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Jack Reacher – first look review Jack Reacher – first look review
(1 day later)
Panto season is almost upon us. And here's a late addition to the lineup; an unexpected guilty pleasure full of camp and vanity, complete with hissable villain and heaving cleavage.Panto season is almost upon us. And here's a late addition to the lineup; an unexpected guilty pleasure full of camp and vanity, complete with hissable villain and heaving cleavage.
It's the first in a hopeful new franchise for Tom Cruise, based on the bestsellers by Lee Child about a massive ex-military cop who travels the US with just a toothbrush, exacting crunchy justice on the fringe of the law. The books are insomniac heaven, pacey male fantasy about a life of righteous slugging and responsibility-free shagging.It's the first in a hopeful new franchise for Tom Cruise, based on the bestsellers by Lee Child about a massive ex-military cop who travels the US with just a toothbrush, exacting crunchy justice on the fringe of the law. The books are insomniac heaven, pacey male fantasy about a life of righteous slugging and responsibility-free shagging.
But some fans had issues with Cruise's vital stats (Reacher is 6ft 5ins and almost 18 stone; Cruise is not). Child himself came to the rescue. "With another actor you might get 100% of the height but only 90% of Reacher. With Tom, you'll get 100% of Reacher with 90% of the height."But some fans had issues with Cruise's vital stats (Reacher is 6ft 5ins and almost 18 stone; Cruise is not). Child himself came to the rescue. "With another actor you might get 100% of the height but only 90% of Reacher. With Tom, you'll get 100% of Reacher with 90% of the height."
Trouble is, Reacher's stature is a fair percentage of his personality; a fact only patchily transferred to the film. When he duffs up five men in a car park, bystanders are duly awed, but no one remarks that it's especially impressive for a little fella.Trouble is, Reacher's stature is a fair percentage of his personality; a fact only patchily transferred to the film. When he duffs up five men in a car park, bystanders are duly awed, but no one remarks that it's especially impressive for a little fella.
Cruise does his best, swinging his arms, puffing his chest, clumping along with the physicality of a bigger man. But just as sucking in your cheeks can't make you thinner, nor does going through doors torso-first actually add inches.Cruise does his best, swinging his arms, puffing his chest, clumping along with the physicality of a bigger man. But just as sucking in your cheeks can't make you thinner, nor does going through doors torso-first actually add inches.
The storyline has our hero teaming up with a hotshot lawyer, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), to track down a sniper behind a seemingly random attack. A scene early on that fairly murmurs with sexual tension has Helen sat on a motel room bed while Reacher explains the plot to her with his top off (he only has one set of clothes, and they've got all wet). Yet Cruise's pumped, hairless chest proves as distracting for us as for her. Partly it's the framing: when Pike is centre-screen, Cruise's left breast pokes into the bottom of the shot. The storyline has our hero teaming up with a hotshot lawyer, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), to track down a sniper behind a seemingly random attack. A scene early on that fairly murmurs with sexual tension has Helen sat on a motel room bed while Reacher explains the plot to her with his top off (he only has one set of clothes, and they've got all wet). Yet Cruise's pumped, hairless chest proves as distracting for us as for her. Partly it's the framing: when Pike is centre-screen, Cruise's left breast keeps poking into the bottom of the shot.
The adaptation is also hobbled by the need for so much of Reacher's lightning-quick calculations to be spoken aloud. A taciturn man becomes a gabbler, even a bit of a showoff. "You gotta pen?" asks one baddie, telling him the address where they're holding a hostage. "Don't need one," replies Reacher. Helen drops him off at a shop and asks if he needs a lift back. "There's a bus station three miles away; I can walk there in 24 minutes." In one glorious sequence he even pulls a Derren Brown-style stunt involving a vital clue written on a folded Post-It note before Pike even has time to put in the call.The adaptation is also hobbled by the need for so much of Reacher's lightning-quick calculations to be spoken aloud. A taciturn man becomes a gabbler, even a bit of a showoff. "You gotta pen?" asks one baddie, telling him the address where they're holding a hostage. "Don't need one," replies Reacher. Helen drops him off at a shop and asks if he needs a lift back. "There's a bus station three miles away; I can walk there in 24 minutes." In one glorious sequence he even pulls a Derren Brown-style stunt involving a vital clue written on a folded Post-It note before Pike even has time to put in the call.
Such wizardry is yet more impressive in relief to the widespread bumbling around him. Cops crash their cars, numbskulls knock each other out, murderers direct their best scowl towards the CCTV camera and detectives chat among themselves while their interviewee takes a call from the fugitive.Such wizardry is yet more impressive in relief to the widespread bumbling around him. Cops crash their cars, numbskulls knock each other out, murderers direct their best scowl towards the CCTV camera and detectives chat among themselves while their interviewee takes a call from the fugitive.
The film fizzes to life when someone else with a bit of charisma gets a look-in. Luckily, there's two candidates here: Robert Duvall, as a gummy gun store owner, and, as our mysterious uber-villain, the documentary maker Werner Herzog. Playing it so straight you sometimes wonder if he quite knows what he's doing, Herzog keeps his accent, adds a glass eye and explains why he's only got half a hand. "I spent my first winter as a prisoner in Siberia wearing a dead man's coat. I chewed these fingers off before the frostbite could turn to gangrene."The film fizzes to life when someone else with a bit of charisma gets a look-in. Luckily, there's two candidates here: Robert Duvall, as a gummy gun store owner, and, as our mysterious uber-villain, the documentary maker Werner Herzog. Playing it so straight you sometimes wonder if he quite knows what he's doing, Herzog keeps his accent, adds a glass eye and explains why he's only got half a hand. "I spent my first winter as a prisoner in Siberia wearing a dead man's coat. I chewed these fingers off before the frostbite could turn to gangrene."
When Reacher has a foe as free-wheeling as that, the smackdown is worth watching. Yet even when it's just a one-man show, there's something compelling here. It is, in its way, a curious sort of auteurist cinema, in which a lone wolf (Cruise produces as well as stars) has taken an impeccably mainstream product and made it strange around him. Fans might have hankered after bona fide strappers like The Rock. I wouldn't have missed this for the world.When Reacher has a foe as free-wheeling as that, the smackdown is worth watching. Yet even when it's just a one-man show, there's something compelling here. It is, in its way, a curious sort of auteurist cinema, in which a lone wolf (Cruise produces as well as stars) has taken an impeccably mainstream product and made it strange around him. Fans might have hankered after bona fide strappers like The Rock. I wouldn't have missed this for the world.