Jack Reacher

Ken.

Littlehorny wrote: »

In the six years since that poll, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has come on the scene and he certainly has the physicality to play Reacher, have watched the trailer a few times now and even when Cruise is trying to talk tough he sounds about as menacing as yorhshire terrier.
Even during the street fight he looks tiny, when Reacher walks into a room he should cast a shadow and have a small air of menace about him. A younger Clint Eastwood comes to mind, a guy that you would fear a little just looking at him.

A lot of readers are not buying/reading his new stuff because of the casting,me included. I just cannot look at the books and have the image of Tom Cruise in my head for xxx number of pages. It doesn't feel right.

Pushtrak

ken wrote: »

A lot of readers are not buying/reading his new stuff because of the casting,me included. I just cannot look at the books and have the image of Tom Cruise in my head for xxx number of pages. It doesn't feel right.

That's crazy. My buying the books isn't going to be effected one iota by the movie. I've read them all, and will continue to do so. I've been following the movie news for many years, ever since I first found out about the film rights for the books have been sold.

All the film rights have been sold. Lee doesn't have as much say as people seem to presume he does. I was thinking of not going to the movie as I knew it isn't going to hold a candle to the books. This should be obvious, books are just about always better than the movie. I'm going to go, though, on the idea that it doesn't matter how good or bad the movie is. The book is still there, as are the other ones that are already out, and those that will be out.

Only way I could understand your perspective is if you aren't much of a one for books in general, which'd be a pretty common thing.

Ken.

Pushtrak wrote: »

That's crazy. My buying the books isn't going to be effected one iota by the movie. I've read them all, and will continue to do so. I've been following the movie news for many years, ever since I first found out about the film rights for the books have been sold.

All the film rights have been sold. Lee doesn't have as much say as people seem to presume he does. I was thinking of not going to the movie as I knew it isn't going to hold a candle to the books. This should be obvious, books are just about always better than the movie. I'm going to go, though, on the idea that it doesn't matter how good or bad the movie is. The book is still there, as are the other ones that are already out, and those that will be out.

Only way I could understand your perspective is if you aren't much of a one for books in general, which'd be a pretty common thing.

I'm an avid reader but just can't get my head around imaging Tom Cruise as the guy in the books.

MyBrokenKnees

People laugh when I say I saw Nathan Fillion being the man to fill Jack Reacher's shoes. He has size to be believable, over the years he has become this funny guy. But he can play hard and nasty as well. But it's to late now. I just hope Tom Cruise bring the Vincent vibe with him.

ricero

MyBrokenKnees wrote: »

People laugh when I say I saw Nathan Fillion being the man to fill Jack Reacher's shoes. He has size to be believable, over the years he has become this funny guy. But he can play hard and nasty as well. But it's to late now. I just hope Tom Cruise bring the Vincent vibe with him.

Seriously wtf is it with boards.ie man love with nathan ****ing fillion ? Where does this come from hes a decent actor thats about it

Sofaspud

ricero wrote: »

Seriously wtf is it with boards.ie man love with nathan ****ing fillion ? Where does this come from hes a decent actor thats about it

He generally plays the loveable scamp character and does it really well, because that's basically him in real life.

When reading the books I pictured him as Patrick Warburton (Rules of Engagement, Men in Black 2), wrong hair colour but has the build I imagine Jack Reacher having. He's more typecast to comedic roles, but he'd still be a million times better for the role than Tom Cruise.

Mickeroo

ricero wrote: »

Seriously wtf is it with boards.ie man love with nathan ****ing fillion ? Where does this come from hes a decent actor thats about it

It's not just boards, I find it across the whole internet. I think it stems directly from how popular Firefly/Serenity is and the cult following its gathered. (Throw in a few decent small film roles here and there and Castle too probably).

It's the Bruce Campbell effect, lots and lots of people love Bruce because of Evil Dead. I went through a phase of watching anything with Bruce in it no matter how bad it was.

grames_bond

Saw this movie at the cineworld unlimited screening and "meh" is the only word I can think of! Cruise just isn't believable, and it doesn't help that it is basically "the Tom Cruise show" from the get go, the movie is clichéd as f*ck, the humour is forced (few funny moments however - but they try too hard), and what I was very disappointed in was the action and the fight scenes - just seemed very slow!

No idea how it managed to get 78% on rotten tomatoes!!

Kirby

MyBrokenKnees wrote: »

People laugh when I say I saw Nathan Fillion being the man to fill Jack Reacher's shoes. He has size to be believable, over the years he has become this funny guy. But he can play hard and nasty as well. But it's to late now. I just hope Tom Cruise bring the Vincent vibe with him.

ricero wrote: »

Seriously wtf is it with boards.ie man love with nathan ****ing fillion ? Where does this come from hes a decent actor thats about it

Mickeroo wrote: »

It's not just boards, I find it across the whole internet. I think it stems directly from how popular Firefly/Serenity is and the cult following its gathered. (Throw in a few decent small film roles here and there and Castle too probably)

People loved Firefly man Hard to let it go.

But primarily it's because he's a very good actor. The physical yet clever roles fit him so well, and it's obvious. He would have made a good Reacher. He's tall and physically intimidating. He can be very menacing when he wants to be. Anybody who remembers him as the creepy priest Caleb will definetely back that up. People clamored for him to be Nathan Drake aswell in the movie version of Uncharted. It was an obvious fit.

Problem is that it was an obvious fit for the Nathan Fillion of 10 years ago. He hasn't aged that well over the past few years and steady employment with Castle has made him get a bit fat and flabby. He doesn't have the physique for these roles anymore.

BabysCoffee

I saw this movie at a screening. I really enjoyed it. I have only read one of the books. Found it hard to associate Tom Cruise as the character in the book - as good an actor TC is, he is just not the right size for the role.

doomed

Having read a few of the Reacher books, his size is a referred to a lot and its part of the character. One of the books had him beating up american football linebackers. You can just see Cruise looking them straight in the navel and saying "I'm going to hurt you".

Sad Professor

I liked this a lot. No bullish*t, no pretension, no rapid-fire editing, just a lean, brisk, down-to-earth crime thriller in the best tradition of old-school '70s cop films like Dirty Harry. The overly generic story and plot holds it back somewhat but is compensated by some very strong direction from McQuarrie. I haven't read the books but I thought Cruise was more than convincing as the lone wolf investigator. And props to whoever had the idea to cast Herzog as the villain - inspired piece of casting.

Pushtrak

Sad Professor wrote: »

I liked this a lot. No bullish*t, no pretension, no rapid-fire editing, just a lean, brisk, down-to-earth crime thriller in the best tradition of old-school '70s cop films like Dirty Harry. The overly generic source material holds it back somewhat, but it is compensated for by some very strong direction from McQuarrie. I haven't read the books but I thought Cruise was more than convincing as the lone wolf investigator. And props to whoever had the idea to cast Herzog as the villain - inspired piece of casting.

Ridiculous. You try to offer commentary on the source material of the movie without having read it.

Sad Professor

Sorry, fixed.

Pushtrak

Not seeing the fix, to be honest. You are still coming to conclusions of the source material, the book, without having read it. The fix is to either not reference the source material or to read it.

MagicMarker

Pushtrak wrote: »

Not seeing the fix, to be honest. You are still coming to conclusions of the source material, the book, without having read it. The fix is to either not reference the source material or to read it.

The edited post doesn't reference the source material.

Sad Professor

Pushtrak wrote: »

Not seeing the fix, to be honest. You are still coming to conclusions of the source material, the book, without having read it. The fix is to either not reference the source material or to read it.

Huh? So I have to read the book in order to comment on the story or how well Cruise plays the role? Give me a break.

Pushtrak

Sad Professor wrote: »

Huh? So I have to read the book in order to comment on the story or how well Cruise plays the role? Give me a break.

Of course you don't have to read the book to talk about the movie, but leave it to the movie. If you want to say anything about the source material, I'd suggest it might be best to read it before saying anything on it. Why talk about the book without reading it? Why should anyone care about your opinion on a book you haven't read?

Sad Professor

Thanks for the lecture, but I didn't say anything about the source material in my edited post. Even in the original post I was clearly talking about the film. I really don't know what you are on about, mate. But you are obviously a big fan of the books and my post offended you. Lets just forget about it anyway.

Mitch Connor

Sad Professor wrote: »

Thanks for the lecture, but I didn't say anything about the source material in my edited post. Even in the original post I was clearly talking about the film. I really don't know what you are on about, mate. But you are obviously a big fan of the books and my post offended you. Lets just forget about it anyway.

agree with you about the movie - the plot is overly simple and predictable, which disappointed me. Also though the leading lady was terrible in it.

Sad Professor

Mitch Connor wrote: »

agree with you about the movie - the plot is overly simple and predictable, which disappointed me. Also though the leading lady was terrible in it.

That bug-eyed facial expression of hers gets a bit tiresome after a while, but I actually really liked Rosamund Pike in this. She reminds me a bit of Kathleen Turner.

Mitch Connor

Sad Professor wrote: »

That bug-eyed facial expression of hers gets a bit tiresome after a while, but I actually really liked Rosamund Pike in this. She reminds me a bit of Kathleen Turner.

The bug eyed thing and the horrible scenes of 'sexual tension' between her and cruise just put me off completely. it was mainly those scene of forced (and terrible) sexual tension that put me off her in this.

meoklmrk91

Very underwhelmed by this. I usually avoid Tom Cruise movies cause he pretty much just plays Tom Cruise. Werner Herzog was class though, one of the coolest baddies I've seen in a while.

Josey Wales

Just back from the cinema and I really enjoyed it. Nothing too complicated or overblown. Just a good solid thriller. I agree with a poster above who said Rosamund Pike was awful, she really was.

Opinicus

Saw it last night and thought it was pretty solid. It definitely catered to those who have read the books. I can't really comment on it objectively because I've read all the books, but I enjoyed it.


spoiler alert!


Does anyone else think the comical fight when he goes to Jeb's house was just done to take the piss out of all the people (me included) going on about how Cruise was too small to play Reacher? It was a little too slapstick for me and it seemed to say "Big guys? Sure they're terribly clumsy!"

Also nice to see the cameo by Lee Child.

catallus

I thought it was entertaining enough, a bit over-arch for my liking in places, it never bored me but it was simplistic enough plot-wise, I'd rate it as a pretty standard film.

Cruise was natural as usual, Herzog looked like he was having fun :rolleyes:, Robert Duvall was in The Godfather Part Two which bestows reflected glory onto the movie, and Rosamund Pike had, well, cleavage , so it's all ok as far as I'm concerned!

I like Pike, she's usually got a good presence but she does seem to fall between two stools here. I liked the car chase, it was good, nice and tense.

speedboatchase

Probably the most 'alright' movie I've ever seen. Plods along at points and the plot didn't unravel in a manner that was exciting or surprising. Hell, even the car chase was fairly placid.

For all the complaints about Cruise beforehand, I thought he was perfectly fine in the role and physical issues aside, was evidently giving 100%. Rosamund Pike was absolutely terrible though. It's rare to see a performance so obviously below-par in a major movie but her constantly looking surprised look and as someone mentioned, forced sexual tension with Cruise, were really distracting. As was the cleavage in that one office scene but I'm not complaining there...

promethius

Opinicus wrote: »

Saw it last night and thought it was pretty solid. It definitely catered to those who have read the books. I can't really comment on it objectively because I've read all the books, but I enjoyed it.


spoiler alert!


Does anyone else think the comical fight when he goes to Jeb's house was just done to take the piss out of all the people (me included) going on about how Cruise was too small to play Reacher? It was a little too slapstick for me and it seemed to say "Big guys? Sure they're terribly clumsy!"

Also nice to see the cameo by Lee Child.

this was very weird, was like laurel and hardy and if they'd just got on with it they would have finished him off a few times over. grand film overall but wouldn't be in your thoughts very long afterwards.

don ramo

just saw it, it is a pretty standard action/thriller doesnt really add anything that we havent seen a hundred times before, but TBF it held my attention for 2 hours so i cant really fault it there,

itll be interesting to see if they get a series of films going for this, its only out 2 weeks and has already covered its production cost,

DrumSteve

Ill say this, having read the book, it was not as **** a film as I thought it was gonna be.

Banjaxed82

As mentioned previous, it held my attention for the 2 hours, but how in God's name was this from the writer of the Usual Suspects. A lot of the dialogue was painful and cringe worthy to listen to.

The lead actress was horrible, and a lot of the acting (tom's included) was pretty hammy at times throughout.

McQuarrie doesn't fill with me with confidence as far as his directing goes.

I've never read the books, so can't compare but without the star power behind this film, it would have been an average watchable film.

What am I missing from the books? It doesn't seem to be any great swinging mick of a character/idea, etc?

Manchegan

Cynical, sadistic, gun-crazy pap. Herzog is wasted in this, as is clear when

he's summarily dispatched when the makers can't think of anything left for him to do. His character is ultimately a McGuffin.

don ramo

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

without the star power behind this film, it would have been an average watchable film.

thats what the difference is with this and alex cross, McQuarrie is a much better writer/director than the crowd who done cross, but at the same time he hasn't done anything noteworthy since The Usual Suspects, this film will just blend into the background like his last 2 films The Tourist and Valkyrie,

lukin

Saw this last night and I must say I enjoyed it. I thought from the trailer it would some kind of Charles Bronson vigilante-type thing with Tom Cruise beating the tar out of everyone who crosses his path but there was a decent story in it and the chemistry between Rosamund Pike and Cruise was quite good.
Pike is an absolute hottie btw. It's the first movie where I've noticed Cruise is beginning to look his age though.
If it does well at the box office it might turn into a Jason Bourne-type franchise but Cruise's age might come against him.

On my phone so I'll keep this brief, saw it last night and relly enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of Alex Cross, in that it adapted a series of decent throw away rubbish but unlike Cross there was some wit and heart put into Jack Reacher. Cruise was great and not once did I think to myself that he was too small or not intimidating enough for it, that he seemed to be looking and playing his age was interesting as he came across a lot more serious than usual. Pike on the other hand was very poor, every time she was on screen I want someone to hit her or put a bullet in her brain. Her attempts at dcreating sexual tension were cringeworthy. As a big Duvall fan I loved seeing him and wish that he had more screen time but if a sequel goes ahead I think we may get a bit more. Saving the best for last, Herzog was absilutly brilliant and I really want to see him act more and it's a real shame that

he won't be back for the sequel.

Jack Reacher is one of those rare action films with no delusions of grandeur and simply exists to entertain. The action is varied and well handled, the car chase is relly well done and the pay of it is brilliant. It's not a film likely to become anyoens all time favorite or one that's considered a classic in years to come but it's a great way to kill two hours and I know I'll give it a rewatch 6 months or a year from now.

Pushtrak

Deleted User wrote: »

As a big Duvall fan I loved seeing him and wish that he had more screen time but if a sequel goes ahead I think we may get a bit more. Saving the best for last, Herzog was absilutly brilliant and I really want to see him act more and it's a real shame that

he won't be back for the sequel.

I think it likely now with how successful Jack Reacher was that there will be more movies. Thing is, though, there aren't going to be sequels in the way you expect. There isn't going to be a continuation from this movie. At least, not if it is going to follow the books. The books are mostly stand alone stories. There has been ones which follow directly from the previous, but the story is still new, with new characters. Without going in to specifics, it is likely that it'd feature an entirely new cast and story.

Defiler Of The Coffin

I thought they could have made it more of a mystery about who the shooter was at the start of the film, while it wouldn't have been a huge twist it would have kept the audience guessing right up to the moment Reacher figured the whole thing out.

All in all I thought it was a solid action film that was stripped of all the over the top action scenes and gadgets from the likes of Batman and James Bond. Cruise was excellent as Reacher I thought, the height issue didn't take away from it all. Reacher was always about using his brains first and brawn when he had to which in fairness Cruise was able to deliver as well. Rosamund Pike delivered a good performance but I found it hard to take my eyes off her chest any time she was on screen, just as well this wasn't a film laden with CGI or it would have completely gone to waste!

I'm looking forward to further Reacher films!

Deliverance XXV

6/10 (Spoiler tags just in case)

Very mixed results from me with this movie. Just watched it tonight and not completely convinced. Tom Cruise is still not Reacher. Seeing him up against five guys - not a hope - the scene was laughable. Car chase scene was brilliant; very well done.

Overall, I found the movie far too polished and tame. Fight scenes should be a focus point for a Reacher movie and found that there was a lot of camera positional changes to make it look faster. Would have preferred the movie to be a more violent and gritty style. The sniping scene at the start got my hopes up. I loved Cruise's tenacity in some of the scenes but it wasn't very believable. Can't believe they tried a comedic-style scene in the house (bathtub scene) where the two goons fumbled and hit each other like something out of Home Alone. Pike has very little acting range while I found Herzong and Duvall to be brilliant!

If I took the Reacher books out of the equation and saw it as a regular movie I would have seen a cliched and average movie with some decent scenes. Sad as I really wanted this to work.

johnny_ultimate

Absolute nonsense, but strangely watchable nonsense. The whole film is soaked in layers of absolute lunacy, as the tone fluctuates madly between straightforward thrills and Un-PC ludicrousness. There's just something about the film's offbeat, go-for-broke delivery that propels it that bit above your bag-standard thriller.

McQuarrie does a good job in elevating the throwaway material (the core narrative is just too silly and convoluted to work, and its really just an excuse to move from one place to another and utilise the wacky cast of characters). Very strong opening with that lengthy 'crosshair' shot, and the driftiest car chase I've seen in cinema (soundtracked only by the roar of the engines, as it should be). Some scenes are so ludicrous they had me chuckling heartily, such as

Reacher knocking out two characters by repeatedly banging their heads together

. The film definitely has a sense of humour about itself. It's almost a relic of the 1970s-80s with its casual, tongue-in-cheek attitude to political correctness and high bodycounts. I do have to admit several scenes just point-blank didn't work, and pacing wise it was all over the gaff. Still, there were enough highlights to ensure I was rarely bored, barring some of the clunkier, exposition heavy dialogues between Pike and Cruise.

Cruise was decent enough - Reacher is an absolute caricature of a human being here, but as far as basically psychotic, morally repugnant supermen go he's a fun individual to spend time with. Herzog was great - completely under-utilised, yes, but his few opportunities to speak oozed with a surprising amount of pure, demented menace. Rosamund Pike though - what a ****ing appalling performance. It's like every single sentence took serious effort by her to keep that bizarre accent of hers in check. Laughably awful acting.

The script makes pretty much no sense at all, but that the film remains so triumphantly self aware makes it surprisingly good fun. It's mad as a march hare from beginning to end, and that makes it worthy of a gander. It's like watching a car crash, but the well-protected driver is doing it on purpose for our sick amusement. At the end, said driver gets out and waves to the audience to assure us that he's OK, and we all leave happy in the knowledge that it was all for show. We know we shouldn't have enjoyed it, but it was too gosh-darn difficult to look away.

It may not be a good film in the traditional sense, then, but it's sure as hell an entertaining one.

nyarlothothep

There are very few films which I become immediately bored with, this and Transformers 3 however are such films. 2 hours of Tom Cruise congratulating himself, the most boring, unoriginal plot imaginable and zero characters I could relate to, eg Jack Reacher was an asshole. The film had no tension, Jack Reacher is omniscient/amazing/invincible, it's like Data playing Sherlock Holmes, the film was over before it began. There were only two redeeming features of this movie 1. Robert Duvall, who basically played the same role as he did in Falling Down, which was incidentally good, and 2. Werner Herzog. A true January/captive audience film, I only went to see this because there was nothing else on.

Mocha Joe

nyarlothothep wrote: »

There are very few films which I become immediately bored with, this and Transformers 3 however are such films. 2 hours of Tom Cruise congratulating himself, the most boring, unoriginal plot imaginable and zero characters I could relate to, eg Jack Reacher was an asshole. The film had no tension, Jack Reacher is omniscient/amazing/invincible, it's like Data playing Sherlock Holmes, the film was over before it began. There were only two redeeming features of this movie 1. Robert Duvall, who basically played the same role as he did in Falling Down, which was incidentally good, and 2. Werner Herzog. A true January/captive audience film, I only went to see this because there was nothing else on.

I'm genuinely not sure what you mean by this.

Anyway I enjoyed the film. I know a lot of people love the books(they're decent) but I liked Cruise's Reacher even if he's very different from the books. It was very funny and action scenes were well done. I'll watch the next one.

Forever Hopeful

doomed wrote: »

Having read a few of the Reacher books, his size is a referred to a lot and its part of the character. One of the books had him beating up american football linebackers. You can just see Cruise looking them straight in the navel and saying "I'm going to hurt you".

This just made me spit water all over my keyboard. Hysterical

Big fan of Cruise (he's never been hotter than now) and big fan of the books but I was disappointed with how they handled the story in places. Cruise wasn't Reacher. He talked too much. Corny scenes trying to demonstrate how smart he is and that post it note scene made me cringe.
I know there's some license taken when moving a book to screen and there were some good scenes but the funny bits came from the book.
For those who have read it, did you notice a subtle reference to 'A Few Good Men'?
Agree Rosamund Pike was disappointing, Duvall and Hertzog were great.

fluke

I enjoyed this. It was a popcorn movie with decent enough acting and reminded of some 70’s thrillers (car chase, drifter, opening was a bit Dirty Harry etc.). The titular character was a bit cheesy but he was likeable and very much played as a man’s man. I liked Cruise in it and look forward to the next instalment even if it winds up with a completely different cast aside from Cruise.

One thing I found funny (whether it was intentional or not I don’t know) was how all the women in the movie reacted when Reacher was on screen. They almost cream themselves!

Forever Hopeful

fluke wrote: »

One thing I found funny (whether it was intentional or not I don’t know) was how all the women in the movie reacted when Reacher was on screen. They almost cream themselves!

I didn't notice that (probably couldn't hear anything over my own panting)
I did laugh at the guys reaction to the bar fight, in particular a specific kick

sxt

Good to see There are very few of the people that were hyper ventilating about Tom cruise not being 6 foot 4 and 250ilbs and blonde in the first 7 pages of this thread, complaining now .That is a good sign

MagicMarker

sxt wrote: »

Good to see There are very few of the people that were hyper ventilating about Tom cruise not being 6 foot 4 and 250ilbs and blonde in the first 7 pages of this thread, complaining now .That is a good sign

Not really.

LandoCalrissian

sxt wrote: »

Good to see There are very few of the people that were hyper ventilating about Tom cruise not being 6 foot 4 and 250ilbs and blonde in the first 7 pages of this thread, complaining now .That is a good sign

Or does it just mean they havent bothered their @ss going to see it?

sxt

LandoCalrissian wrote: »

Or does it just mean they havent bothered their @ss going to see it?

I'm not sure. If they obviously cared enough about the character , than I think they would have had enough curiosity to have seen the movie , especially since it got mostly very positive reviews

Amirani

I liked Cruise as Reacher in general. His lack of an imposing physical physique and some of his dialogue didn't quite fit with my expectations of the character based on the source text (as was bound to be the case). It was not as much of an issue as I'd anticipated though other than the

fight scene outside the bar

and some of his interactions with Pike.

Film as a whole was a lot more watchable than I'd expected. It was well directed for the most part and had some good individual performances. I would've liked Herzog used more, he worked extremely well as a genuinely chilling villain.

The Guardian

ending was a big let down for me
kept expecting a final twist
it never came
good luck - wont be following up any interest in this