However many improbabilities arise in Jack Reacher (2012), it’s a vigorous, reasonably intelligent, engaging crime thriller starring Tom Cruise. It works because I assume its source material, a Lee Child novel titled One Shot, is well-crafted. (Am I wrong?) Jack Reacher (Cruise) is a drifting ex-military cop who wishes to mete out justice to a sniper he knows, only to find out he needs to pursue a different offender, the true sniper. Cruise and Rosamund Pike, playing a defense attorney, make a good team; both have energy and project smarts. Christopher McQuarrie has directed and scripted the film with savvy, and nowhere is either the violence or the profanity excessive.
Jack Reacher is almost as good a crime drama as The LineUp and Bullitt. Check it out.
