Jack Reacher Reviews

Christopher McQuarrie's Jack Reacher is that rare blend of hard-hitting action and smooth-talking dialogue that makes for an entertaining film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

Cruise does his best to keep a straight face and make himself halfway believable as a brainy roughhouser - think of a less intense Jason Bourne - but ridiculous plotting undermines his efforts.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

McQuarrie deftly intermixes observations on human nature - aware that in life, as in all great mysteries, people are not so easily described as "killer" and "victim." Part of why you root for Jack Reacher is his empathy for these foibles and follies.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

Jack Reacher revolves around wild impossibilities and baffling motivations, and the conclusion is a whopper that outdoes everything I've discussed above.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Another macho loner fights for justice

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A violent adaptation of the bestselling novels about an Iraq War veteran turned vigilante investigator.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

...a better-than-average modern-day thriller that hopefully marks the start of a promising new series.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Cruise may be getting older, but he's still the best action star in Hollywood. "Jack Reacher" is typical of the kind of smart choices he's making these days. We could really use more films like this one.

Full Review | Original Score: A-

'Jack Reacher' is a lot smarter than you've been led to believe by the ads.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

It's easy to like the idea of a Jack Reacher movie; it takes a little more effort to like the one writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (who penned 'The Usual Suspect's) has made.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

There is a dogged leanness to Reacher's pursuit that lifts his adventures from the generic rut ...

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Another notch on Tom Cruise's action hero belt and demonstrates why he is still one the most bankable action men in Hollywood

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

This is solid, enjoyable, formula-driven stuff designed to self-replicate into a film series, nothing more - and there's nothing wrong with that.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Reacher is a fascinating character, to be sure, both a virtuous crusader for justice and a cold-blooded killer. Here's hoping that any future big-screen installments might develop those conflicted sides into something with a darker edge.

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An often outlandish, overly talky crime-procedural drama that seems like a vanity project its marquee star must have wanted to do with his director buddy while waiting for their next "Mission Impossible" collaboration.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

So long as you accept that the twain will never meet between the film and book versions of Jack Reacher, you should be able to enjoy each exclusively if not necessarily as a compliment to one another.

Full Review | Original Score: B-

(Cruise)... is assisted by a fine supporting cast that includes, besides Pike, Jenkins and Herzog, David Owelolo, Jai Courtney and Cruise's old buddy, the great Robert Duvall who, at age 81, continues to amaze.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Unless you cast Yao Ming as Bilbo Baggins, what bearing does height have on a characterisation? Thank Christ that Cruise has an unwavering sense of self, as Jack Reacher is old school action dynamite.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Ultimately, the film rises and falls on Cruise's aggressively magnetic performance.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

A less robotic lead would have been appreciated, but McQuarrie has delivered an efficient action-crime film with Reacher as the sort of unstoppable, ultracompetent reluctant hero once played on the B-movie circuit by Chuck Norris.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4