Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog, David Oyelowo and Robert Duvall
Rating: 3/5
Jack Reacher is sharper than the Sniper eye!
The film is an adaptation of Lee Child’s 2005 novel 'One Shot' written and directed by Academy award winner Christopher McQuarrie. It opens with an unsystematic sniper attack in a baseball stadium claiming five innocent lives with six shots. The police detective Emerson (David Oyelowo) waste no time to assemble a pile of forensic evidence that links the killer to a former military sniper man (Joseph Sikora) who beheaded strangers just for his fanatical pleasure.
The slayer has been located, arrested and charged, he jots down 'get Jack Reacher' in the interrogation room after being tortured. Almost immediately, the man on the spotlight appears as a former military policeman- Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) who possesses a tough and intelligent personality.
Reacher knew the accused from their Iraq War days and astoundingly analyzes why lawyer Helen's ( Rosamund Pike) client was a perfect candidate for going off the deep end and committing such a horrific crime. At the same time, he recommends 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.
The film has an extensive car chase sequence, fights and brawls while the sniper man’s lawyer falls for Reacher.The action-fight scenes and stunts are executed neatly without a chaos.
The plot may seem inadequate however, there is a bolt from the blue in the casting of director Werner Herzog as a creepy dire guy who lost his fingers on his way to survive the Balkan warfare. The character bringing the action into climax is the aging Robert Duvall as veteran shooter. The added character includes district attorney Rodin (Richard Jenkins) who is the father of the accused lawyer. As for the protagonist, Tom Cruise is in top form.
The style of narration and visuals are edgy with sharp cinematography.