (1,000+)
• Movies (713)

713 movie search results for review

Jack Reacher

Review by brian eggert december 22, 2012.

All of those undeniable charismatic qualities that made Tom Cruise pitch-perfect as Ethan Hunt in the slick Mission : Impossible franchise work against him in Jack Reacher , an adaptation of Lee Child’s gritty book One Shot . Much in the vein of this year’s Alex Cross , the film brings a popular crime fiction badass to the screen, and the result is an uneven and cliché-ridden mystery-thriller. Christopher McQuarrie, writer of The Usual Suspects and Valkyrie , directs for the first time and has occasional moments of inspiration, namely a number of carefully assembled fight sequences, shootouts, and one impressive car chase shot with clarity by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. But the talky script rife with exposition chatters on for too long, while McQuarrie explores some odd tonal inconsistencies throughout, making us wish Cruise had spent the last year filming a sequel to 2011’s fantastic Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol instead.

Reminiscent of 1970s tough-guy roles not unlike those in Dirty Harry or Death Wish , Jack Reacher is described in Child’s series of books as deliberate and hard-nosed, a six-and-a-half-foot drifter and former military investigator who now lives off the grid—a far more imposing disposition than Cruise’s sly magnetism is capable of. When the film opens with a seemingly anonymous public shooting in which five bystanders die by the bullets of an ex-military sniper, Cruise’s titular character hops on a bus to investigate, having known the prime suspect, Army vet James Barr (Joseph Sikora). Arriving only to ensure Barr will receive his due punishment, Reacher is convinced by Barr’s lawyer Helen (Rosamund Pike) to stick around and investigate further. When he does, he discovers a set-up involving a criminal conspiracy.

Peripheral characters include Helen’s father, the skeptical District Attorney (Richard Jenkins), and the lead investigator in Barr’s case, Det. Emerson (David Oyelowo). Behind the conspiracy is Werner Herzog’s creepy if underdeveloped character “The Zek,” a man whose life’s mission is survival at any cost. Along the way, Reacher pokes his nose where it doesn’t belong, and the bad guys react by sending goons to stop him. In response, Reacher doles out curt beatings and verbal jabs to remind us he’s a badass, but Cruise never disappears into the rugged role. It doesn’t help that the central mystery of Jack Reacher isn’t that involving. Attempts at twists and turns fall flat when we’ve already predicted them or they’re altogether unclear. The incentive for the shooting’s contrived frame-up isn’t very interesting, nor are Reacher’s motivations to stay involved. And at around 130 minutes, the movie takes far too long to outline everything before the final actionized resolution.

Many of the film’s downfalls reside in McQuarrie’s tonal irregularity through bouts of comic relief and romantic teases. There’s a slapstick fight in a bathroom where two thugs bonk each other over and over while trying to get at Reacher. Another scene in Reacher’s hotel room finds Cruise shirtless in front of Helen; there appears to be some sexual tension here, but nothing comes of it. Reacher remains intent on stopping the antagonists and moving on, nothing more. The kind of singular badass movie McQuarrie wants to make feels undone by the PG-13 rating, which by definition cannot keep promises made in the dialogue. At one point, talking to the real sniper, Cruise spouts, “You killed that girl to put me in a frame, and I mean to beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot.” Nothing so drastic will happen within McQuarrie’s rather soft-boiled thriller.

Cruise, serving in a producer capacity as well, clearly wants to establish yet another franchise at Paramount Pictures besides Mission : Impossible . It’s doubtful that there will be a sequel to Jack Reacher, though. Child’s ongoing book series might have seemed appealing on the page, but as a film, there’s too little to hold the material together. We’ve seen all of this before with far better results, and far better casting. Other characters keep telling us how mysterious and dangerous Jack Reacher is, and yet Cruise’s appearance, clean-cut and trim, doesn’t fit the bill, while the routine supporting cast (except for Herzog) doesn’t help elevate the material, even with Robert Duvall’s appearance toward the finale. This is very standard stuff presented in an articulate manner, but neither McQuarrie nor Cruise transcended the paperback material into something worthy of a Hollywood motion picture featuring an A-list star.

Related Titles

• In Theaters

Recent Reviews

• Patreon Exclusive: Zombi Child 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
• The Watchers 1 Star ☆
• Hit Man 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
• Short Take: Night Shift 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
• Young Woman and the Sea 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
• The Dead Don't Hurt 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
• In a Violent Nature 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
• Handling the Undead 2.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
• Patreon Exclusive: The Prestige 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
• Patreon Exclusive: The Strangers: Chapter 1 1 Star ☆
• Babes 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
• Evil Does Not Exist 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
• Coma 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
• Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Recent Articles

• The Definitives: Contagion
• Guest Appearance: The LAMBcast - Decade Lookback 1998
• Guest Appearance: KARE 11 - Summer Movie Preview
• Guest Appearance: The LAMBcast - The Fall Guy
• The Definitives: Paris, Texas
• Reader's Choice: Saturday Night Fever
• MSPIFF 2024 – Dispatch 4
• MSPIFF 2024 – Dispatch 3
• Guest Appearance: KARE 11 - 3 movies you need to see in theaters now
• MSPIFF 2024 – Dispatch 2

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Jack Reacher

• A homicide investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper responsible for a mass shooting.
• In an innocent heartland city, five are shot dead by an expert sniper. The police quickly identify and arrest the culprit, and build a slam-dunk case. But instead of confessing, the accused man writes the words, "Get Jack Reacher." Reacher himself sees the news report and turns up in the city. The defense is immensely relieved, but Reacher has come to bury the guy. Shocked at the accused's request, Reacher sets out to confirm for himself the absolute certainty of the man's guilt, but comes up with more than he bargained for. — Anonymous
• When 5 seemingly random people are shot by a sniper an investigation leads the police to former Army sniper who has a history of shooting people in the streets when he was in the Army. When he meets his lawyer, Alex Rodin, all he tells her is to find Jack Reacher. She learns that Reacher is a former Army Criminal Investigator. Reacher upon hearing the news arrives. He learns Rodin wants him to help her defend the guy but Reacher doesn't want to help him. It seems that Reacher was the one who investigated the shootings he committed when he was in the Army but the Army opted not to prosecute. He told the man that if he did it again, Reacher will come after him. Reacher agrees to look into it if Rodin tries to look at the people he killed. She does and Reacher goes to tell her that the shootings were not the man's m.o. Reacher suspects someone is framing him. So he and Rodin try to find out why and who. — [email protected]
• When a sniper shoots randomly five victims, Detective Emerson finds evidence to incriminate the former paranoid marine James Barr. It is an easy case for the prosecutor Rodin, but Barr refuses to sign the confession and he calls Jack Reacher. When he is transported to prison in a bus, the other prisoners beat him and Barr goes to the hospital in coma. The pacifist attorney Helen Rodin, who is the daughter of the prosecutor, decides to defend him but Jack Reacher is a former military criminal investigator that left the army and has become an unknown drifter. Out of the blue, Jack appears in the city and Helen invites him to work for her investigating the case. Soon he finds that the culprit is innocent and there is a conspiracy behind the murders. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• When a crazed sniper guns down five seemingly random people on a crowded Pittsburgh riverfront, Det. Emerson (David Oyelowo) quickly amasses enough evidence at the scene to implicate an unstable ex-military sniper named James Barr (Joseph Sikora). Upon being questioned by Emerson and DA Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins), however, Barr demands to speak with Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). A former military investigator who fell off the grid following his service, Reacher soon shows up on the scene and begins gathering clues with the aid of talented defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), the daughter of the DA. Meanwhile, when Reacher is assaulted in a local bar, he correctly surmises that someone is determined to impede his investigation. His theory plays out when he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a young woman shortly thereafter. Now, with the police closing in from one side and a gang of ruthless killers gaining ground on the other, Reacher must use his formidable detective skills in order to catch the gunman and uncover his true motives. — ahmetkozan
• In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a man drives a van into a parking garage across the Allegheny River from PNC Park and, after paying for parking, readies a sniper rifle. He takes aim and appears to randomly kill five people around the stadium and on the river's North Shore Trail before fleeing in the van. The police soon arrive, headed by Detective Emerson, and they discover a shell casing as well as the coin used to pay for parking. A fingerprint taken from the coin points to James Barr, a former U.S. Army sniper. When the police raid his house, they find the van, equipment for making bullets, the rifle in question, and Barr who they arrest. During an interrogation by Emerson and the District Attorney, Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins), Barr writes "Get Jack Reacher" on a notepad. Reacher (Tom Cruise) is a drifter and former U.S. Army Military Police Corps officer. Reacher later arrives in Pittsburgh after seeing a news report about Barr and the shooting. Emerson and Robin deny Reacher's request to view the evidence, but agree to let him see Barr, who was brutally attacked by fellow inmates while being transported and is now in a coma. While there, he meets Barr's defense attorney, counselor Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), the DA's daughter, who is trying to save Barr from the death penalty. Helen says she can arrange for Reacher to see the evidence if he will become her lead investigator. Reacher retorts that he is not interested in clearing Barr. He confidentially reveals that Barr previously had gone on a killing spree during his tour in Iraq but was not prosecuted because the victims were under investigation for major crimes (sexual assault rally of 28 Iraqi women in 4 days) -and the U.S. Army wants them forgotten. Reacher then vowed that if Barr tried anything like this again, he would take him down. Jack is sure that James is guilty but is puzzled that instead of confessing James asked for Jack Reacher to be called, fully knowing that Jack Reacher would kill James if he again found him to be guilty. Reacher agrees to investigate if Helen visits the victims' families to learn about the people murdered that day. Reacher goes to the crime scene and finds inconsistencies with this location, and thinking a trained shooter would have committed the killings from the cover of the van on the nearby Fort Duquesne Bridge. After Helen reports her findings about the victims to Reacher, he suggests that the owner of a local construction company was the intended victim, with the killing of other random victims intended to cover up that fact. After a seemingly random bar fight, Reacher realizes that someone is attempting to strong-arm him into dropping his investigation. Reacher is later framed for the murder of the young woman who was paid to instigate that bar fight, but this only motivates him further. Before her death, Jack had traced her & found that the man paying her was only known as the Zec. Jack gets Zec's address from the girl & goes there. He is attacked by Russians, but escapes. Jack speaks to Helen & theorizes that maybe James was framed. The only evidence that puts James on the scene of the crime is a coin, with his fingerprint, that James allegedly used to pay for parking. Jack thinks that James asked for him because James believed that Jack would find the truth, no matter how much Jack believed James to be the criminal. Jack thinks that somehow the Russian mafia took James's fingerprint & DNA & planted it at the shooting site to frame James for the killing. Jack had noticed a car following him since he joined the investigation. A number check reveals that the car is registered to a front company owned by the Russian mafia who wanted to buy a construction company to increase their legit presence. The owner of the company wasn't willing to sell & had sued the Russian front company. Jack theorizes that the mafia got the owner of the company murdered & killed 4 random people in the vicinity to cover up the intended victim. Reacher eventually follows a lead at a shooting range in the neighboring state of Ohio, owned by former U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Cash, who will only talk if Reacher proves his sniping skills, which he does. Cash tells Jack that James was his best shooter & always hit bulls' eye at 700 yards. But Jack contests this theory by saying that James was never this good a shooter in the army. Jack thinks that James was accompanied by a friend, who switched the target sheets to make James look like an expert. Video recording tapes show that James was always with a guy whom Jack saw as part of the mafia team attacking him. The real perpetrators are members of a Russian gang masquerading as legitimate businessmen. The gang's elderly leader spent much of his life in a Soviet Gulag and is known only as the Zec (prisoner). The gang kidnaps Helen with the aid of their accomplice police detective Emerson and holds her hostage at a construction site or mine. Reacher outwits the mob guards, killing them with Cash's help. Jack tells Emerson before killing him that nobody would have checked the parking meter, not even him, & that's how he knew Emerson was involved. He then confronts the Zec about the conspiracy. The Zec is killed by Reacher after the Zec asserts that the other conspirators who were killed by Reacher were the only witnesses against the Zec, and that Reacher would more likely be the one to go to prison as a drifter accused of murdering a young woman. Reacher and Cash flee the scene, making Reacher a wanted man, but with confidence that Helen will clear his name. When Barr awakens from his coma, he tells Helen that he has no recent memory but believes that he must be guilty of the shooting. Barr's mental reconstruction of how he would have committed the shootings confirms Reacher's theory was correct from the beginning to Helen's father. Still unknowing of all this, Barr is willing to confess and accept punishment, fearing that Reacher will mete out justice if the law does not.

Contribute to this page

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore, recently viewed.

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Jack Reacher (2012)

December 20, 2012 by admin

Jack Reacher , 2012.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog, David Oyelowo and Jai Courtney.

SYNOPSIS: A homicide investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims.

Jack Reacher is something of a rare treat for 2012. It’s a film which gets its style and pacing from the late 60s and 70s and doesn’t give up on those convictions despite several opportunities to explode into ‘blockbuster’ territory and fill the screen with explosions, fights, and carnage. So often a film will ‘pay homage’ to gritty and no-nonsense genre milestones from Lumet, Friedkin, or Siegel but too often they cannot help but stay off course. Christopher McQuarrie’s Jack Reacher is one such film that delivers exactly what 2012 needed – a blast from the past.

Christopher McQuarrie shot to fame with his script for The Usual Suspects but after directing the greatly unappreciated The Way of the Gun in 2000, he didn’t return to directing until now. The pacing and shout-it-from-the-rooftops-gloriously CGI-free approach he has taken in making Jack Reacher an old-fashioned thriller makes you wonder why there was ever a 12 year gap. This is undoubtedly one the most impressive examples of directing of the year as it is so understated in the action scenes and constantly intriguing without ever pandering to the apparent needs of the modern audience (slow motion, action every five minutes, and handheld camera). The opening sequence is one the best examples of storytelling I may have seen this year; an essential part of the plot and the need to capture the audience from the very start with no dialogue means that every scene and every cut must be for a reason, and it is.

The film goes from strength to strength from there onwards; even if it’s not overly thrilling or action packed (the first major action scene doesn’t occur until after an hour), McQuarrie ties everything together without a wasted scene or cheap exposition-filled dialogue. There is a car chase which is comparable to To Live and Die in L.A. as it is both exciting and superbly executed. It is a ‘realistic’ as a car chase can get and picks upon Reacher’s intelligence rather than his force; Reacher doesn’t smash through cars to escape, he uses them a blockades against each other.

The film is sold in the trailers as a essentially a Tom Cruise big-budget action fest, but it’s much more a police procedure picture, the difference being Reacher isn’t a cop and isn’t bound by laws and protocol. Like Harry Callahan or Popeye Doyle, Reacher only cares about getting the job done and punishing those who deserve it. This is Tom Cruise in more of a Collateral or Minority Report territory than Mission: Impossible or Top Gun in that he rarely smiles or is the All-American hero (which I love, just for the record) but rather he is mean and moody, playing a man who has depth and real character. His charisma shines through in every scene and is totally believable as the military investigator who is always one step ahead, but equally great when he is forced to use his brute force when words just won’t do.

The film is violent and brutal when it needs to be and is a top-end 12A certificate – even cut to avoid a 15 – but doesn’t hold any punches (no pun intended) in the action department as Reacher takes out the bad guys with a vengeance when he’s pushed. In other scenes, it was refreshing to see a character give the people who confront him a chance to walk away or warn them they’ll end up on the losing side. McQuarrie’s script is dangerous, interesting, grounded, and humorous making it a highly satisfying mix.

Jack Reacher is the patient man’s thriller but the patience is well worth investing in those who want character-led not action-led thrills. If rumour is to be believed, McQuarrie and Cruise may re-team for the fifth Mission: Impossible film; one can only image what they’ll deliver when the action is turned all the way up.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Rohan Morbey  – follow me on  Twitter .

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Has the Mainstream Audience Outgrown Comic Book Movies?

Godzilla at 10: The Movie That Launched the MonsterVerse Revisited

The Most Shocking Movies of the 1970s

A DCEU Obituary: Ranking the DC Extended Universe from Worst to Best

The Essential Man vs Machine Sci-Fi B-Movies

The Must-See Horror Movies From Every Decade

Fantastical, Flawed and Madcap: 80s British Horror Cinema

The B-Movie Queens

10 Essential Will Smith Movies

Revisiting the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

• Comic Books
• Video Games
• Toys & Collectibles
• Articles and Opinions
• About Flickering Myth
• Write for Flickering Myth
• Advertise on Flickering Myth
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Screen-Free Activities for Kids and Teens to Enjoy Over the Summer

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

Jack reacher, common sense media reviewers.

Serviceable but forgettable Cruise thriller is very violent.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Bad guys get what's coming to them, courtesy of Ja

Reacher doesn't hesitate to break the law to achie

Plenty of violence right from the start, when a lo

One scene shows a woman in her underwear getting d

Relatively infrequent swearing includes a couple u

Several car brands are mentioned and/or get promin

One scene takes place in a bar where plenty of peo

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise stars as the title character in Jack Reacher , an adaptation of Lee Child's novel One Shot . Reacher is a former military police offer who's enlisted to find a sniper who fired six shots into a crowd, killing five people. This thriller is violent, and vigilante…

Positive Messages

Bad guys get what's coming to them, courtesy of Jack Reacher, a loner/vigilante who dispenses his own brand of justice, which mostly bypasses the legal system. That said, there's also the message that it's worth looking beyond appearances to find out the truth.

Positive Role Models

Reacher doesn't hesitate to break the law to achieve his goals -- he participates in assault, auto theft, coercion, intimidation, and outright murder -- but all of his victims have it coming to them. (Well, mostly.) He uses smarts and intuition in many cases (in addition to his more violent methods). Helen is able to separate her emotions from her job.

Violence & Scariness

Plenty of violence right from the start, when a lone gunman shoots five people with a sniper rifle (a scene that's revisited later in the movie). Jack Reacher, the main character, is a former soldier, highly trained with guns and in hand-to-hand combat, and the film finds plenty of chances to showcase his abilities. He takes on a group of toughs in a few street brawls, leaving them bloodied and sometimes with broken bones. Other scenes feature execution-style killings, allusions to torture, and men beating up women. Few of these scenes actually show blood or gore, but they do make it clear that bodies are taking serious damage and the people are in pain, and a few shots may be hard to watch. There's also a high-speed chase through city streets that damages plenty of cars.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

One scene shows a woman in her underwear getting dressed; Reacher is shirtless in another. Some sexual tension between the two main characters never leads to anything. One scene has some flirty banter when a woman comes on to Reacher, though he's clearly not interested.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Relatively infrequent swearing includes a couple uses of "f--k," plus "p---y," "s--t," "a--hole," "bitch," "prick," "damn," "hell," "ass," "goddamn," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Several car brands are mentioned and/or get prominent screen time. Helen drives a Mercedes, and the bad guys spend a lot of time trailing Reacher in an Audi. Another character drives a Cadillac, which is referred to by name. Some of the characters drink Budweiser when relaxing, and Bud signage is visible in the background in a bar.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

One scene takes place in a bar where plenty of people in the background are drinking, though Reacher sticks to coffee. He later shares a beer with Helen when they're relaxing in a motel room. References to meth use; drug paraphernalia is shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise stars as the title character in Jack Reacher , an adaptation of Lee Child's novel One Shot . Reacher is a former military police offer who's enlisted to find a sniper who fired six shots into a crowd, killing five people. This thriller is violent, and vigilante Reacher shows no qualms breaking the law to make sure justice is done -- at least his version of justice. There's some swearing (including "f--k" and "s--t") and a bit of sexual tension between Reacher and co-star Rosamund Pike , but no actual sex and very little drinking. Still, there are allusions to torture, and the fight scenes are sometimes brutal; a few are very tough to stomach. Even though there's little blood or gore on screen, the film is more appropriate for older teens and up. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (15)
• Kids say (44)

Based on 15 parent reviews

What's the Story?

After a lone gunman shoots five people in a random spree of terror, all the evidence points to a former Army sniper, but the suspect makes one request: "Get JACK REACHER." Who's Reacher? A retired soldier, weapons expert, and martial artist who lives off the grid -- no car, no mobile phone, no credit card, no known address. The star of a popular series of novels by author Lee Childs, Reacher ( Tom Cruise ) travels from town to town, always managing to get himself involved in some kind of adventure. Here, he sets out to make sure the accused gets what he deserves, but soon begins to suspect he may actually be innocent. Working with a defense attorney ( Rosamund Pike ), Reacher uncovers a dangerous conspiracy run by violent thugs who are eager to shut him up, permanently. Robert Duvall and Richard Jenkins co-star.

Is It Any Good?

This movie is muscley but ultimately forgettable entertainment. The story in Jack Reacher has enough twists to keep viewers interested, and Cruise playing stoic, confident, and extremely competent is always watchable. Plus, there are a few set pieces that are good fun. (Watch as Cruise, weary and wary, takes on five punks after warning them they're in for more than they expect -- no spoiler, he wasn't lying.)

But the film lacks momentum. It moves quickly through the action sequences and then too slowly as Cruise and Pike knit together the clues. The villains, led by a shadowy Russian, are generically evil, yet their motivation is unclear. Pike in particular has little to do other than look anxious in her damsel-in-distress role. And the movie seems indulgently violent. Besides the extended opening sequence of one murder after another, there are plenty of other sequences that leave both men and women battered, bloody, and broken. In short, Jack Reacher works as a serviceable thriller, but a masterpiece of the genre? Now that's a reach.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what makes Jack Reacher , which is rate PG-13, different from R-rated films. Is the violence less graphic or upsetting? Why or why not? What impact does seeing this kind of violence have on teens ?

What do you think about Jack Reacher's vigilante actions? Is it right for one man to dispense justice to people who are clearly villains?

Why does Jack Reacher live the way he does? How do his actions in this film show what he wants out of life?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 21, 2012
• On DVD or streaming : May 7, 2013
• Cast : Robert Duvall , Rosamund Pike , Tom Cruise
• Director : Christopher McQuarrie
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 130 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : violence, language and some drug material
• Last updated : November 7, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

The Bourne Identity

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

In the Line of Fire

Thriller movies, best action movies for kids, related topics.

• Book Characters

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

The Ace Black Movie Blog

Reviews of Classic and Current Movies

• Movie Review Index
• Movie Star Index
• 300 All-Time Greatest Movies
• About + Contact + Subscribe

Wednesday 16 September 2020

Movie review: jack reacher (2012).

In Pittsburgh, five innocent civilians are killed in a seemingly random sniper attack. Physical evidence leads Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo) to ex-army sniper and Iraq war veteran Barr (Joseph Sikora), who is summarily arrested. A stunned Barr requests help from Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise), a crime investigator who served with him in the army and now lives a nomadic off-the-grid existence.

Jack teams up with Barr's lawyer Helen (Rosamund Pike), who is also the daughter of District Attorney Rodin (Richard Jenkins). Jack is aware of Barr's unhinged behaviour in the army, but his investigation into the Pittsburgh killings suggests Barr was the fall guy for a larger conspiracy. Both Jack and Helen are soon targets of the ruthless criminal enterprise behind a sinister plot.

An adaptation of the book One Shot by Lee Child, Jack Reacher is a slick and relatively grounded crime thriller. Director Christopher McQuarrie and star Tom Cruise combine to deliver quick paced and special effects-free action with a dash of biting humour. Rational editing, glistening night-time cinematography, an involving plot, and a cheeky attitude elevate the entertainment value.

But the highlights are plenty. McQuarrie stages a one-against-many street fight with panache, and follows it up with a hilarious confined quarters brawl. The car chase scene is an epic two-chases-in-one combo delivered with exceptional control. And the final showdown is suitably orchestrated at an isolated quarry, with caustic humour sustained to the bitter end.

In addition to his radiant charisma, Cruise adds to the sense of realism by performing all his own stunts, and struts through the film with brilliant arrogance. Pike struggles to match him in a marginally frantic performance. Robert Duvall rolls back the years in a crusty role as the operator of a shooting range reluctantly drawn into the mayhem, while Jenkins and Oyelowo contribute robust support. Celebrated director Werner Herzog adds cold menace in a small acting role.

No comments:

Post a comment.

We welcome reader comments about this post.

Latest Content

Jack Reacher (2012) Ending Explained – What happened to the Zec and James Barr?

Jack reacher (2012) plot summary .

In the 2012 Action Thriller Jack Reacher, Tom Cruise takes on the role of the titular character. The story kicks off with an ex-Army Sniper named James Barr being arrested for the murder of five civilians.

Desperate for help, Barr reaches out to Jack Reacher, a former military investigator who loves solving unsolvable cases.  Based on Lee Child’s novel One Shot, the movie delves into the conspiracies surrounding the mass murder while striving to unmask the real culprit. 

Why does James Barr call for Jack Reacher?

The movie kicks off with a shocking scene where we see a sniper taking out five innocent people in a park. As bodies fall, the police quickly piece together evidence pointing to James Barr as the culprit. They find his ID, a bullet shell with his name on it, and even a coin with his thumbprint used for a parking purchase.

Barr remains tight-lipped and refuses to say a word until Jack Reacher is brought into the case. For context, Jack Reacher is a former Military Police officer known for his sharp investigative skills. He and Barr share a history from their army days, where Reacher once investigated Barr for a similar crime.

Despite Barr escaping conviction back then, Reacher vowed to keep an eye on him. Now, Barr calls on Reacher, knowing he’s the only one who can find the truth and clear his name.

Does Jack Reacher agree to investigate James Barr’s case?

After catching wind of Barr’s situation on the news, Reacher rushes to his side, but when he arrives, Barr is already in a coma, having been attacked during transport. At first, Reacher seems indifferent to Barr’s condition, ready to walk away but Barr’s counsellor, Helen Roden, manages to convince Reacher to stay for a chat.

Initially, Reacher is pretty sure Barr is guilty, given their past, but as he starts digging into the case, conversing with Helen Rodin, and examining the evidence, doubts start creeping in. The more he learns, the more convinced he becomes that Barr got framed. 

Were the shooting victims random?

Helen initially believes the victims were chosen at random, especially after Reacher mentions Barr’s past violent tendencies, but Reacher suggests she talk to the victims’ families, which reveals a completely different story. Things take a twist when Reacher gets attacked by thugs, and he suspects foul play.

At the end of the day, Reacher and Helen compare notes. Reacher’s investigations suggest Barr couldn’t have pulled off the crime so flawlessly. He also suspects Barr could have shot from the bridge while inside the car to avoid leaving any evidence. Reacher also informs Helen about a suspicious car tailing him all day.

After much persuasion from Jack, Helen finally agrees to run the car license plate, which leads them to Lebendauer Enterprises. Interestingly, this company has a motive to take over Olene Archer’s construction company. The interesting thing is that Olene Archer is among the shooting victims. This suggests that others were killed just to hide this one murder.

Who framed James Barr?

Towards the end, we meet a character known as The Zec, portrayed by Werner Herzog. It was Zec who orchestrated the plan to frame James Barr for a shooting. He exploited Barr’s background as a sniper and his history of violence to make him appear as a plausible culprit.

He even had his men plant the evidence to seal Barr’s fate. Sadly for him, after being arrested, Barr asks for Jack Reacher by name. Reacher follows up his investigation, and finds out the real conspiracy and the real perpetrators of the crime.

What happened to The Zec and James Barr?

After realizing that Jack is onto him, The Zec and Emerson, the cop handling the mass shooting case, conspire to frame Jack for murder. The Zec also kidnaps Helen so he can use her as bait to trap Jack. However, Jack anticipates this move and enlists the help of a friend from the shooting range.

As the film reaches its conclusion, Jack Reacher manages to kill The Zec and his henchmen and unravel the nefarious plot for the entire world to see. As for Barr, he is exonerated of all the charges.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!

Leave a comment.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Chevy Hardcore

Diesel army, lsx magazine, off road xtreme, street muscle.

• Advertising

© 2024 Power Automedia. All rights reserved.

Share this article.

Rob’s car movie review: jack reacher (2012).

Think back on the multitudes of car movies you’ve watched over the course of your life and you’re bound to notice that Hollywood has a penchant for featuring certain cars over and over again.

In many action thrillers with slick or well-heeled protagonists, you’ll see various and sundry Mercedes-Benzes, Porsches, Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Switch the subgenre to modern street racing, and the same Nissan GTRs, Toyota Supras, Mitsubishi EVOs and Subaru WRX STis will make their appearance.

But old school American muscle cars seem to transcend film genres and show up as the steed of many a hero or antihero when the story calls for them to be depicted as a cool customer or a rebel.

In these instances, we again tend to see similar types of vehicles featured. There’s the ubiquitous, vintage Ford Mustangs, the early ‘70s E-body Challengers and Barracudas, the C2 and C3 Corvettes, and of course, the Pontiac Trans Ams.

And then there’s those glorious A-Body Chevelles. Appearing in such films as Drive Angry , John Wick , The Other Guys, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and Tales From The Crypt , Chevelles never fail to make an indelible impression on screen.

Perhaps in no recent film is this more true than in the 2012 actioner, Jack Reacher, where a glorious, 1970 Chevelle SS is put through its paces in one of the best chase sequences of the past 20 years.

In this month’s edition of Rob’s Car Movie Review we’re gonna take a good long look at the movie, and learn all we can about the Chevelle and a smattering of other cool cars that make an appearance in it.

Are you ready? Then let’s hit it!

The theatrical one-sheet poster for Jack Reacher. (Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

The movie’s eponymous protagonist, Jack Reacher, originated from a character created by Lee Child in his series of crime thriller books. After the first installment in the series, Killing Floor , debuted in 1997, multiple attempts to adapt the properties into a feature film had failed. In 2005, Tom Cruise’s production company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, optioned the film rights and was given a green light and funding to produce it by Paramount Pictures.

The ninth book in the series, One Shot , was chosen to be adapted. Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie of The Usual Suspects and Valkyrie fame was brought on board to rewrite an early draft of the script and ultimately direct the film.

Starring, naturally, was Tom Cruise, supported by Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog, David Oyelowo, Joseph Sikora and Robert Duval. With casting for the film announced, many fans of the books were disappointed with the choice of Cruise, who, at 5’7″, is a rather diminutive figure compared to Reacher, who was described in the books as being a powerful, 6’5″ juggernaut of a man.

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

At the film’s onset, a deranged sniper guns down five seemingly random people at a Pittsburgh riverfront. Detective Emerson (Oyelowo) collects enough evidence at the crime scene to arrest mentally unstable ex-military sniper James Barr (Sikora), a man who went unprosecuted for a similar crime while serving in Iraq.

Upon questioning by the police and the local district attorney, Alex Rodin (Jenkins), Barr insists on speaking with Jack Reacher, a former military investigator who tried unsuccessfully to prosecute Barr for his Iraq crimes. Since leaving the service, Reacher has become a drifter, living largely off the grid.

The lovely Rosamund Pike as Helen Rodin. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

Reacher soon shows up on the scene, and though he is determined to help put Barr away for good this time, agrees to help gather evidence for Barr’s defense attorney, Helen Rodin (Pike), out of a desire to see that he gets a fair trial.

During the course of his investigation, Reacher is assaulted at a local bar by a gang of hoods, and correctly surmises that they were paid by someone to impede his efforts. His intuition proves correct when he is later framed for the murder of a young woman associated with the gang.

Joseph Sikora as James Barr. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

Now on the run from both the police and the mysterious villains intent on stopping him, Reacher finds evidence to suggest that the mass killing event was perhaps not the random act of a crazed gunman, but instead was possibly perpetrated by the very men who are after him.

When Helen is kidnapped by the main villains, Reacher, aided by former Marine sniper Cash (Duval), must contend with the bad guys, save Helen, and prove that Barr is innocent.

The legendary Robert Duval as Cash. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

Jack Reacher is a film with plenty of plusses and a few minuses. On the positive side, virtually all the performances are top notch, with Cruise putting in a calm, and rather understated characterization which contrasts nicely with some of his more manic, over-the-top, “look at me” type stuff. A special tip of the hat goes out as well to Robert Duval who is excellent as always, and to Rosamund Pike, who is luminous in every frame she occupies.

Likewise, the filmmaking itself is beyond reproach, with the production design, cinematography, editing, and sound work all meeting big budget, Hollywood standards.

Not as smooth though are some of the movie’s character motivations and cause-and-effect loops. More than once, I found myself needing a second thought for them to be fully digested. That’s not to say that the storytelling is muddled, rather it’s just kind of dense at times. There are many scenes in which multiple, important, plot advancements are divulged at once through rapid fire exposition, making the rewind button on your remote a very handy thing to have.

Controversial director, Werner Herzog, as The Zec, the film’s shadowy villain. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

For many of you out there, the biggest plus Jack Reacher offers are the cars, starting with the aforementioned Chevelle.

Draped in eye-popping Cranberry Red paint with dual, black hood and trunk stripes and a black interior, the car looks exactly like you’d want a ’70 to. Several shots in the film reveal 396 badges on the fenders, and a Hurst manual shifter that Reacher often aggressively rows. But as is true with many things in Hollywood films, all is not what it seems.

One of Jack Reacher’s Chevelles being prepped for filming. (Photo courtesy of Hot Cars.)

During pre-production, nine Chevelles in total were procured, mostly lower trim level models, some even lacking a V8. Only one of the nine cars was a legitimate SS 396 and it never actually made an appearance in the film. It was later purchased by Cruise himself, and still resides in his personal collection.

Movie car builders Pete Mandel, Justin Mann, Bill DeLuca, Trevor Mann, and Jeff Walters were hired to convert all of the cars to a seeming SS 396 spec, and to outfit each car with the transmissions and engines necessary for what each car’s role in the production would be. As is common practice in film production, some of the cars would be used for stunts and action sequences, and others for close ups and “beauty shots”.

Six of the nine Chevelles on set, ready for action. (Photo courtesy of Hot Cars.)

The Chevelles used for interior and beauty shots were all equipped with a 540ci V8s for a deep, rich exhaust note, Dart heads, Holley 850 cfm carburetors, and Muncie 4-speed manual transmissions with Hurst white-ball shifters and Centerforce clutches. The cars used for the stunts had 502ci big blocks and factory automatic transmissions.

As far as suspensions were concerned, the stunt cars were given beefed-up aftermarket front shocks, and rear Hotchkis sport kits, while the beauty cars rode on stock suspension.

Tom Cruise did all of his own stunt driving. (Photo courtesy of Hot Cars.)

The Chevelles are given numerous appearances in the film. In what is perhaps the most memorable scene in the entire movie, Tom Cruise, who it should be noted, did all his own stunt driving, engages in a lengthy high-speed chase with police and the bad guys. His Chevelle is pressed to the limit and weaves and dodges through traffic. Quite a sequence.

Ready for the chase. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

Sadly, as is the case in many action films, Jack Reacher’s car is not treated well. It incurs some severe damage during the chase which, for me was a rather hard thing to watch. It’s always difficult for a car nut knowing that an example or multiple examples of an increasingly rare classic car were totaled during the production of a film, but at least we can take solace in the notion that no actual SS 396s were harmed.

Sadly, the Chevelles incurred a lot of damage filming the chase sequence. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

The Chevelle isn’t the only prime muscle car in the movie. Also featured are a sinister, black 1975 Chevy Camaro with an aftermarket hood complete with NACA ducts, and a modded ’69 Mustang.

Also making appearances are a ’75 Camaro and a ’69 Mustang. (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.)

I found Jack Reacher to be a slightly flawed, but overall entertaining popcorn movie. Its excellent cast and well-filmed action sequences are matched by the wonderful cars that inhabit its mise-en-scene. You could do a lot worse than spend two hours with it. I give Jack Reacher six-and-a-half out of ten pistons.

Latest News

Engine Builder Hall of Fame 2024 Inductee: Vic Edelbrock, Sr.

Get 1,000HP Shipped To Your Door With A BTR Short-Block

Improve Your 1979-’04 Mustang With Team Z Torque Boxes

Chevrolet Teases Possible Twin-Turbo C8 ZR1 Corvette

More Stories

Hot Rods and Muscle Cars in your inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from Street Muscle, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

We'll send you the most interesting Street Muscle articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

We promise not to use your email address for anything but exclusive updates from the Power Automedia Network.

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more free online magazines.

We think you might like...

Screen Rant

10 times hollywood gave up on movie series.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

10 Movies That Should Have Ended The Franchise

7 major hollywood franchises that should stick to animation (not live-action), 8 movies franchises that were supposed to replace the hunger games.

• The Amazing Spider-Man franchise ended when the character's rights were bought by Disney.
• The Jack Reacher movie series failed due to poor reception and was overshadowed by a TV show reboot.
• The Percy Jackson movies received backlash and the franchise was later successfully rebooted as a TV show.

Hollywood movie franchises have been known to give up on the series part-way through, due to box office bombs or other circumstances. Several independent superhero movies ended when the rights to the character were bought by Disney, after struggling to compete with the MCU. Other sequels languished in development hell for years before the people involved with the project finally admitted that the next movie was never happening.

These planned movies' cancellations may have come as a relief or a disappointment to audiences. People will argue that certain unfinished movie franchises are still worth watching , especially when downright terrible reviews were not the reason the franchise was not completed. Some series were never finished because the actors or directors became busy with other projects. However, this is typically symptomatic of the most recent movie not being that great and the people involved losing interest in it as a result.

Some of these franchises are still ongoing, and though many continue to make money at the box office, it's clear where the stories should've stopped.

10 The Amazing Spider-Man

Andrew garfield's spider-man series ended after two movies when the rights were bought by disney..

Spider-Man famously saw multiple reboots within a short period, leading up to the character being incorporated into the MCU. The trilogy starring Tobey Maguire had a strong run until its widely criticized third installment, after which Andrew Garfield starred in two The Amazing Spider-Man movies, which achieved average reviews but objective box office success. Garfield and other actors' performances are the movies' biggest strengths, even if other writing decisions proved to be divisive. Leading up to the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , a sequel was all but confirmed.

However, The Amazing Spider-Man coincided with the growing dominance of the MCU. The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was then canceled when Garfield was fired from the role after failing to appear at a significant press event, and Sony finally sold Spider-Man to Disney. Disney managed to add Spider-Man to the MCU in record time, with Tom Holland debuting as Peter Parker in 2016's Captain America: Civil War , only two years after Garfield was last seen in the role.

9 Jack Reacher

The jack reacher movie sequel failed before the franchise was overtaken by a reboot..

On paper, a Jack Reacher movie franchise starring Tom Cruise is a surefire win. It is exactly the kind of role Cruise is known for and there is a substantial amount of source material, with Lee Child's series to comprise 29 books and a short story collection as of October 2024. However, the dramatic failure of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back spelled doom for this adaptation. Director Edward Zwick blamed himself for Jack Reacher's failure , stating he did not understand what audiences wanted from the movie.

The longer gap between the first and second Jack Reacher movies suggests that they were playing each sequel by ear, and Never Go Back's awful reception told them it was hopeless. Meanwhile, Amazon produced a much more popular Reacher TV show, while Cruise returned to working on Top Gun and Mission: Impossible . Although it was never officially canceled, it would appear that Jack Reacher 3 is dead.

8 Journey To The Center Of The Earth

Dwayne johnson's new would-be franchise only featured him in one movie..

Johnson confirmed in 2018 that the movie(s) had been officially canceled, to a middling reaction when the franchise never had much of a dedicated fanbase.

Based on Jules Verne's classic adventure novels, the Journey to the Center of the Earth franchise kicked things off with a relatively successful movie of the same name, starring Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson. Later, Dwayne Johnson replaced Fraser as the series' headliner, playing Hutcherson's character's stepfather rather than his uncle. While studio executives might have thought Journey 2: The Mysterious Island could be a solid setup for a series of movies starring Johnson, which seemed likely when Journey 2 was also a hit.

Plans were made for Journey 3: From the Earth to the Moon and Journey 4 to be filmed back to back. However, Journey 3 was abandoned due to problems with the script and Johnson's busy schedule. Johnson confirmed in 2018 that the movie(s) had been officially canceled, to a middling reaction when the franchise never had much of a dedicated fanbase.

7 National Treasure

National treasure was reimagined as a tv show after a long development — then canceled..

National Treasure and National Treasure: Book of Secrets were off-beat but solid action adventure mystery movies for the mid-2000s. With the second movie setting up the page 47 cliffhanger that would serve as the next sequel's plot, National Treasure 3 seemed like a given. However, the movie has now been stuck in development for almost two decades. Meanwhile, Disney+ produced the entertaining but short-lived sequel TV show that was canceled after one season.

In the wake of National Treasure: Edge of History , producer Jerry Bruckheimer suggests that National Treasure 3 could still happen . However, this seems unlikely when lead actor Nicolas Cage has, in no uncertain terms, said that the movie will never exist. Ultimately, if they wanted this movie sequel, they should have fought harder for it in the years following Book of Secrets , before the actors and the industry moved on.

6 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The live-action tmnt trilogy ended after the second movie bombed at the box office..

Several Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies were canceled over the years, perhaps illustrating how the franchise would be better served by animation when the premise is inherently cartoonish. Despite this, the poorly-reviewed, live-action adaptation of the comics that came out in 2014 was a box-office hit. However, its sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows , failed at the box office as well as with critics.

Therefore, the third movie in the reboot series was promptly abandoned. Later on, the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem became the best movie of this franchise, at least in the 21st century, earning a Golden Globe nomination for its efforts. However, despite the failure of the previous live-action TMNT movies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin comic series is getting an R-rated, live-action adaptation that will come out alongside Mutant Mayhem's sequel.

Hollywood still seems to maintain that live-action is inherently superior, but these big franchises exhibit better storytelling through animation.

5 Percy Jackson & The Olympians

Both percy jackson movies were poorly received, leading to a reboot..

The movie adaptation of Rick Riordan's first Percy Jackson & the Olympian novel is widely hated due to the changes made to the source material that made the story unrecognizable to fans. Despite The Lightning Thief's failures, producers forged ahead with a sequel, releasing Sea of Monsters a reasonable three years later. However, Sea of Monsters also buckled under the weight of the inherent story problems the first movie established, and any dreams of seeing the movie franchise to completion were dashed.

A decade later, Percy Jackson came back strong with a TV show reboot that retained the most essential parts of the books. With an age-appropriate cast and Riordan on board as a consultant, the show has a bright future, with Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 2 now in the works (at the time of writing). In the case of Percy Jackson , abandoning the unpopular movie franchise was doubtlessly the right choice.

4 Fantastic Four

Fantastic four went through the same reboot cycle as spider-man..

Fantastic Four represents a similar phenomenon in Hollywood as Spider-Man , being the two most famous Marvel properties. With such a famous group of superheroes at their disposal, studio executives and filmmakers desperately wanted to make something out of it. However, while Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy is something of a beloved classic and Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is just shy of a complete masterpiece, the 2000s Fantastic Four saw mediocre at best reviews and fizzled out after two movies, despite there being plans for more.

The series' branding was complicated when Chris Evans became infinitely more famous for playing the MCU's Captain America at the beginning of the 2010s. 20th Century then produced a Fantastic Four reboot in 2015 with a new cast in what was ultimately a futile attempt to see some success with Marvel's biggest property before admitting defeat and selling out to Disney. The MCU is now working on adding Fantastic Four to its lineup, with Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby in the lead roles.

Guillermo del Toro & Neil Marshall's demon superhero series has a rocky history.

From the macabre mind of Guillermo del Toro, in partnership with his co-director Neil Marshall, came a bizarre superhero movie about a demon summoned by the Nazis who is rescued by the Allies and grows up to become a hero. Hellboy was never a massive blockbuster, but the first two movies in the franchise were profitable and well-reviewed. However, Hellboy 3 was canceled after a decade in development due to del Toro's busy schedule and problems securing funding.

Symptomatic of Hollywood's oversaturation with reboots, Marshall directed a reboot that came out shortly after it was confirmed that del Toro's sequel was not happening. While David Harbour seemed like the perfect person to take over from Ron Perlman, the Hellboy reboot was a decided failure. In addition to the movie's lackluster writing, the strange premise's time and place may have simply faded into history.

2 Divergent

A decrease in genre interest and a weak story led to divergent's early end..

Despite the largely derivative story, Divergent initially seemed like it would be just as strong of a franchise.

Riding on the coattails of The Hunger Games , one of the most successful blockbuster franchises of the 2010s, Divergent benefited from the popularity of the young adult dystopian genre at the time. Despite the largely derivative story, Divergent initially seemed like it would be just as strong of a franchise. Lead actress Shailene Woodley had already starred in Best Picture nominee The Descendants alongside George Clooney when the series began, while other A-listers took on supporting roles.

However, Divergent's story problems started to overshadow its marketability with the second movie, while there was a downturn in YA dystopias with the end of The Hunger Games . The third Divergent movie received the worst reviews yet, leaving studio executives scrambling to complete the series. While there was talk of wrapping things up with a TV movie, most of the cast left the franchise, and the final movie was eventually scrapped.

Movie franchises including Divergent, The Maze Runner, and Mortal Engines had hopes of being the next Hunger Games but didn't live up to the hype.

1 The Chronicles of Narnia

The silver chair was in development for years before netflix bought narnia..

The movie adaptation of C. S. Lewis' classic fantasy novel The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe proved to be as magical and spectacular as fans could have hoped for, becoming a critical and box office hit. This guaranteed a sequel, but the massive changes to the book made for Prince Caspian did not entirely work out in its favor. While the movie still made a profit, the fact that it did not make as much of a profit as its predecessor was the defining point.

The next movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader , was already dealing with one of the more difficult Narnia books to adapt and bombed at the box office. Despite this, The Silver Chair was in development for years before Netflix bought the rights to the series, with Joe Johnston slated to direct and Millie Bobby Brown being offered the lead role. The Chronicles of Narnia has a complicated history in Hollywood, making some wonder if the movie franchise should have been canceled just to make another one.

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

10 Shows Like Reacher to Watch if You Want More Reacher

When you need more gritty dramas with big dudes

Reacher  was an instant hit for Amazon Prime Video when Season 1 was released in 2022, and it's not difficult to figure out why. The series is based on Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, following the titular Jack Reacher (played by  Alan Ritchson ), a former military policeman who puts his unique mix of brawn and brains to good use as he travels around the U.S. solving mysteries and cracking skulls.

Now that  Season 2  is out and the episodes are being released weekly instead of all at once, we've got a hankering for some more shows like Reacher  while we wait for the next episode, so we put together some recommendations for shows like Reacher . From action shows to detective shows to other paperback adaptations, there's plenty here. Grab a cup of black coffee and a slice of peach pie and settle in to watch some wisecracking antiheroes beat up some bad guys. 

More recommendations:

• The Best Shows to Watch Based on Shows You Already Love
• The Best Shows to Watch on Prime Video Right Now
• The Best Murder Mysteries and Crime Dramas to Watch
• Reacher Season 2: Source Book, Release Date, Cast, and More

The Old Man

Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow, The Old Man

2022 was a pretty good year for shows featuring men chasing conspiracies with more than just muscle, and while Reacher was one of the best, my vote for THE best of the year would be FX's The Old Man . Based on the 2017 novel by Thomas Perry, The Old Man stars Jeff Bridges as Dan Chase, a former CIA operative whose life in hermitic retirement is disrupted when someone tries to kill him, sending him down a path of revenge and redemption involving his past. Like Reacher, Chase is direct, sharp, and can put a man down in ways you'd never expect. But Chase is sitting on a bed of secrets, which are doled out in excellent fashion throughout the seven white knuckle episodes. John Lithgow , Amy Brennman , and Alia Shawkat also star. If you like Reacher , you'll love The Old Man .  -Tim Surette  

The Terminal List

Chris Pratt, The Terminal List

Amazon has carved out a niche as the streaming home for action shows based on novel series. The streamer started with Bosch , perfected the model with Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (both shows are on this list), and scaled it this year with Reacher and  The Terminal List . The Terminal List , which is based on a novel by former Navy SEAL Jack Carr, follows a rogue SEAL played by Chris Pratt on a mission to get revenge on the people that orchestrated a conspiracy that caused great suffering for him and his loved ones. The testosterone-fueled thriller is a Reacher-sized hit. The biggest difference between the shows is that Reacher has a sense of humor and The Terminal List does not. -Liam Mathews

Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock

Jack Reacher is a brilliant detective with superior powers of deduction and no fear of saying exactly what he thinks. He's basically an extremely muscular, American version of Sherlock Holmes; specifically, Benedict Cumberbatch 's modern-day version of the iconic inspector from the 2010-2017 BBC show Sherlock . Holmes is a brilliant, acerbic London detective who's always the smartest person in the room, much to the chagrin of his more ordinary but still pretty brilliant sidekick, John Watson ( Martin Freeman ). Sherlock doesn't have the action-packed beatdowns of Reacher , but it does have the clever detective work that's the other half of the Prime Video show. If it's wall-to-wall action you're looking for, scroll down. -Liam Mathews

Antony Starr,  Banshee

If you love Reacher 's action and small-town crime, you have to check out Banshee . This Cinemax series ran for four seasons from 2013 to 2016 and tells the story a high-level diamond thief ( Antony Starr , now best known for playing Homelander on The Boys ) who gets out of prison and assumes the identity of Lucas Hood, the new sheriff of Banshee, a town in Pennsylvania Amish country, after Hood is randomly killed in a bar fight. Since the new sheriff in town is no sheriff at all but a career criminal with his own ideas about justice, the town gets lawless as hell. That lawlessness leads to some of the best action and fight sequences TV has ever seen. Antony Starr is not as large as Alan Ritchson (who is?), but he can scrap with the best of them. - Liam Mathews         

Hap and Leonard

Michael K. Williams and James Purefoy, Hap & Leonard

This is another Southern-fried crime drama with an arch sense of humor that's based on a book series. Hap & Leonard , which ran for three seasons on Sundance between 2016 and 2018, is based on a series of novels by cult favorite author Joe R. Lansdale about Hap Collins ( James Purefoy ), a white conscientious objector, and Leonard Pine (the late, great Michael K. Williams ), a gay, Black Vietnam vet. They're blue-collar best friends who have a way of getting caught up in criminal entanglements with violent people in '80s East Texas. Each season adapts a different one of Lansdale's novels, which is the same format Reacher will follow. Season 1, for example, finds Hap getting recruited by his left-wing radical ex-lover Trudy Fawst ( Christina Hendricks ) to help find some stolen cash that was lost in the area decades prior, a plan that's supposed to be simple but ends up getting very complicated. It's a clever, underrated show that always brought in a great supporting cast every season. - Liam Mathews

Timothy Olyphant, Justified

If it's a stone-cold guy embarrassing crooks and criminals and talking sh-- in the South that you're in the mood for, look no further than the modern masterpiece Justified , which is based on a character created by crime novel master Elmore Leonard. Timothy Olyphant plays U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a shoot-from-the-hip lawman whose tongue is as sharp as his aim. While more gregarious and poetic than and not quite as yoked as Reacher, Givens shares Reacher's sense of the ideal male fantasy; you'd swap places with either of these guys in a heartbeat. As for the show itself, each of the six seasons follows a season-long mystery involving plenty of investigation that bends the rules just a bit. - Tim Surette

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan

John Krasinski, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan

If you can't get enough of ass-kicking Jacks on Amazon Prime Video after watching Reacher , then your next binge should be the action thriller Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan , another book-to-screen adaptation about a guy who knows more than anyone else in the room. John Krasinski plays the popular CIA analyst in this story about the early days of his career and transition from a desk jockey to a stud in the field, as he takes down threats to America around the world. This Jack isn't as jacked as Reacher 's Jack, but Jack Ryan has the same procedural investigation you loved in Reacher , just in a bigger, global scope. The show debuted in 2018 and was an immediate hit, and Amazon will keep making seasons as long as there are more bad guys to catch. - Tim Surette

Titus Welliver, Bosch

Amazon's becoming a real home to watch dad books, and the series that started it all was Bosch , a gritty cop show based on the works of author Michael Connelly. Titus Welliver stars as Harry Bosch, the titular troubled cop who, at the start of the series, is not only out to throw murderers in jail, but is also the subject of a murder investigation (a wrongful death suit) himself. (Hey, just like Reacher!) It's more of a straightforward cop show than a lone wolf doing good show like Reacher  is, but it's firmly centered on a main character who solves crimes his own way. It's also got a real sense of place, with Los Angeles serving as the backdrop for corruption and crime. - Tim Surette

Taveeta Szymanowicz and Marlo Kelly, Dare Me

What's a one-season drama about cheerleaders doing on a list of shows to watch if you like Reacher ? Well, before Jack Reacher joined the military, he was a cheerleader. Just kidding! But I would watch that. Dare Me makes the list because it shows off the talents of Willa Fitzgerald , whom you may have been introduced to in Reacher ; she plays Roscoe Conklin, Reacher's more-than-a-friend on the force. In Dare Me , Fitzgerald plays the new cheerleading coach — a mysterious character who is almost nothing like the sweet Roscoe — at a high school where the cheerleaders run things, but the show adds the extra drama of a murder mystery and a thriller as the cheerleaders investigate the sketchy past of Fitzgerald's character. It was canceled after one season, but it's one of those gems that never got its due. - Tim Surette

Blood Drive

Alan Ritchson, Blood Drive

Alan Ritchson's performance as Reacher carries most of Reacher , and if you're just meeting him for the first time, you're probably wondering where you can see more of him. The obvious answer is to watch the crude football comedy Blue Mountain State , which aired three seasons on Spike TV from 2010 to 2011 (it's streaming on Freevee ) and features Ritchson as a linebacker for a college football team, but we're going with something of a deeper cut. A leaner Ritchson was the star of Syfy's underrated 2017 series Blood Drive , a drive-in action show about a car race in an apocalyptic future where the cars run on... human blood. Each episode features a new grindhouse-style obstacle, like vampires, cannibals, or "sex plagues," and Blood Drive gleefully played up the campiness. It sounds silly, but it got great reviews and is a perfect escape. Ritchson plays a former cop forced into the race who teams up with a femme fatale ( Christina Ochoa ) to take down the evil master of ceremonies (a balls-to-the-wall Colin Cunningham ) and the corporation behind the games. - Tim Surette       

Jack Reacher

Rosamund Pike and Tom Cruise, Jack Reacher

If you're new to the Reacherverse but loved Amazon's take on Jack Reacher, you may as well see what all the fuss was about when Alan Ritchson was cast in the lead role. It's because the Jack Reacher in the 2012 film was played by 5'7"  Tom Cruise , who does not exactly fit the physical profile of the Reacher dreamed up by Lee Child. Still, the movie is a solid action film, and as usual, Cruise is good and does his own stunts. But it's also a good reminder of how great Ritchson is as Reacher and why we were all happy to see him fill up the TV screen and vacuum up plates of BBQ. -Tim Surette