The start of a new franchise?

Rating: Null/10 (9 January 2013)

I haven't read any of the 17 Jack Reacher novels written by the British Jim Grant under the pseudonym Lee Grant, so it was no bother to me that the 5' 7' Tom Cruise did not match up to the 6' 5' character of the books. Whatever one says about Cruise, he is still looking good and has genuine star appeal.
Writer and director Christopher McQuarrie has produced a fast and often violent film with implausible plotting but pace and verve. From the tense opening segment of a sniper attack in Pittsburgh, this is a work with style if little substance, aided by some good support performances from Werner Herzog and Robert Duvall.
Like a Clint Eastwood character in the likes of "High Plains Drifter", Reacher appears from nowhere and disappears to nowhere, but Cruise and Child are no doubt hoping that this is the start of a new franchise and, in sheer entertainment terms, I wouldn't mind a return.