There are 21 novels in British author Lee Childs ongoing Jack Reacher series and they habitually take care to describe their hero as a blond haired blue eyed hulk of an itinerant ex Army cop standing 6'5 with a 50-inch chest. Dolph Lundgren might have been perfect for the part or maybe Anita Ekberg. But producer Tom Cruise was the guy who, after attempts by others got the Reacher movie franchise going. For the starring role there was only one name on his list.
It was an inspired choice frankly. Cruises mid career pivot from thrice-Oscar-nominated all rounder to full-time action star may have been motivated by PR problems and an increasing reliance on international box office but that does not mean he is not The Best There Is at What He Does. The same unblinking intensity that now makes him impossible to accept playing ordinary emotionally stable human beings makes him perfect for movies that require him to scale Arabian skyscrapers and cling to the sides of airplanes. And the greatest runner in cinema history has been on an admirable run what with the latter two Missions: Impossible Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow all in the last five years each a standout specimen of its genre.
Key to all those movies was Christopher McQuarrie who wrote and directed Reacher and Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation and script doctored the other two. The presence of a guiding intelligence like McQuarrie howls into the fast and furious winds that writing matters even in action flicks.
Its because of McQ that 2012s barely franchise launching Jack Reacher was a gem. It had an enveloping mystery plot strong location shooting it was shot in Pittsburgh and it never looks like it was made in Culver City or Toronto and a cruel sense of humor. Cruise played the title character as a know it all jerk with an infallible memory which oddly made him more relatable than he has when trying to interface casually with fellow humans. Reachers two superb fight scenes captured in medium shots rather than choppy close cuts so you could see how hard Cruise trained were brutal but also nicely executed bits of slapstick. And its climactic gunfight was the best one since the bank heist set piece in Heat. Reacher naturally brought a knife.
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