Good but not Great

Rating: 6/10 (26 December 2012)

OK say what you want about Tom Cruise but the guy can still make a great action movie and do it well at 50. Jack Reacher is an adaptation of a Lee Child novel about the ex Military Investigator/Drifter who lives off the grid. There are a series of these novels with Jack Reacher as the protagonist and they are quite popular. In the novels Reacher is a master investigator with a knack for solving tough cases and seeing the obscure clues in a case nobody else sees. He is also a physical marvel at 6'5 240 lbs who is a beatdownologist when the situation calls for it. Enter Tom Cruise all 5'7 165 lbs of him as the smooth with the roughness version of Reacher.
The film begins with and interesting but simple plot that that sparks the question "Who is Jack Reacher". It does well setting up and entrance for Tom Cruise to enter as a drifter who has no email,address,credit card,phone number etc. The only reason you know he exists is through a bank account where he withdraws his military pension from. The basic plot has the makings of a great whodunit ripe with misdirection and who can you trust and you prepare yourself to see how great of a detective this Jack Reacher is but....... the film focuses less on Jack Reacher the investigation and more on how perfect,handsome and cunning Jack Reacher and you kind of get the feeling that nothing bad will ever ever happen to this man because he knows everything and is one step ahead of everyone and if someone get the drop on him it doesn't matter because Jack Reacher can beat up anybody and everybody........at the same time if needed. The first 45minutes are great but then something happens after that and the film sort of becomes Ethan Hunt without the nifty gadgets. The film is less about jack Reacher the Master Detective and more about the Jack Reacher the strikingly Handsome Hardass who can slip in and out of society unnoticed....Riiiight. Because really good looking people go unnoticed all the time and seldomly grab the attention or gaze of others. The supporting cast includes Rosalind Pike as the love interest sort of who finds herself almost immediately attracted to Reacher. (See above about reacher being off the Grid). The Rest of the cast include veterans Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog in all his disturbing glory as the protagonist, David Oyelowo who is turning in a nice career of late and Robert Duval who we haven't seen in a while. Overall the film is well acted but for me it became less a detective story and more a Tom Cruise fighting the bad guys movie . However the action scenes are terrific as always for Tom Cruise. This film almost gets there but never quite makes it however it was enjoyable. I give it 3 stars for it was entertaining and Robert Duval is awesome in it ;)