Review: Jack Reacher (2012) is a mostly satisfying old-school 90s-style genre-throwback.

Jack Reacher

2012
130 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie's Jack Reacher (trailer) is such an authentic bygone relic that I'm not entirely sure it takes place in the present day.  The picture looks, sounds, and feels like a relatively high-quality action thriller from the mid-1990's, which is mostly a compliment.  I could be mistaken, but I don't recall a single scene where a character uses the Internet and/or uses their cell phone for anything other than *talking* (the title character even uses a pay phone on several occasions).  But, thank the heavens, this is not some kind of 'let's make a 90's thriller' technical exercise, but it merely inhabits a mostly forgotten sub genre so successfully that it becomes something of a time capsule piece.  For those not interesting in examining it as a kind of relic, it fortunately also operates as a consistently entertaining and intelligent procedural.  It is strongly acted by all, with pulpy dialogue which I presume comes from the Lee Childs book (One Shot) from which it is based.  It has issues of length and tone, but it mostly entertains and is the rare would-be franchise starter for which I'd gladly see a sequel.

Watch/Discuss: Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher gets a second somewhat generic trailer.

Putting aside the whole damsel-in-distress subplot (Rosamund Pike arguably deserves better), this all feels so... small-scale for someone like Cruise.  It looks pretty amusing, with a strong cast (Robert Duvall, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, and Warner Herzog as the villain) and pulpy dialogue to spare.  But the million-dollar question is whether or not the never-terribly imposing Tom Cruise can pull off such a relentless bad-ass.  It's still an open question after this trailer frankly.  It's no secret that I'm as big a Cruise fan/defender as anyone, but he seems to be trying *so* hard, and not in a good way.  And if I may nitpick, the tagline arguably should be "The law has limits.  He doesn't."  "He does not." isn't nearly as blunt and to-the-point.  Still, assuming this Christopher McQuarrie film didn't cost more than $40 million, I'm all for a bit of old-school R-rated pulp.  Oh wait, it's PG-13, cost $50 million, and runs 130 minutes!!!  Okay then, make of that what you will.  Long story short, if I'm going to see a Jason Statham film, it probably ought to star Jason Statham.  Anyway, Jack Reacher opens December 21st.  As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson

Brandon Peters dissects the 007 series part 20: Die Another Day.

With Skyfall dropping in theaters in just a few weeks, along with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series, a close friend and fellow film nerd, Brandon Peters, has generously offered to do a comprehensive review of the entire 007 film franchise. Today is the twentieth entry, with a full review of one of the worst films in the franchise, Die Another Day. I hope you enjoy what is a pretty massive feature leading up the November 9th release of Skyfall. I'll do my best to leave my two-cents out of it. But just because I'm stepping aside doesn't mean you should. Without further ado...

Die Another Day

2002

Director: Lee Tamahori

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike, Toby Stephens, Rick Yune, Judi Dench, John Cleese

PG-13

I’m Mr. Kil

                        ~Mr. Kil

Okay, so I’m starting a little early, but I have to mention this.  This moment is so horrible.  Bond gets out of his car and this big goon by the side of the road just awkwardly and out of place says this to him.  FOR NO REASON.  Bond doesn’t acknowledge the guy or anything.  Its almost very “I like turtles” variety.  And seriously?  Mr. Kil?  That’s like calling Oddjob ‘Mr. Hat’.  Or Red Grant “Blonde Strong”.  Or calling Jaws…uh…oh…well…”Giant Metal Mouth Biting Man”. 

STATS

Kills:  16

Bond Girls:  Jinx, Miranda Frost

Cars:  Aston Martin Vanquish

Locales:  North Korea, Cuba, Iceland

Odd Villain Trait:  Zao has the side of his face embedded with diamonds

Song:  “Die Another Day” performed by Madonna

Ridiculous.  If I were to describe Die Another Day with just one word, that’s what I would choose.  Bond’s 20^th film, released on his 40^th anniversary features poor direction, performance and much absurdity with an overabundance of call backs (some obvious and some very Where’s Waldo-ish).  Like the other long tenured Bonds, Roger Moore and Sean Connery, before him, Pierce Brosnan bows out on an obvious sub par entry and one of the worst films of the series.  Funny, both Pierce and Sean left off with diamond related satellite-laser beam plots by madmen who are having DNA reconstruction done to change faces.