It's Just Movies

— by CHERRY BELL DAMASCO-FARRINGTON —

“One shot, one kill” is the military sniper’s creed – meaning each shot must count for the shooter. Tom Cruise is Jack Reacher, an Army Military Police officer who served during the Gulf War and has no home, no job, no car. As the opening monologue describes him in this trailer, Reacher is a brilliant investigator who is very difficult to find and the only way he can be found is if he is willing to be found.

When a lone gunman unleashes chaos in the city by shooting into a crowd and killing five people, Jack Reacher is put on the case. But when he comes to the district attorney’s office, Reacher announces that he believes the accused shooter was set up. Helen Rodin (played by Rosamund Pike) is hired to defend the shooter and in the process is abducted. Here we see Reacher, at first saying that she is of no importance to him, but on second thought he would just like to kill the abductor (Jai Courtney).

The rest of the trailer is one action scene after another and we see that Reacher is resourceful. From the trailer alone, it would seem that Tom Cruise brings his charisma and presence to the overall film. When it was announced in July 2011 that Cruise was chosen to portray the character, there was speculation about whether he would be a right fit.

The film is based on the 2005 novel “One Shot,” written by Lee Child. The description of Jack Reacher does not quite fit Tom Cruise’s physical attributes. In the novel, Jack Reacher is described to be a mountain of a man and we all know that Tom Cruise is not quite that large in stature, but with the body of work that Cruise has churned out in the past two decades, we know that Cruise is more than capable to portray a character of this magnitude.

We see a bit of an edge from the trailer, but will Tom Cruise pull off a character who only cares about what is morally right — no matter the consequences?

The film was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, with a supporting cast comprised of Robert Duvall, Werner Herzog, Richard Jenkins, Rosamund Pike and newcomer Jai Courtney.

“Jack Reacher” is due out in theaters this holiday season on Dec. 21, 2012.

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