Jack Reacher

I have not been watching such thrillers in recent days, but I have read a number of Lee Child's Jack Reacher books and I enjoyed all of them. Thus, I decided to watch this movie to see if Hollywood could do a good job to show the complexity of the Jack Reacher character, and overcome the fact that Tom Cruise is short and Jack Reacher is 6' 5". I was pleasantly surprised because I enjoyed this movie. It stars Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, and Richard Jenkins.

Jack Reacher opens as a sniper is setting up in a car garage directly opposite a stadium in Pittsburg.  We see what the killer sees, and wince as the rifle scope glides left, right, and then left again, as that killer chooses, seemingly at random, who will die. Six shots ring out; five humans fall.

James Barr (Joseph Sikora), a retired Army sniper, is quickly arrested, but won't talk, except to scrawl three words on a sheet of paper: "Get Jack Reacher." As the detective in charge (David Oyelowo) and the district attorney (Jenkins) wonder aloud why Barr has asked for a former military policeman who has fallen off the grid, Reacher walks through the D.A.'s office door. 

It turns out that Reacher despises Barr, but he can't resist helping Barr's idealistic defense attorney, Helen Rodin (Pike). After retracing the killer's steps, Reacher begins having doubts about Barr's guilt, and once those five thugs come to beat him senseless, it's clear that there's a conspiracy afoot.

I recommend that you watch this movie if you want a well-acted and fast-paced thriller.