by Lorie Lewis Ham
Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.
The movie Jack Reacher is based on a book by Lee Child called One Shot, which is a part of his suspense/mystery series staring former military police officer Jack Reacher.
Reacher, played by Tom Cruise, has been lying low since leaving the military, living a very simple and pretty much invisible life–which is how he likes it. When a sniper takes out what appears to be a random group of people, everything changes for Reacher. The police bring in a suspect who tells them to find Reacher, so thinking he’s a witness they set out to do just that–but he isn’t going to be found unless he wants to be. Reacher learns about the killing on the news and goes to find out what is really going on as the suspect is someone from his past.
The sniper suspect’s defense attorney, played by Helen Rosamond, is determined that her client gets fair representation, and while she thinks he is guilty, doesn’t want him to get the death penalty. The trick for her is that her father is the DA and she’s also determined to beat him. When she learns about Reacher, she enlists his help, and while reluctant at first, he can’t resist investigating to find out what really happened. 
While many fans of the Reacher books have complained about Tom Cruise’s casting as Reacher (he doesn’t even begin to resemble the character in the books), being someone who has never read the books, I had no problem with him in the role at all. This is an intense action movie and I believe Cruise did a believable job in the role and gave us a likeable, tough, loner hero. Warner Herzog as the villain did an excellent job of playing someone completely cold and ruthless. Cruise and Rosamond had a nice chemistry and played well off each other. It was also fun late into the movie to have Robert Duvall suddenly come on scene as a tough former Marine who helps Reacher save the day.
The twists and turns of the plot, which I’m told stayed fairly true to the book, make for a very enjoyable action and suspense movie that I recommend to any fan of the genre. I enjoyed this movie and would definitely see another installment of this series if there is one. Not only that, but I am determined to finally get around to reading the Reacher series of books.
Jack Reacher is currently playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes for other shows playing in Dinuba can be found on their website.
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If you had read any of the Lee Child books, you would be offended that Cruise is playing Reacher. My opinion is that anyone that resembles Reacher is not star-powered and Cruise is. It’s one of the things I despise about Hollywood. The money brought in from ticket sales is what counts.