Jack Reacher (2012)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jack Reacher	Tom Cruise	½
Helen Rodin	Rosamund Pike
Alex Rodin	Richard Jenkins	½
Emerson	David Oyelowo
The Zec	Werner Herzog
Charlie	Jai Courtney
Cash	Robert Duvall	½

Review

As realized by producer/star Tom Cruise, Lee Child's ex-military drifter hero Jack Reacher is an update of Ethan Hunt, Cruise's effortless special agent from the Mission: Impossible series. Although the two share many of the same skills, Reacher is a far more cynical and anti-romantic figure. He's not exactly misanthropic, but it's apparent that he isn't too fond of the society he has spent his life protecting, something Cruise conveys quite effectively. And as directed by Christopher McQuarrie, this society is portrayed with a bleak pessimism. The brilliant opening sequence is as harrowing as it is, unfortunately, relevant, giving the film an urgency from which to build its "rotten beneath the surface" approach, reminiscent of the classical 1970s paranoia thrillers. And Jack Reacher indeed matches them on both paranoia and suspense, making this an at times remarkably effective thriller, even if the antagonist's agenda feels a little too 007-scale megalomaniac and the showdown is well familiar for anyone who've seen Clint, Burt or Bruce in this genre before.