Film Review: "Jack Reacher" (2012).

"The law has limits. He does not" in Jack Reacher. This action thriller film adapted and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, based on Lee Child's 2005 novel One Shot. The film follows a homicide investigator who digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims.

Since the character's debut in Killing Floor in 1997, attempts have been made to adapt Child's Jack Reacher novel series. In 2005, after being optioned with no success to PolyGram and later New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures and Cruise/Wagner Productions acquired the film rights. Josh Olson was then hired to pen the adaptation of Child's then-most recent novel. In July 2010, McQuarrie, who previously collaborated with Cruise/Wagner Productions on the 2008 film Valkyrie, signed on to rework Olson's script and ultimately direct the film. Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, Cary Elwes, Colin Farrell, Harrison Ford, Jamie Foxx, Mel Gibson, Stephen Lang, Dolph Lundgren, Edward Norton, Ron Perlman, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Vince Vaughn, Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Hugh Jackman, Will Smith, and Dwayne Johnson were considered for the title role. However, in July 2011, Tom Cruise was ultimately cast. Some fans of the novel series became vocal over the casting of Cruise due to the actor's height not matching the description of Reacher in the novels. Reacher is described as 6'5" tall and weighing between two hundred ten and two hundred fifty pounds. Whereas Cruise is only 5'7" tall. Explaining the casting decision, author Child said that it would be impossible to find a suitable actor to play the giant Reacher and to recreate the feel of the book onscreen, and that Cruise had the talent to make an effective Reacher. By early October, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney, Werner Herzog, and Robert Duvall rounded out the film's cast. Hayley Atwell, Brit Marling, and Alexa Davalos were considered for the female lead. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in mid January 2012. Filming took place throughout Pennsylvania and New York. Cruise performed all of his own driving stunts during the film's signature car chase sequence. In July 2012, Kraemer, who previously scored McQuarrie's The Way of the Gun (2000), was hired as composer. The film was set for a December 15, 2012 release date, however, it was pushed to December 21 due to Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings on December 14.

Solid performances were given by the cast, especially Cruise who gave, probably, his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character. There's an incredible pleasure in watching Cruise do what he does, and he does it so well.

Jack Reacher is a high-style film with lowbrow appeal, a movie after which you may dislike yourself for liking it as much as you do. But, what makes the film worth watching no matter how dumb the story, is McQuarrie's superb sense of the city as a theater for action.

Simon says Jack Reacher receives: