Jack Reacher

We saw the movie, Jack Reacher yesterday. I was skeptical about Tom Cruise's ability to pull off the role, but I think he did a good job. Yes, he's smaller than Reacher as described in the stories, but that doesn't matter. Cruise appears hard and tough and he definitely has the Reacher attitude. He's no longer the baby-faced loose cannon from Top Gun. It didn't take long to get past my concerns about the size difference.

The movie is well-done with lots of action. It's based on the book, One Shot, and faithful enough to it that you can anticipate what's going to happen if you read the book. I was surprised that they didn't give it the same title as the book.

One of my misgivings was that the movie would turn out to be a mash-up of several stories, as was the case with V.I. Warshawski. Now I'm wondering if any of the other stories will be made into movies and, if so, what will they be called--Jack Reacher 2? Reacher Again? Reacher Farther?

Reacher can be violent, of course, and some of the movie fight scenes were as violent as in the stories. I've always admired the way Child can write such convincing fight scenes, so I was disappointed in one fight that looked like slapstick. If it was intended to get a laugh from the audience, it worked. I thought it detracted from the story overall.

The movie also had a car chase, which seemed out of character for Reacher, who admits he drives competently, but seldom and not well. I suspect the slapstick and the car chase were thrown in because the director was not sure how to present Reacher to a larger audience.

Overall, the movie is worth seeing. If you have not read the books, you don't need to read them before seeing the movie, but you should read them.