Christopher McQuarrie
Jack Reacher

THE REVIEW

A cross between C.S.I. and Steven Seagal's TV movies from the post '00 era, with a muscular Tom Cruise and a questionable sense of humor.

Jack Reacher is a "vigilante" (yes, a bit like Charles Bronson's "Death Wish"), a Gulf War veteran, unreachable, untouchable, and, above all, obnoxiously flashy. The hero gets involved in 5 (apparently) random murders committed by a crazed sniper, which soon reveals itself to be just one piece of a more widespread criminal organization and so on.

It’s immediately a strong contender for the worst screenplay of this newborn 2013: all the dialogues revolve around the most standard Hollywood clichés and dramatic lines, the latter intended to provoke those annoying reactions from the audience (which that evening consisted of disco-going teenagers with mohawks and lemon-to-fiery-red Nike sneakers), saying "Uuuuhhh! He's the best!", obviously referring to the protagonist.

The analysis of the evidence brings to mind trendy crime scene TV shows with several flashbacks almost in music video style, while the action parts (in fact also well-executed, mainly because nobody talks) are the classic trio of fight-chase-shootout, moderately pleasing to the eye. Single-expression actors, even a particularly befuddled Robert Duvall (see "Colors"), lead by a rather unlikeable Cruise. However, the work is partially saved by the pervasive general irony.

Everything slips into an ending that's copy-pasted from solitary superhero films, a happy ending that's ridiculously unintentional.

"There's a man who doesn't follow rules, doesn't follow laws, only what is right..." (going by memory)

The end. It doesn’t make you want to read the novel.