Jack Reacher misses the target

We haven’t read the 2005 novel One Shot that’s the source material for Jack Reacher, the new thriller that stars Tom Cruise as Reacher, a renegade private investigator of sorts. But even if we had, we still can’t imagine we’d have anything good to say about this movie.  While Reacher portends to be a Jason Bourne, what with his ability to live off-the-grid and fearlessly take on bad guys who are bigger and badder, this film just doesn’t feel like a franchise, though there are some 17 Jack Reacher novels.

Of course, part of the problem is the timing of its release. The movie centers on a shooter who takes out five innocent people one afternoon in Pittsburgh. The shooting incident mirrors the recent shootings in Connecticut, and the parallels are so striking that the film’s release date was even bumped by a week to give it some separation from the tragedy. But even if you get past the similarities to reality, Jack Reacher doesn’t have much going for it. The film’s storyline quickly spirals out of control as the plot develops and evolves into a conspiracy of sorts.

When a former military man (Joseph Sikora) is arrested for the shooting, Reacher comes into town to help defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike) find out if he’s truly guilty. Reacher knows the suspect from his days in the army — the guy was a sniper who once went on a shooting spree while they were in Iraq. He got off without any charges but Reacher promised to keep tabs on him to make sure it didn’t happen again.

As he starts to examine the evidence, Reacher realizes the case might be as straightforward as it seems. The film quickly starts unravel and proceeds like some extended episode of Law and Order. Reacher soon suspects a Russian thug (an underdeveloped character portrayed by Werner Herzog, undoubtedly cast because of his thick accent) and has to rely upon his sharp investigative skills to assemble a case against him. While the story is somewhat intriguing, there are more gratuitous shots of Pike’s ample cleavage here than there are action scenes. In the end, Jack Reacher’s 130-minute running time feels like an eternity.