"There's this guy. He's a kind of cop, at least he used to be. He doesn't care about proof, he doesn't care about the law, he only cares about what's right."

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2012)

Warning: This is not your typical Tom Cruise film. If you were expecting an action ride with impossible stunts ala Mission Impossible then you will be mistaken. But I guarantee, you will not be disappointed there is plenty of action in this film. It is just more of a detective story than any other Tom Cruise film.
Opening with a particularly frightening and suspenseful sequence filmed through the sniper's eye, the first act of the film has a very heavy atmosphere. We are introduced to our main character through series of lines stating that the government, police, nobody knows anything about Jack Reacher. They can't find him, he shows when he wants to be found. As if on cue Reacher comes inside the room. He is at first reluctant to help but he finds that there is more than meets the eye to the shooting of five random citizens. What comes next is a thrilling ride filled with great fist fights, shoot-outs, amazing car chase and the quarry-set finale is the icing on the cake. What truly stood out to me was the bathroom fight which brilliantly mixed violence and humor. I am sure that this scene will go down in history as one of the funniest fights ever.
Tom Cruise is as usual very believable with his tough guy persona. He gives a marvelous performance but that isn't very surprising as I was sure Cruise will be amazing. I have never read the novels (but I sure am going to after watching the film)so I can't compare with the books. Robert Duvall has little screen time but you can clearly see how much he is enjoying his character, throwing funny lines here and there. He was truly the highlight of the scenes when he was on screen. Jai Courtney is great as the villain's chief henchman, can't wait to see him as John Mcclane's son in the next Die Hard film. Rosamund Pike ,who has previously played a lawyer in Fracture, gives a good performance but she is mainly here as the eye candy and she does that very well. In most scenes that she is in you get quite distracted by her beauty. The cameraman sure knew how to capture the best of her.
Christopher McQuarrie, mostly known for penning the scripts to The Usual Supects and Valkyrie, has a very steady hand as a director and delivers an amazing old school crime thriller which can boldly stand among other classics of this genre.