Cruise control on auto pilot

Rating: 8/10 (25 December 2012)

JACK REACHER (2012) *** Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, David Oyelowo, Werner Herzog, Jai Courtney, Vlaimir Sizov, Joseph Sikora, Michael Raymond-James, Alexia Fast, Robert Duvall. Cruise's first outing as the titular mysterious ex-military policeman/enforcer of the popular novels by Lee Child (who has a cameo) pits him against a homicide investigation in Pittsburgh where a military sniper has seemingly shot five random victims but murky underpinnings suggest otherwise landing him hip deep in a conspiracy. Workmanlike in execution and adaptation by filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie is buoyed by the laconic, deadeye turn by his star who seemingly miscast (the character is a blind 6'5" force to be reckoned with in the books) manages to rise above the otherwise corkscrew machinations for a relatively entertaining action derivative crime drama.