Jack Reacher is based on a character by author Lee Child. This movie was a so-so rather predictable adventure that could have been a better one–and the near miss is due to the stereotypical characters. We have been subjected to years of Bourne movies–showing a hero of complicated simplicity, yet this movie chose to return to the one-dimensional old-school action hero. Surely we have grown up from the Arnie and Stallone fare where explosions serve as dialogue?
A character that lives by his own code, whose boundaries are determined by whatever he was undertaking could be intriguing, but the story was let down because the hero had no dimensions. The lack of charisma between the lead characters was glaring–it would be nice if characters actually could relate intelligently. One can often describe Tom as being wooden and considering the hero he was portraying he did his usual stuff, but Rosamund Pike appeared to have little chemistry with anyone. Everyone was either obvious or backflipped in seconds, which was a let down because I had hoped for some unexpected twists. At first I considered that Tom was giving a performance worthy of Keanu until he says:

Jack Reacher: There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it’s family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next you have those who just need a job. Than there’s the kind who want the legal means of killing other people.

That’s when I realised that Tom wasn’t wooden because Jack was the last soldier described on the list. Just another psychopath posing as a hero. He evoked nothing, emoted nothing and inspired nothing. Then again, since the movie gave only a superficial somewhat stock action character description, it’s unlikely that anything intriguing would occur. It seemed to prefer to concentrate on the action–as a good action adventure should, but a little more clarity and a little less cliché would have gone a long way.
It was the Jason Statham type of skirmish where ten guys try to beat up the hero that put me off. Now I realise in the book Jack is very, very tall, but if you put Tom on the screen you need a pertinent fight. There can be one or two villains, or at least have him run down the street and take on a couple of a time to give a modicum of realism. These type of scenes take the hero from being a credible and scary man into a cartoon–another action fail.   Which was disappointing as maybe Jack Reacher could have been an exciting set of movies, but then I think this is as good as it gets.

7.5/10 Needs a reality check.