The film shows potential to break the action mould, but only manages to be above average

Rating: 7/10 (27 August 2013)

Jack Reacher shows a lot of potential to break the mould of action movies, but unfortunately fails to deliver a special experience. The opening scene is one of the best examples of the potential this picture had, but sadly it fell into the typical formula of the action hero. What you end up with is an above average action thriller that despite attempts to vary from the norm, ends up taking the safe road.
The film opens with a superb sniper sequence. The opening scene is eight minutes in length and doesn't contain a single line of dialogue. Nor does it contain any musical score, in fact no action scenes do here, which is a great touch for complimenting the stealth and no-nonsense approach of Reacher (and the villains) and is one of the things that actually succeeds in setting Reacher apart from the other action films out there. There are no opening titles to be found anywhere here either. We see everything from the viewpoint of the sniper, as we watch him set-up and then assess his targets, one-by-one before he picks them off in a professional fashion, missing only one of his six shots.
The next thing we see is the police collecting evidence that leads them directly to James Barr, a former U.S. army sniper. Case solved. Or is it? When asked for a confession Barr simply writes "Get Jack Reacher" which prompts the same response from the police as it does cinema goers, "Who is Jack Reacher?" A solid way to introduce Cruise's Reacher as a mysterious drifter, and it would be fair to ask the same question after the movie has finished. All we really discover about him is that he is a former policeman in the U.S. Army and that he isn't worried about operating within the law. Reacher also has an impeccable memory and attention to detail, as demonstrated by his knowledge of the police evidence. Perhaps keeping Reacher a mysterious figure was a good way to go, I haven't read the books myself so I am unsure if that is Lee Child's decision or the film taking a different direction, although with this being an adaptation of One Shot, the ninth book in the Reacher series, I doubt that the reading audience know as little about their leading man as the viewing audience. Not that a sequel wouldn't sort out that problem, as this particular story needed a lot of attention to the mystery as opposed to Reacher himself.
The mystery was a good one. There was a double-cross that was subtly hinted at throughout without making it obvious (Detective Emerson is always suspicious of Reacher, but that is always assumed to be because of his mysterious nature). The actual shooting itself was clever in its details, creating the perfect set-up, but a set-up that was too perfect to anyone looking past the obvious. The odd location choice to shoot from, the coin in the meter, the one 'missed' shot to leave evidence and most importantly, the appearance of a random shooting. Not only is shooting four random victims alongside your target smart, but shooting the target second rather than first is a good way to distract all attention from the target, as no-one focuses on the second victim. The sniper does line up his shot of the real target, the owner of a local construction company, with great delicacy and with more time than his others which isn't something you notice during the opening sequence but would notice on any second viewing after it was highlighted later on.
Rosamund Pike's Helen Rodin is a good choice for the role of doubter-turned-ally, helped along by her chemistry with Cruise. The two seem to be flirting in every scene they're in. But thankfully, against all Hollywood tropes, there is no love story between them. Despite their obvious sexual tension (particularly from Helen's side) Reacher just struts off into the sunset, remaining a drifter, not needing to be anchored by the first woman he meets (like nearly every other action hero). This was very Bond-like, but actually better because instead of casual sex and then heading into the sunset, he instead just remains focused on the job and leaves. If you want to keep a character as a mystery figure that can move from location to location on a whim, that's the way to do it.
The films biggest drawback was the car chase scene, the biggest example of formulaic action as Reacher just races with reckless abandon, decimating traffic everywhere and executing more handbrake turns than perhaps any previous car sequence on the silver screen. A lot of them weren't even necessary and actually made his journey more difficult. The camera work for this sequence was unusual to say the least, with the drivers on the extreme left of the screen with the outside of the car and its wing mirror dominating the rest of the image. But perhaps the most frustrating part of this sequence was actually after he got out of the car, as it slowly drifted forward (which was a smart way to lose the cops) the queue at the bus station helped him hide. For no reason. They had witnessed nothing but the police chasing him, yet one man offers his cap and they all help him blend into the crowd to get on the bus. Completely illogical and unrealistic and I would be fairly surprised if this appeared in the book (at least with so little motive for the pedestrians) as the actual plot is pretty intricately designed for attention to detail.
Helen's immediate distrust of her own father felt unnatural too, considering that there were two people to suspect, yet the one she thought was the more likely of the two was her own father? It was obviously done as a red herring for the audience, but it made no sense for the actual character.