Solid thriller but needed more edge and to make more of its assets

Rating: Null/10 (8 June 2013)

I had not only never heard of the source material when this film came out, but I had not even heard that there was such a film until it was suggested I go see it. I declined at the time but recently saw this on a plane. What I found was a perfectly fine thriller which builds nicely from a dramatic opening (made more dramatic for me since I have been on that very spot in Pittsburgh several times) and gradually unfolds to a neat conclusion with several decent set-pieces along the way. That said though, I finished the film with no real desire to see more from this character and with just the basic boxes ticked.
Part of the reason for this is Cruise. Talking to others after the film I found that there was controversy because he is apparently smaller than the character in the books but for me there was a much more important disconnect. Simply put Cruise doesn't fit the character he was playing and the dialogue consistently doesn't sound right coming out of his mouth. Cruise is very good at intensity in his characters but here the dialogue and the tone suggest a much more weary man even if he still has plenty of sharpness. The words say "deliberate" but the performance does not and it was really distracting to see Cruise in front of my eyes when my ears told me to expect someone else. This is not quite as bad but still similar in the action sequences, where he doesn't quite convince either. It is strange and generally I like Cruise for what he does, but here he simply didn't seem to fit.
In terms of the rest of the film though it still works. The car chases are good and generally the film has a physical edge to it where it doesn't feel like effects – it feels like metal on metal, not CGI. The plot unfolds pretty well and I was engaged by the story for the most part. The casting beyond Cruise is actually pretty good and it is a shame that more is not made of those they have. Pike is so-so but the film does a good job by having Jenkins, Oyelowo, Courtney, Duvall and of course Herzog in the cast; all of these men do their bits well and the only problem tends to be that they simply are not used often enough. Herzog in particular brings his unique nihilism to his performance and I would have loved to have seen him be menacing more. As it was, the film didn't quite make the most of the cast it had.
This is still a solid thriller though, with a decent pace and tone to it. Cruise is badly miscast and, while he still holds the screen, I never felt like I was watching a character so much as watching Cruise say the words of that character. The action is solid and the film is worth a look, but it never threatens to be as good as it could have been.