With some hesitancy, as a fan of Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" character line in books, we went to see the first movie adaptation of his books in "Jack Reacher" starring Tom Cruise.The movie is an adaptation of Lee Child's book "One Shot". In this Jack Reacher installment, Jack (a "retired" military police operative/investigator extraordinaire), sees an accused murderer on the news from his past whom he has "unfinished business with". In the process of keeping good on a promise he made to kill this man if he ever got into similar trouble again, Jack begins to investigate the crime and finds out is is not the slam-dunk it's been made out to be. Of course he solves the mystery. Of course there is a lot of action.
I don't really wanna give more away than that. I "ain't no" spoiler. Never call me that.
When I first found out that Tom Cruise was going to play the lead role of Jack Reacher...I was ticked off. Reacher is described in the books as "Reacher is 6' 5" tall (1.96 m) with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 210 and 250 pounds (100–115 kg). He has ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He has very little body fat, and his muscular physique is completely natural (he reveals in Persuader, he has never been an exercise enthusiast). He is exceptionally strong, has a high stamina, but is not a good runner. He is also, allegedly, quite a handful in the bedroom"
Stack that up against Tom Cruise who is 5'9" and what...150 lbs? I'm bigger than Tom Cruise! And Tom Cruise just isn't the same...he just isn't. That is all. I think they should have gone with Liam Neeson or someone like that. But they didn't ask me...and Tom is who we have. I nearly didn't go for that very reason.
I will say...the movie was entertaining. I enjoyed it. I think if you're a Jack Reacher fan from the books, you have to separate the movies from the books...totally. You'll have to pretend that you never read one of the books and leave all preconceptions at the door. Then I think you'll enjoy the movie as a good movie. But if you can't...you might not.
I enjoyed the movie once I did that...divorced the Jack Reacher I knew from the one in the film. The books really are phenomenal if you like crime/investigative/murder mystery genres. What the film cannot do is take you into the thought processes of Jack which makes the books so good. I enjoy "listening" to Jack's thoughts and strategies as he thinks them nearly as much, if not more, than the primary storyline. You'll never be able to get that in a movie, unless he's narrating...which might be interesting.
In the books, Jack is a loner. He has the occasional sexual liaison, but more often than not, he's aloof. The Reacher books are not about sexual encounters or teasing bits of sensuality. They're about crime solving and action. So the movie took a bit of a cheap detour with it's lead attorney who is STUNNINGLY beautiful and sexy. The movie puts her cleavage upfront and center for much of the film....with some sexual tension between them that isn't acted upon. That really just did not need to be there. An average yet highly capable woman would have been more in keeping with the Reacher novels I've read to date.
Watch for a quick cameo appearance by the author, Lee Child. He is a desk sergeant when Reacher is released from jail after a fight scene.
It is rated PG-13 for violence including sniper shootings in public areas which may be hard for some to watch given our current level of public shootings of late.
Watch the trailer below or via this link. I've also included book purchase info below. Read the books...they rock.
Okay, now after reading your review I want to read the books. Only problem is, there are a lot of them and I have a compulsive need to read books in a series from the start, but that would just be too overwhelming. Is there one you would recommend I start with if I choose to start them, or do they all basically stand alone?
ReplyDeleteI have no desire to see the movie, for pretty much the reasons you stated, plus I just really don't like Cruise, and when I feel that strongly about a person, I find it hard to get past that and enjoy their work, no matter how good an actor people claim them to be.
OK, so easy peasy...look on Wikipedia under Lee Child, or even Jack Reacher...near the end of one of those posts, you'll get a dated rundown of Lee Child's books...and I think they separate out the Jack Reacher series from the others...and by date published.
ReplyDeleteIf it were me, and I could, I would read from first to last. But they have come to me piece meal over the years and it hasn't made a spittin it of difference. For those with the linear organized mind...it would be easy to start at the beginning just by printing the list of Wikipedia. I'm sure Lee Child also has a website that lists his works and perhaps by date. I would guess that the first one would outline who is and set up his character, but all of them touch on it. So either way...grab one and report back :-)