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It's well-established that Tom Cruise is too short to play the Jack Reacher of Lee Child's novels, a broad-shouldered giant of an ex-military policeman described by the author in terms usually reserved for horror movie beasts. But between Cruise's often steely, obsessive screen persona and his multiple-decades-long career as a leading man, he's built up a gravitas that translates to "menace" easily, and he's effective in "Jack Reacher," adapted by Christopher McQuarrie ("Way of the Gun," " The Usual Suspects ") from the novel "One Shot." Even when he's laughing and grinning, Cruise seems like the sort of person one wouldn't want to cross. He can also do icy minimalism (see Michael Mann's " Collateral " for proof), and that's the mode McQuarrie is operating in here, so it's an effective match of leading man and filmmaker, even though the overall impact is that of a superior proof-of-concept pilot for a TV show rather than a rich stand-alone film.

The story begins when a man drives a van into the parking garage across the Allegheny River from a stadium and murders five people with a sniper rifle. Local cops pull a fingerprint from a quarter deposited in a parking meter near the garage where the killer set up and arrest ex-Army sniper James Barr ( Joseph Sikora ). Detective Calvin Emerson ( David Oyelowo ) and District Attorney Alex Rodin ( Richard Jenkins ) offer Barr a choice between confessing to the crimes and going to prison for life. Barr adds a third option: writing "Get Jack Reacher" on a notepad. 

Reacher, who came to Pittsburgh after watching TV news coverage of the shootings, visits Barr in the hospital, where he's in a coma with memory loss after having been attacked by fellow inmates during incarceration. Reacher meets Barr's defense attorney, Helen Rodin ( Rosamund Pike ), who happens to be the D.A.'s daughter. The case has a few peculiar details, notably the fingerprinted quarter: what sort of mass murderer pays for parking? What really happened here? 

Helen and Reacher (they call him Reacher, almost never Jack) discuss the incident and embark on their own investigation. Well, not exactly: Reacher drives the movie to such a degree that it makes Cruise seem insecure as a leading man (he's more generous in the "Mission: Impossible" movies). He does most of the talking here, trying out his own theories and picking apart Helen's. Mostly Helen is there to (1) help Reacher do things he doesn't have the clearance or access to do for himself, (2) be proved wrong or made to seem naive, and (3) get kidnapped and used as a hostage/leverage in the final stretch of the movie. 

Reacher is a sharp and often sardonic investigator in the books and usually becomes the alpha in whatever room he's in. But there's something misguided in this film's tone. It tips things so that we spend two hours watching Reacher be right about (almost) everything. Helen isn't insulted or degraded by the movie, but she's not respected, either, and almost every person who dares step to Reacher gets his butt handed to him in a lunchpail. That gets dull after a while. If Cruise weren't so naturally intense and the filmmaking so assured, it would have gotten dull a lot faster.

The mystery ultimately leads us to the bad guys, but they're introduced to the audience long before Helen and Reacher figure out how they're involved in the mass murder and why they engineered it the first place. The chief henchman is a Reacher-like paramilitary badass played by Jai Courtney . The Big Bad is a gangster posing as a legitimate businessman who goes by the ominous one-syllable name Zec (Russian for "prisoner") and is played by director Werner Herzog . 

Zec is a cipher, more a satanic presence than a man. It makes sense that Cruse and McQuarrie would want to fill the part with somebody who is as much of a "brand" in his own way as Cruise. Herzog has chronicled so much madness and evil as a director that it's rubbed off on him by osmosis, even though he comes across as a cheerful eccentric when discussing his art. His work in "Jack Reacher" is one of the best pieces of director stunt casting since Martin Scorsese played the president of Geritol in " Quiz Show ." Herzog brings a genuine sense of menace and a hint of cosmic irony to the role, making the performance feel like more of a statement than a gimmick. You look into Zec's eyes and think that here is a man who has not just seen hell, but purchased real estate there.

There's another cagey old veteran in the cast:  Robert Duvall , who acted with Cruise in "Days of Thunder." He plays Marine Gunnery Sgt. Martin Cash, who helps Reacher go after the bad guys and is an artist with a rifle. The scenes between Cruise and Duvall are the most pleasurable in the film because Duvall is such a thousand-pound bull of an actor that Cruise knows he'll get the best results from a scene by waving a cape at him, then stepping aside to let him gallop and kick. Duvall often seems to be busting Cruise's chops, more so than Cash busting Reacher's. This levels out Cruise's control-freak approach to the "hero" part just when it threatens to suffocate the film. 

McQuarrie deserves credit for having enough faith in the power of his filmmaking to limit himself to a handful of self-contained action scenes, none of which are big by modern Hollywood standards, and make them feel wild, messy and harrowing rather than hide inside of the software-buffed vague digital slickness that has become so common. A fight between Reacher and three men in a house, two of whom corner him in a bathtub and try to kill him with bats, feels real even when Reacher is making like 1980s Schwarzenegger and using one man's head as a makeshift bowling ball to beat another man's face in. 

Cruise has that Harrison Ford gift for acting his way through action and reacting to things the way we might, even if we had the hero's experience and training. The movie is never funner or more exciting than when Reacher is facing off against men whose machismo has poisoned the part of their brain that produces common sense and who fail to read Reacher as somebody who makes promises, not threats. Sometimes things will get intense even by Reacher's standards and he'll throw off a reaction that says, "I can't believe I'm in a life-or-death situation for the fourth time this week" right before he rallies and neutralizes the people who are causing him problems. 

The climax should serve as a model for anybody hoping to stage comprehensible action in a vast, dimly lit space (the cinematographer is  Caleb Deschanel , who shot " The Black Stallion ," " The Right Stuff " and other classics). Every moment is so cleanly conveyed that you could write out a police report and not forget anything important. "Reacher" is a solid mystery-action picture, made memorable by the caliber of craft that its cast and crew brings to the table.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

Jack Reacher (2012)

Rated PG-13

130 minutes

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher

Rosamund Pike as Helen Rodin

Richard Jenkins as D.A. Alex Rodin

David Oyelowo as Det. Emerson

Werner Herzog as Zec Chelovek

Jai Courtney as Charlie

Robert Duvall as Martin Cash

Vladimir Sizov as Vlad

Joseph Sikora as James Barr

Nicole Forester as Nancy Holt

Michael Raymond-James as Linsky

Alexia Fast as Sandy

Josh Helman as Jeb Oliver

James Martin Kelly as Rob Farrior

Dylan Kussman as Gary

Denver Milord as Punk

Susan Angelo as Oline Archer

Julia Yorks as Chrissie Farrior

Delilah Picart as Rita Coronado

Joe Coyle as Darren Sawyer

Alicia Murton as Mrs. Sawyer

Peter Gannon as Mr. Archer

David Whalen as Mr. Holt

Tristan Elma as Marcos Coronado

Sophie Guest as Little Girl

Michael Minor as Eyewitness

Scott A. Martin as Wesley

CJ Ramirez as Secretary

Teri Clark as Night Manager

Jarid Faubel as Man on Bus

Sara Lindsey as Woman on Bus

Jace Jeanes as Zec's Thug

Andrei Runtso as Zec's Thug

Efka Kvaraciejus as Zec's Thug

Lee Child as Desk Sergeant

Tommy Lafitte as Man with Ballcap

Kristen Dalton as Mindy

Jordan Trovillion as Goodwill Cashier

Annie Kitral as Pawn Shop Cashier

Lissy Gulick as Diner Waitress

Catherine Albers as Jeb's Mom

Larissa Emanuele as Sportsbar Waitress

Jason McCune as Construction Foreman

Shane Callahan as SWAT Guy

Joshua Elijah Reese as SWAT Guy

Nathan Hollabaugh as Cop

Christopher Stadulis as Cop

Joe Fishel as SWAT Officer (uncredited)

Robert Liscio as Man in Bar (uncredited)

Ronn Surels as Jeb's Wingman (uncredited)

Jackson Nunn as Passenger / Bar Guy (uncredited)

Production Design

• James D. Bissell

Art Direction

• George A. Weimerskirch

Costume Design

• Susan Matheson
• Kevin Stitt

Original Music Composer

• Joe Kraemer
• Don Granger
• Gary Levinsohn
• Paula Wagner
• Christopher McQuarrie

Music Supervisor

• Denise Luiso

Set Decoration

• Douglas A. Mowat
• Mindy Marin

Key Hair Stylist

• Nancy Keslar

Camera Operator

• BJ McDonnell

Music Editor

• John Finklea

Steadicam Operator

Script supervisor.

• Jessica Lichtner
• Marvel Wakefield

Hair Department Head

• Angel De Angelis

Supervising Sound Editor

• Alan Rankin
• Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

• Anna Behlmer
• Terry Porter

Costume Supervisor

• Charlene Amateau

Makeup Department Head

• Trefor Proud

Production Coordinator

• Lindsay Feldman

Still Photographer

• Karen Ballard

Director of Photography

• Caleb Deschanel

Assistant Editor

Visual effects editor.

• Mark Edward Wright
• Josh Sutherland

Art Department Coordinator

• Jenn Albaugh

Sound Mixer

• Jay Meagher
• Jim Emswiller

Property Master

• Peter Gelfman

ADR Supervisor

• Kelly Oxford

Dialogue Editor

• Julie Feiner

Second Unit Director

• Paul Jennings
• Dixon McPhillips

Stunt Coordinator

Executive producer.

• Kevin J. Messick
• Dana Goldberg
• Paul Schwake
• David Ellison

First Assistant Director

• Cliff Lanning

Second Assistant Director

• Rhys Summerhayes
• David Kelley
• Deanna Leslie

Unit Production Manager

• Andrew Saxe

Associate Producer

Post production supervisor.

• Susan E. Novick

Second Second Assistant Director

• Walter E. Myal
• Mikey Eberle

Assistant Director

• Eric Yellin

Executive In Charge Of Production

• Kirby Adams
• Ronn Surels
• Kimberly Shannon Murphy
• Janene Carleton
• Zack Duhame
• Peter Epstein
• Alice Rietveld
• Amy Lynn Tuttle
• Eddie Perez

Supervising Art Director

• Christa Munro

Assistant Hairstylist

• Winfrey Izear

Makeup Artist

• Sarah Monzani

Key Makeup Artist

• Marianne Skiba

Foley Mixer

• Scott Curtis

Boom Operator

• Chad Djubek
• Michael Piotrowski

Foley Editor

• Victor Ray Ennis
• Jerry Gilbert
• Chris Navarro

ADR Engineer

• Tamas Kurina

Utility Sound

• Kelly Roofner
• Amishjim Schulze

First Assistant Sound Editor

• David Stanke

Sound Effects Editor

• Bruce Tanis

Sound Editor

• Jay Wilkinson
• Juan Álvarez
• Cody Brunty
• Chris Ervin
• Doug Spilatro

Visual Effects Coordinator

• Caitlin Atherton
• Rachel Faith Hanson
• Charles Baden
• Travis Wade Ivy
• Roger Mocenigo
• Shoban Narayanan

Visual Effects Producer

• Daniel Chavez

Visual Effects Supervisor

• Bryan Godwin
• Mike Uguccioni

Rotoscoping Artist

• James Kawano

Compositing Supervisor

• Harimander Singh Khalsa

Digital Compositor

• Valy Lungoccia
• Jale Parsons

CGI Director

• Mare McIntosh

2D Supervisor

• Denise O'Neill

Digital Colorist

• Mitch Paulson

CG Supervisor

• Joel Sevilla

Senior Visual Effects Supervisor

• Shane Strickman

Executive Visual Effects Producer

• David Van Dyke

Set Costumer

• Melanie Cargioli
• Alison Evans

Key Costumer

• Michelle Christensen
• James Eidel
• Kelli French
• Nancy Thompson

Assistant Costume Designer

• Elaine Perlmann

Key Set Costumer

• Virginia Smith Phillips

Score Engineer

• Greg Loskorn

First Assistant "C" Camera

• Markus Mentzer

Stunt Driver

• Chris Palermo
• Jimmy N. Roberts
• Clay Cullen

Stunt Double

• Casey O'Neill

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• DVD & Streaming

Jack Reacher

• Action/Adventure , Drama , Mystery/Suspense

Content Caution

In Theaters

• December 21, 2012
• Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher; Rosamund Pike as Helen; Richard Jenkins as Rodin; David Oyelowo as Emerson; Werner Herzog as The Zec; Jai Courtney as Charlie; Alexia Fast as Sandy; Robert Duvall as Cash

Home Release Date

• May 7, 2013
• Christopher McQuarrie

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

Five people are gunned down in the middle of the day, shot at random by a single killer. In a matter of minutes, the police examine footprints, recover bullet casings and view surveillance tape of the apparent assailant’s van. They find the quarter the guy used to feed the meter, covered with fingerprints. They belong to James Barr, an Iraq War vet with a problematic past.

He’s quickly apprehended and presented with a choice: Confess now and live, or go through a trial and face execution. But when he’s given a piece of paper, he seems to reject both paths. “Get me Jack Reacher,” he writes.

The movie Jack Reacher is based on the book One Shot , which is the ninth installment in Lee Child’s crime series. It places Reacher in Pittsburgh. And it quickly plops us down in the middle of a problem. Certainly a problem for James Barr. And a problem for his defense attorney too. You see, Jack Reacher is practically, literally, a nobody. Oh, he used to be a talented military cop—a guy with a near photographic memory and a positively frightening left hook. But two years ago, he disappeared. He has no credit cards, no driver’s license, nothing. There’s no possible way anybody can track down this guy.

And then Jack just shows up. He strikes up a conversation with Helen, Barr’s lead attorney, who promptly tries to hire him as her lead investigator.

Maybe that’s not a great idea—even setting aside the fact that it’s probably not the best legal practice to hire a mysterious, homeless drifter—no matter what his presumed past might boast. And here’s another problem for Barr: Jack thinks the guy is guilty. And he knows the vet has killed before.

But Jack’s curious about the case, so he agrees to help. And, as he digs around, he starts to form some questions: How could Barr, just an average marksman in the army, kill so efficiently? Were the victims really as random as they looked? And why on earth would a murderer plug a parking meter before going on a shooting spree? Wouldn’t he have more pressing concerns than a parking ticket?

Positive Elements

“You think I’m a hero?” Jack says. “I’m not.” And as we shall see, Jack is no liar.

The best we can say here is that while he does some bad things (a lot of bad things), he does them for what he thinks are good reasons. He’s all about meting out justice (or at least his version of justice), and he’s determined to make sure the right person pays for the crimes at hand. When Jack realizes that Barr’s not the killer he thinks he is, he sets aside his personal animosity for the guy and pursues the real culprits with the tenacity of a rabid wolverine.

He’s aided in his pursuit by an idealistic defense attorney, who also shows a good dose of righteous gumption and very little quit. Both of them go above and beyond (sometimes waaaaay beyond) the call of duty.

Sexual Content

Sandy, a woman in a midriff-revealing top, makes some moves on Jack in a bar, telling him that perhaps they could go somewhere quieter.

“You’re old enough to drive?” he asks.

“I’m old enough to do a lot of things,” she answers. But when he says he can’t “afford” her, she takes offense and calls her “brothers” over. The words “whore” and “slut” are thrown around before the men usher Jack out of the bar. (She admits to Jack later that it was a setup—that she was told Jack was a pervert and would have his hands all over her.)

Later, we see Sandy again, wearing a different midriff-revealing top. A woman wearing just a pair of black panties puts on her bra. (She’s shown from the back.)

Helen and Jack discuss the case in Jack’s hotel room. He’s walking around shirtless, flustering Helen a bit. And when he tells her she should get some sleep, she takes it as a come-on. Turns out it wasn’t. He sticks her car keys in her hand and leads her to the door. Jack speculates that two of the victims were having an affair.

Violent Content

The conflict outside the bar with Sandy’s “brothers” shows the softer, gentler side of Jack: He only beats three of them senseless. He merely kicks two of them in the crotch, and just comes close to breaking a couple of limbs … even allowing two others to run away.

Later, two thugs make like the Three Stooges as they attack Jack—doing far more damage to an innocent bathroom and each other than to Mr. Reacher. After one thug is knocked out by the other with a baseball bat, Jack takes down the conscious culprit by pounding his face into what little remains of the bathroom tile. He then repeatedly thwacks the bad guys’ heads together and, as a finale, nearly breaks some fingers with a gun—forcing those fingers’ owner to release his car into Jack’s less-than-careful custody.

But these evildoers get off easy. Jack guns down a handful of bad guys—including one at point-blank range, in the face, after the man had pretty much surrendered. He tells another over the phone that he aims to kill him, saying, “I mean to beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot.” And then he apparently does beat the guy to death—breaking his leg and fingers, kneeing him in the face … before pushing his boot down on his head.

“What about bringing them to justice?” Helen gasps.

“I just did,” Jack says.

None of those violent scenes feel quite so visceral or so wrong, though, as the opening sequence in which we see the five innocents gunned down. Little blood is shown (except in crime photos after the fact), but with real-life killings (such as the ones in Newtown, Conn., perpetually fresh in many moviegoers minds, the sight of these civilians falling prey to a killer’s bullets feels especially painful. And we see the carnage twice—once from the shooter’s point of view and then in flashback, watching as they run helplessly from the bullets. A young nanny, for example, runs while carrying her 6-year-old charge to what she hopes will be safety. “We’re going to be OK,” she tells the girl in a breathless mantra. “We’re going to be OK. We’re going to—”

A bullet silences her forever. (The child survives.)

Elsewhere, a bad guy is encouraged to chew off his own fingers in a show of strength and loyalty. When he fails to do so, he’s shot and killed. (The killer takes out a saw, suggesting that the body will be dismembered.) Two thugs kill a woman—one punching her in the back of the head, knocking her out, the other covering her nose and mouth and smothering her. Her body is later found in an alley, and we see her mottled face. Another woman is Tasered.

A detective wishes Barr a long life in prison “with all your teeth knocked out.” Indeed, Barr is brutally beaten by other prisoners, leaving him comatose. (We see part of the attack, as Barr’s face is bloodied, and him in a hospital bed where he’s barely recognizable.) In flashback, Barr guns down four men in Iraq. Though he didn’t know it at the time, the men had just finished what Jack calls a “rape rally,” assaulting women and girls as young as 11.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word. About 10 s-words. We hear flurries of profanity that include “a‑‑,” “b‑‑ch,” “h‑‑‑,” “p‑‑‑y” and “p‑‑‑ed.” Jesus’ name is abused eight or nine times; God’s is misused two or three (once with “d‑‑n”).

Drug and Alcohol Content

Helen drinks beer. A scene takes place in a crowded bar, where scores of folks are holding and drinking alcohol. We hear that a henchman cooks meth. That man’s mother, sitting on the porch, looks nearly catatonic, drug paraphernalia on the table beside her. References are made to being “wasted.”

Other Negative Elements

Jack either steals or forcibly “borrows” three cars (destroying two of them). He flees from authorities, launching a crash-bang-bombastic car chase. Bystanders help him evade the police.

Folks make reference to passing gas and menstrual cycles.

When Helen asks Jack why he lives as he does, Jack pulls her over to a window and shows her buildings full of cubicles and folks working hard to pay off mortgages and credit cards. “Tell me, which ones are free?” Jack asks.

Jack believes he is the one who lives in almost perfect freedom. He has no debts, no fixed place of residence, no attachments. He comes and goes as he pleases. The guy’s such a free spirit he doesn’t acknowledge anyone or anything that could possibly restrict his freedom—including the laws that he, in his own twisted way, tries to uphold.

“He doesn’t care about the law,” we hear. “He doesn’t care about proof. He just cares about what’s right.” Which, seems to me, would be the mantra of many a lawbreaker—from the woman who runs a stoplight because she’s late to an important meeting, to a man who assaults his girlfriend’s presumed lover with a knife. “Don’t bust me,” they might say to the officers arriving on the scene, “I had reason. I was doing what I thought was right.”

As I already reported, Jack himself says he’s no hero. But within the confines of a movie that practically fawns over his actions (and arriving onscreen in the always charismatic guise of Tom Cruise), Jack might be mistaken for one by a lot of moviegoers.

All of us can confuse justice and vengeance, I think. Given the right circumstances, the right killers, we can all reach Jack’s conclusion: Real justice is cowboy justice, doled out in lead and blood. And watching evildoers pay, as they do here in Jack Reacher, can indeed be satisfying. But that doesn’t make it right.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Jack reacher, common sense media reviewers.

Serviceable but forgettable Cruise thriller is very violent.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Bad guys get what's coming to them, courtesy of Ja

Reacher doesn't hesitate to break the law to achie

Plenty of violence right from the start, when a lo

One scene shows a woman in her underwear getting d

Relatively infrequent swearing includes a couple u

Several car brands are mentioned and/or get promin

One scene takes place in a bar where plenty of peo

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise stars as the title character in Jack Reacher , an adaptation of Lee Child's novel One Shot . Reacher is a former military police offer who's enlisted to find a sniper who fired six shots into a crowd, killing five people. This thriller is violent, and vigilante…

Positive Messages

Bad guys get what's coming to them, courtesy of Jack Reacher, a loner/vigilante who dispenses his own brand of justice, which mostly bypasses the legal system. That said, there's also the message that it's worth looking beyond appearances to find out the truth.

Positive Role Models

Reacher doesn't hesitate to break the law to achieve his goals -- he participates in assault, auto theft, coercion, intimidation, and outright murder -- but all of his victims have it coming to them. (Well, mostly.) He uses smarts and intuition in many cases (in addition to his more violent methods). Helen is able to separate her emotions from her job.

Violence & Scariness

Plenty of violence right from the start, when a lone gunman shoots five people with a sniper rifle (a scene that's revisited later in the movie). Jack Reacher, the main character, is a former soldier, highly trained with guns and in hand-to-hand combat, and the film finds plenty of chances to showcase his abilities. He takes on a group of toughs in a few street brawls, leaving them bloodied and sometimes with broken bones. Other scenes feature execution-style killings, allusions to torture, and men beating up women. Few of these scenes actually show blood or gore, but they do make it clear that bodies are taking serious damage and the people are in pain, and a few shots may be hard to watch. There's also a high-speed chase through city streets that damages plenty of cars.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

One scene shows a woman in her underwear getting dressed; Reacher is shirtless in another. Some sexual tension between the two main characters never leads to anything. One scene has some flirty banter when a woman comes on to Reacher, though he's clearly not interested.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Relatively infrequent swearing includes a couple uses of "f--k," plus "p---y," "s--t," "a--hole," "bitch," "prick," "damn," "hell," "ass," "goddamn," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Several car brands are mentioned and/or get prominent screen time. Helen drives a Mercedes, and the bad guys spend a lot of time trailing Reacher in an Audi. Another character drives a Cadillac, which is referred to by name. Some of the characters drink Budweiser when relaxing, and Bud signage is visible in the background in a bar.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

One scene takes place in a bar where plenty of people in the background are drinking, though Reacher sticks to coffee. He later shares a beer with Helen when they're relaxing in a motel room. References to meth use; drug paraphernalia is shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Tom Cruise stars as the title character in Jack Reacher , an adaptation of Lee Child's novel One Shot . Reacher is a former military police offer who's enlisted to find a sniper who fired six shots into a crowd, killing five people. This thriller is violent, and vigilante Reacher shows no qualms breaking the law to make sure justice is done -- at least his version of justice. There's some swearing (including "f--k" and "s--t") and a bit of sexual tension between Reacher and co-star Rosamund Pike , but no actual sex and very little drinking. Still, there are allusions to torture, and the fight scenes are sometimes brutal; a few are very tough to stomach. Even though there's little blood or gore on screen, the film is more appropriate for older teens and up. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (15)
• Kids say (44)

Based on 15 parent reviews

What's the Story?

After a lone gunman shoots five people in a random spree of terror, all the evidence points to a former Army sniper, but the suspect makes one request: "Get JACK REACHER." Who's Reacher? A retired soldier, weapons expert, and martial artist who lives off the grid -- no car, no mobile phone, no credit card, no known address. The star of a popular series of novels by author Lee Childs, Reacher ( Tom Cruise ) travels from town to town, always managing to get himself involved in some kind of adventure. Here, he sets out to make sure the accused gets what he deserves, but soon begins to suspect he may actually be innocent. Working with a defense attorney ( Rosamund Pike ), Reacher uncovers a dangerous conspiracy run by violent thugs who are eager to shut him up, permanently. Robert Duvall and Richard Jenkins co-star.

Is It Any Good?

This movie is muscley but ultimately forgettable entertainment. The story in Jack Reacher has enough twists to keep viewers interested, and Cruise playing stoic, confident, and extremely competent is always watchable. Plus, there are a few set pieces that are good fun. (Watch as Cruise, weary and wary, takes on five punks after warning them they're in for more than they expect -- no spoiler, he wasn't lying.)

But the film lacks momentum. It moves quickly through the action sequences and then too slowly as Cruise and Pike knit together the clues. The villains, led by a shadowy Russian, are generically evil, yet their motivation is unclear. Pike in particular has little to do other than look anxious in her damsel-in-distress role. And the movie seems indulgently violent. Besides the extended opening sequence of one murder after another, there are plenty of other sequences that leave both men and women battered, bloody, and broken. In short, Jack Reacher works as a serviceable thriller, but a masterpiece of the genre? Now that's a reach.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what makes Jack Reacher , which is rate PG-13, different from R-rated films. Is the violence less graphic or upsetting? Why or why not? What impact does seeing this kind of violence have on teens ?

What do you think about Jack Reacher's vigilante actions? Is it right for one man to dispense justice to people who are clearly villains?

Why does Jack Reacher live the way he does? How do his actions in this film show what he wants out of life?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 21, 2012
• On DVD or streaming : May 7, 2013
• Cast : Robert Duvall , Rosamund Pike , Tom Cruise
• Director : Christopher McQuarrie
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 130 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : violence, language and some drug material
• Last updated : November 7, 2023

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Jack Reacher Review

26 Dec 2012

130 minutes

Jack Reacher

And so to one of life’s perennial questions, one over which many have moaned and many more have fretted. Does, as Godzilla’s tagline so memorably claimed, size really matter? Thankfully for all of us, Tom Cruise’s take on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher via Chris McQuarrie seems to settle the argument once and for all in the negative.

The inevitable Internet Armageddon that greeted the news of Cruise’s casting as Child’s 6’ 5” military cop/lone wolf/fanny magnet must have been viewed by the studio as the very definition of a mixed blessing. The fans may have been moaning but, in a world where the word ‘meh’ appears to now qualify as considered critique, at least the fuckers cared.

As it happens, Cruise and McQuarrie comfortably prove their thesis; that the spirit of Reacher lies not in his height but in his character. Our introduction to their hero is brilliantly witty, playing up many of the novels’ erotic extravagances with a sequence that refuses to show Reacher’s face. Instead, we open on the back of his head, viewing him watching the news in bed while an anonymous broad — clearly satisfied — pulls up her drawers next to him, before following the back of his head down the street, his physical impressiveness reflected in the flirting faces of every woman he passes.

Later, with the typical economy of a screenwriter as smart as the man behind The Usual Suspects, we cut to authorities Richard Jenkins and David Oyelowo sitting in an office questioning how the hell they can track down a man who is plain off the grid. They are, they conclude, stuffed. There’s a beat. Then a secretary enters the room. “I have a Jack Reacher here for you,” she says. Their reaction shot is priceless.

Though the movie is peppered with these lovely light touches — a grandstanding car chase, for instance, ends with a glorious grace note — that’s not to say that McQuarrie and Cruise have underestimated the pull Reacher — now on book 17, let’s not forget — has on his audience. This is pure wish fulfilment, a resolutely hard-edged thriller, a down and dirty Bond that supercedes the expectations of a 12A rating. The violence here is full-force. Thumbs disappear into eye sockets, baseball bats hit home with shocking sound effects and, in a scene already making a late run for best of the year, we first meet Reacher’s nemesis, The Zec (played with sinister raised eyebrow by the inspired casting of Werner Herzog), down a dark alley in which he does something so dark you will not look at your fingers in the same way ever again.

Ardent Reacher fans will note slight changes to the story — as per its original title, this is based on adventure One Shot — but they are largely smart omissions, jettisoning the odd supporting character in favour of sheer momentum. The screenplay’s misstep is to cut down much of The Zec’s backstory from the novel, the personal history that made him such a threat sadly missing and diminishing his on-screen menace. But, while fans won’t find any major surprises in terms of story, newcomers will be treated to a plot that, from a brutal and bravura opening sequence, consistently wrong-foots its audience all the way through to a satisfying climax.

The cast deliver the twists with confidence and are uniformly top drawer — not least the legendary Robert Duvall and newcomer Jai Courtney, who more than justifies his casting as McClane Jr. in the upcoming A Good Day To Die Hard with a knockout turn as a chief henchman. Cruise, meanwhile, does enough to silence the naysayers prepared to be open to interpretation (and he could actually grow a foot and the others still wouldn’t be convinced, so what’s the point in worrying?)

Ultimately, though, the standout performance here comes from McQuarrie, who follows up his woefully under-appreciated The Way Of The Gun with a control and restraint that gives great tribute to the touchpoint movies he spends much of this running time referencing. Where action-cinema has been bogged down recently in fast cuts and incoherent fight sequences, here is a movie that has Dirty Harry in its sights and ’70s cinema pumping through its veins. From the harsh (the horrific opening sniper attack) to the humorous (Reacher in a three-way fight that boasts some Stooge-level slapstick), McQuarrie marshals his pack with a cocky panache that would be admirable from a seasoned pro, let alone a screenwriter going sophomore.

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Don't underestimate the power of Dad TV: 'Reacher' is the genre at its best

Eric Deggans

Dad jokes for Dad TV: Alan Ritchson and his back are back as Jack Reacher in a new season that drops Friday. Prime Video hide caption

Dad jokes for Dad TV: Alan Ritchson and his back are back as Jack Reacher in a new season that drops Friday.

Jack Reacher is a distinctive, down-to-earth action hero.

Created by novelist Lee Child, Reacher is smart, strong and out of the military, traveling the country with no home base or fixed job. He's a typical wandering hero — in the books and Prime Video's Reacher series, which has a second season dropping Friday — using the skills he developed as an investigator in the U.S. Army's military police to help others.

Psychopath or hero? 'Reacher' presents a vigilante who walks the line

In the series, he's played by Alan Ritchson – a mountain of a man with a movie star's face and an instinct for Reacher's incisively blunt, no-nonsense style.

But Reacher is also a, um, prime example of a genre some critics are calling Dad TV.

Dad TV: an insult that isn't

Alan Ritchson is Jack Reacher. Brooke Palmer/Prime Video hide caption

Alan Ritchson is Jack Reacher.

For me, Dad TV is one of those pop culture terms that may have been invented as an insult, but actually describes a potent and powerful genre. These are TV shows aimed at appealing to and reflecting the perspectives of middle-aged guys – men over age 30 who are often, as it turns out, dads – with a yearning to see fellows like themselves reflected in some of the programs they watch.

It's John Krasinski's game-but-underwhelming take on the hopelessly bland intelligence analyst in the Prime Video series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan . Or Titus Welliver's soulful, passionate portrayal of jazz-loving-cop-turned-private investigator Harry Bosch in Prime Video's Bosch and Amazon Freevee's Bosch: Legacy .

Or Ritchson's note-perfect embodiment of Reacher. The towering, muscled actor is so good at matching the character from Child's books, you will quickly forget those lackluster films starring a terribly miscast, much-less-towering Tom Cruise.

Movie Reviews

With a second 'jack reacher,' tom cruise finally exceeds his grasp.

It's no coincidence that Amazon's streaming platforms Prime Video and Freevee have floated so many Dad TV stories, searching for mainstream hits like Justin Timberlake strapping on a trucker's hat and camouflage for an album and tour.

That strategy has worked best with Reacher — a hero perceptive enough to spot a car tailing him for days, burly enough to set off that same car's airbags by stomping on its front bumper and fierce enough to pull the driver out of the car and beat him down in seconds ... before discovering that might not have been the best move.

Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher. Brooke Palmer/Prime Video hide caption

Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher.

Dad TV with appeal beyond dads

The best Dad TV channels fantasy. Another reason Reacher nails it.

In this second season, he's reunited with members of the old investigative unit he used to lead in the Army; one of their old crew has been murdered and they fear they're all on a hit list, for some unknown reason.

Alan Ritchson and Serinda Swan. Brooke Palmer/Prime Video hide caption

Alan Ritchson and Serinda Swan.

As the new episodes unfold, the story takes us through a lot of emotions dads can find relatable. Reacher winds up working with a beautiful, female former colleague — Serinda Swan as Karla Dixon — who he was attracted to but couldn't romance while he was supervising her in the Army (dads often fantasize about reconnecting with old flames.) He's also the kind of guy who reacts to pointless obstructionism by barreling through it, either with his sharp intelligence or his fists (dads also often fantasize about beating up people who get on our nerves or in our way).

And the scene where Reacher takes out a guy who is trying to force a woman to give him all her money from an ATM rings all the superhero and crime-fighter fantasies that many of us middle-class dudes also walk around with — along with lots of other people.

The fantasy of living life completely on your own terms

Most of all, Reacher is a character freed from all the pressures and responsibilities many dads face every day. He has no wife, steady romantic partner, kids or family – not even a mortgage, rent payment or full-time job. He lives a nomadic life going where he wants, doing what he wants, funded by his military pension and the kindness of strangers.

And though there are moments in this second season where Reacher questions how his itinerant lifestyle left him in the dark about his comrades' lives until they were in serious trouble, the series' attitude toward Reacher is mostly that he's a badass dude living the only way he can.

Author Interviews

This time it's 'personal': lee child writes his 19th jack reacher novel.

This season's episodes have a few more clunky moments than the debut season – which mostly worked until its bombastic, blow-it-all-up ending. And despite the premise of reuniting Army buddies to saddle up again, there's few partnerships here that works well as Reacher's alliance last season with Willa Fitzgerald's tough female police officer and Malcolm Goodwin's persnickety chief detective. (His connection with his former master sergeant Frances Neagley, played with effortless cool by Danish actress Maria Sten, comes close.)

Still, the new Reacher season is an entertaining ride that takes a compelling character through an adventure filled with wish fulfillment, fistfights, a dollop of romance and heroes crusading for justice.

And, in the end, that's pretty much the core mission for most successful examples of Dad TV.

• Lee Child, Dad TV, drama

‘Reacher’ Finally Proves It’s Not Just Size That Matters

• By Alan Sepinwall

Alan Sepinwall

The satiric sci-fi author Douglas Adams once wrote, “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” Now, substitute the name Jack Reacher for “space,” and you essentially have the core conceit of the two dozen or so Reacher thrillers written by Lee Child over the last 25 years.

Jack Reacher has many other notable traits besides being huge: He was a veteran Army investigator! He now lives as a hobo, wandering from town to town with little but the clothes on his back and a folding travel toothbrush! He’s a brilliant detective with almost superhuman powers of perception and time-keeping! Mostly, though, Reacher is big: a six-foot-five wall of muscle — with hands Child has at various points compared to the size of both dinner plates and supermarket chickens — who draws attention in every room he enters, and is the favorite in the many, many, extremely many fights he gets into.

Hilariously, pocket-sized movie star Tom Cruise insisted on playing Reacher in a pair of movies. The films more or less captured the character’s intensity and self-sufficiency. But Cruise lacked the mythical stature that’s long distinguished Reacher most clearly from his action-movie peers, and especially from his sleuthing counterparts. Those Cruise movies are good thrillers (the first especially), but they’re not really Jack Reacher movies.

Even more hilariously, Amazon has built the entire marketing campaign for its new  Reacher   series around star Alan Ritchson’s build, stopping just shy of using the tagline: “Reacher’s tall again!” But this turns out to be a case where size doesn’t matter matter as much as you might hope.

Ritchson has played superheroes in shows like  Smallville and Titans , and he’s statuesque enough to look plausible casually bursting out of a pair of flex cuffs. But whenever his shirt comes off (which is often), he has the smooth muscle definition of a man who spends four hours a day in a gym with a personal trainer, followed by another two getting touch-ups at the salon, rather than a slightly evolved caveman who came by his strength through scraps and brawls. Ritchson’s 12-pack is a physical manifestation of a tonal problem: His Reacher is smarmy and pleased with himself, rather than casually secure in his own vast abilities. He’s a generic vigilante who just happens to look like a mountain next to the small-town Georgia cops (played by Malcolm Goodwin and Willa Fitzgerald) who assist him in this maiden adventure(*).

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(*) Ritchson is listed at six foot two, which still isn’t quite Reacher-sized. But since most actors — including many of his co-stars here — are on the shorter end of the spectrum, he can pass.

The show also lacks the internal monologue in which Reacher is constantly doing the math to figure out where suspects may have gone and how best to injure the five men attacking him at the moment. Amazon’s Reacher occasionally explains himself to others, but never in a way that makes him live up to the “Sherlock Homeless” nickname he has in the novels. And anytime Ritchson tries to show Reacher acting cold and stoic, he instead comes off as stiff and robotic. When a new friend asks Reacher if he’s looking for payback against someone, he says, “Payback, justice, vengeance — looking for the whole gang” in the same laid-back, cocky tone he might use to hit on a woman at a bar.

The show is adapted by Nick Santora (creator of CBS’ Scorpion ) and the premiere is directed by Thomas Vincent (who helmed the 2018 UK hit The Bodyguard ). The series best makes use of Ritchson’s size in the brutal fight scenes, which often take place in close quarters and demonstrate why it’s stupid to ever attack this guy. (Though crowbars oddly prove to be Reacher’s Kryptonite throughout the season.) There’s one bout at the end of the sixth episode that makes such specific use of Ritchson’s sheer mass, even the Reacher of the books would likely approve.

Santora has clear affection and respect for those books, and the season is a fairly faithful adaptation of the first Reacher novel, The Killing Floor , where Reacher is first a suspect, and then an unofficial investigator, regarding a series of nasty murders in a previously quiet rural community. (The show’s biggest change is to bring in Maria Sten as Frances Neagley, who served in the Army with Reacher and appears in several other stories, but not this one.) I’ve happily devoured all of these books, though not for the sometimes gimmicky plotting, nor Child’s fascination with torture and gore. (“Pardon my French,” a cop asks at a murder scene here, “but where the heck are his testicles?” The reply: “In his stomach.”) The books live and die by Reacher himself as this dirty, ass-kicking genius. If he’s not interesting, none of it is.

So far, we’ve gotten one onscreen Jack Reacher who had the charisma but not the size, and another where the reverse is true. Actors do exist that have both — most of them tend to be ex-wrestlers — though I fear that two attempts may be as many as we get for a book series that’s turned out to be a very big challenge to adapt.

All eight episodes of Reacher Season One begin streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Feb. 4. I’ve seen them all.

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Amazon’s ‘reacher’: tv review.

Alan Ritchson steps into Tom Cruise's uncomfortably small shoes as Lee Child's brilliant and brutal traveling ronin Jack Reacher in this new eight-episode adaptation.

By Daniel Fienberg

Daniel Fienberg

Chief Television Critic

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On social media, the only archetype more irritating — not “evil” or “obnoxious,” simply “irritating” — than “Here’s How to Get Into Cryptocurrency” Guy might be “But Jack Reacher Is Supposed to Be Tall, Actually” Guy.

I can say that, because I’m That Guy, or one of those guys. You know why?

Airdate: Friday, February 4 (Amazon)

Cast: Alan Ritchson, Malcolm Goodwin, Willa Fitzgerald

Creator: Nick Santora, from the book series by Lee Child

Jack Reacher is supposed to be tall, actually. He’s not casually or incidentally tall. His being 6’5″, 250 pounds is a fact that comes up with some regularity in the books by Jim “Lee Child” Grant. But even that doesn’t do it justice. Jack Reacher is gravitationally huge. Yes, he’s military-honed, an expert marksman and a Sherlock Holmes-level investigator. But more than anything, Jack Reacher takes up space.

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Then they made two Jack Reacher-centric movies that starred Tom Cruise and people with no experience with the books were confused why “But Jack Reacher Is Supposed to Be Tall, Actually” Guy was so freaked out. Christopher McQuarrie and Ed Zwick made two perfectly OK action movies that gave zero indication that anybody involved actually liked the books they were adapting.

Amazon ‘s new Reacher TV show will not face that complaint. Series creator Nick Santora’s eight-episode series gives every indication of understanding the things that make Jack Reacher distinctive and entertaining as a character. Somewhat predictably, Santora’s hopelessly devoted approach to medium-jumping presents its own issues, underlining instead of correcting flaws from a franchise I adore even as I understand its myriad imperfections.

Jack Reacher describes himself as a hobo, but he’s much more of a ronin. He travels the country, by foot and by public transportation, based solely on whims and when he arrives in a town, you can guarantee that he’s going to stumble into a mid-level conspiracy. He’s perfectly tailored for television since Jack Reacher is basically a no-transformation-required combo of Bruce Banner/Hulk from The Incredible Hulk .

Santora has adapted Killing Floor , the first published Reacher novel, which begins with Reacher ( Alan Ritchson ) getting off a bus on the outskirts of Margrave, Georgia. In this case, his whim involves learning about mysterious bluesman Blind Blake, and the conspiracy kicks in almost immediately when Reacher is arrested for murder. Even when it becomes clear that he wasn’t the killer, Reacher sticks around in Margrave to help uptight detective Oscar (Malcolm Goodwin) and dogged cop Roscoe (Willa Fitzgerald) solve what turns out to be a crime with very personal ties.

Santora and his writing team have captured many of Reacher’s eccentricities, from his no-frills approach to packing — a passport, small wad of cash and travel toothbrush — to his obsessive accumulation of roadside trivia to this gigantic man-of-few-words’ love of quippy rejoinders. The season balances Reacher’s brutal physicality — I don’t love anything as much as Jack Reacher loves using his forehead to break somebody’s nose — and his Holmesian deductive reasoning. It’s mostly a strict adaptation of Killing Floor — one of Reacher’s later recurring allies is added for fun — and I never doubted the creative team’s affection for the source material for a second.

But Child’s books are compulsively readable page-turners, not unimpeachable literature, and their flaws may be harder to ignore in this format.

To begin with, the Reacher novels really aren’t about individual plots. I’ve read 20-ish Reacher books and if you offered me only their titles — Child is awful at titles — I couldn’t tell you what any of them were about. And even if you told me, I could probably only offer specifics for half of them. Killing Floor , with its backdrop of financial crimes and livestock, is actually in that group of stories I remember, but when midseason episodes became almost nonstop clunky exposition, I kept thinking how much I was missing Reacher breaking people’s noses with his forehead. A six-episode season would have tightened the storytelling yet still wouldn’t have fixed an instigating event that is irritatingly coincidental even in a franchise that thrives on big coincidences.

I’m not sure how you could have enhanced the plausibility of that coincidence, nor am I sure how Reacher could have fixed the fact that I’ve never bought into a single one of the character’s sexual dalliances — one per book, like the impeccable internal clock in Reacher’s head. Sometimes there’s a disturbing age difference. Sometimes he hooks up with a more mature woman, with Child obsessively mentioning a streak of gray hair or a hint of crow’s feet as if Jack Reacher’s true triumph of justice was age-appropriate dating. They’re all contrived, and Fitzgerald’s convincingly hard-edged performance — complete with the show’s only respectable Southern accent — is powerless to help. Because Ritchson is playing a younger version of Reacher, all flirtation is merely perfunctory instead of irredeemably icky. So there’s that.

And that leads me, finally, to the biggest flaw that any Jack Reacher adaptation is going to face: I’ve been asked many times on Twitter who I’d want to play Jack Reacher if Tom Cruise wasn’t acceptable, and I’ve given an assortment of answers: Holt McCallany. Stephen Lang, but 25 years ago and only if nobody Googles his height. Burt Lancaster if this were 1965. Elizabeth Debicki as Jacqueline Reacher. But the answer might turn out to simply be, “Nobody. Lee Child has made a character who can’t be played by a real human.”

Ritchson has some of the right physicality. At 6’2″, he’s too short, but the series directors have smartly shot him in ways that emphasize and embellish his size — low angles, frame-filling close-ups, etc. Care has been taken to surround Ritchson with conspicuously small co-stars, including Fitzgerald, the always solid Goodwin and Kristin Kreuk, playing the wife of a key suspect. Everybody in the show goes maybe to Ritchson’s mid-chest and it all points to how somebody like Peter Jackson could have used miniatures and forced perspective to actually sell a Cruise-as-Reacher vehicle.

That doesn’t mean Ritchson’s physicality is exactly right. Ritchson, like The Rock and John Cena and Dave Bautista and other size-appropriate people Twitter tends to suggest for a 6’5″ 250-pound character, looks like he spent nine months in a gym preparing for the role. He’s cut and the camera loves ogling his naked torso. But he, like The Rock, looks like something carved from granite. Jack Reacher should be a boulder. He’s never gone to the gym in his life, preferring a regimen of extensive walking and intermittent ass-kicking. No matter how fixated Ritchson’s Reacher may be on revenge, he primarily strides through town looking like he wants somebody to spot for him, bro.

This will bother fans of the books more than normal humans, who will be more likely to notice that Ritchson can’t make Reacher’s unique speech patterns work. Whether it’s the hamminess of the character’s quips and threats or his affectless recitation of the information behind his brilliant clue-following, Ritchson comes across as a condescending white knight out of a direct-to-video ’80s action movie. This may be a flawless execution of what he was asked to do, incidentally, illustrating how precariously small the gap is between what plays as gruffly badass on the page and flatly smug on-screen.

I wonder if this take would have played better if the series’ directors had gone with a look and pacing that was less TNT-friendly — minus some graphic nudity — procedural potboiler and more Banshee -style pulp. Why not steer into the craziness of a brilliant giant showing up in a small town and killing dozens of people instead of the formula of a former military policeman solving crimes? I’ll just go out on a limb and say that everything would have been improved if production could have taken place actually in Georgia as opposed to Ontario, which never finds an iota of regional authenticity here.

So now we’ve had Jack Reacher adaptations that have been annoyingly uninterested in the source material and frustratingly over-faithful to the source material. I prefer the Amazon version, and I wouldn’t mind another season, but I’d probably still rather read another book.

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Jack Reacher Parent Guide

This mysterious protagonist is one hero many families will hesitate to introduce to their young teens and children..

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) has a vigilante approach to justice. So his initial investigation into five murders committed by a former military sniper is a bit of a witch-hunt until he discovers some deeper, unanswered questions about the crimes.

Release date December 20, 2012

Run Time: 130 minutes

Official Movie Site

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kerry bennett.

Though movies are filmed months in advance of their release, the content is sometimes eerily current. In the opening scenes of Jack Reacher , a sniper trains his gun sights on innocent citizens walking along a sunny riverside path. One of them is a six-year-old girl. Though no one deserves to be the victim of a random attack, the depiction is particularly disturbing considering the film opens only a week after a gunman shot and killed 20 first graders in a Connecticut elementary school.

Other than this false start, Jack Reacher appears to be a move to make Tom Cruise into the next Hollywood franchise after the fashion of Jason Bourne , Alex Cross or Jack Ryan . As a result, the early part of the movie is spent introducing the ghostly character of Jack Reacher (Cruise), a former military investigator who took himself off the grid after returning home from military duty. Without a driver’s license, credit card, last known address or luggage, he moves below the radar until someone needs his help.

However Jack isn’t there to help Barr. Rather he’d like to see him suffer for the former murder of four men in a war zone. Working with the limited cooperation of police investigator Emerson (David Oyelowo), Jack starts his own review of the evidence and soon begins to question Barr’s guilt. Working with the wide-eyed Helen, Jack uncovers an even darker conspiracy behind the deaths.

At that point it seems this possible franchise might take after a John Grisham plot where intrigue and subterfuge drive the story. Unfortunately that only lasts long enough for a couple of guys with a baseball bat and crowbar to attack the hero. (Strangely, these two goons resemble The Three Stooges more than serious thugs but that doesn’t keep the rest of the film’s unnecessary violence from spiraling out of control.) Jack subdues his attackers with a thumb to the eye or repeated strikes to the groin. He also doesn’t hesitate to break a man’s hand or give a well-placed heel to the head. But his assaults are less gruesome than the leader of the criminals (Werner Herzog) who forces one of his men to chew off his own fingers. When he fails to do so, he is shot in the back of the head.

Sadly, the five victims at the first of the movie aren’t the only ones targeted. As Jack delves deeper into the underlying criminal activities, more people die as a threat to the military investigator. Pushing the limits of violence in a PG-13 movie, the filmmakers scale back on some other content, that includes mostly mild profanities, one strong sexual expletive and a crude term along with a brief backside shot of a woman in a thong and some sexually suggestive dialogue.

Like The Lone Ranger or Superman who inexplicably show up to save the day, Jack Reacher appears to have the same sense of timing. Although he is motivated to ensure justice is satisfied, he isn’t opposed to meting it out himself. Regrettably his vigilante approach to punishment likely won’t sit well with law officers in the future.

With plenty of unfinished business (like a kiss for the female lawyer), this script based on a book by Lee Child leaves little question that Jack Reacher will be back for another adventure. However, this mysterious protagonist is one hero many families will hesitate to introduce to their young teens and children.

Note: The working title for this movie was One Shot .

About author

Kerry Bennett

Jack reacher rating & content info.

Why is Jack Reacher rated PG-13? Jack Reacher is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violence, language and some drug material.

Violence: While depictions of blood are limited to pools surrounding the dead shooting victims, this movie pushes the limit of a PG-13 rating with repeated hand-to-hand fights (often resulting in broken bones), strikes to the groin, the use of baseball bats and other implements to inflict pain and gun use. A man trains his sights on several people including a 6-year-old child before killing five of them. A man is beaten into a comatose state and suffers severe facial and head injuries. A group of men gang up on a single man. A character talks about killing a man and distributing his body parts. A man is forced to attempt to chew off his fingers. Numerous characters are shot at close range. A character is suffocated and the body disposed of in a garbage container. Characters engage in a high-speed chase that involves crashing their cars. A character is tasered and kidnapped. A man threatens to beat another to death and “drink his blood from a boot”. A character is hit in the head with a rock. Characters use a knife during a fight. A man verbally abuses a woman on a bus.

Sexual Content: A woman wearing only a thong is shown from the backside. A man’s bare chest is shown. A girl accuses a man of calling her a whore and attempts to lure him into a fight. Some sexual dialogue follows. A woman mistakenly believes a man is inviting her to bed. A professional woman wears a low cut shirt.

Language: The script contains frequent mild profanities and terms of Deity along with some crude terms, sexual comments and one strong sexual expletive.

Alcohol / Drug Use: Characters are shown with drinks in a bar setting. A woman, sitting beside of table of drug paraphernalia, appears to be in a drug-induced state. Comments are made about a man who makes illegal drugs. A woman drinks a beer.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

Jack Reacher Parents' Guide

Why does Cash, the gun range owner, take down James Farr’s targets? Why does he fear the arrival of police? What does he believe about the constitutional right to bear arms? Would a gun law prevent criminals from obtaining weapons? What issues other than gun ownership need to be addressed in preventing needless deaths? Do movies like Jack Reacher contribute to gun violence?

What does Sandy mean when she justifies her actions by saying that’s “what girls like me do”? Why does she allow herself to be used by men? What would it take to change her view of herself?

The Lone Ranger had a strict moral code he abided by. It reads as follows:

“I believe…

•  that to have a friend, a man must be one.

•  that all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.

•  that God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.

•  in being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.

•  that a man should make the most of what equipment he has.

•  that ‘this government of the people, by the people, and for the people’ shall live always.

•  that men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.

•  that sooner or later…somewhere…somehow…we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.

•  that all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.

•  in my Creator, my country, my fellow man.”

( “The Lone Ranger: Justice from Outside the Law” . Retrieved September 26, 2010.)

How does that compare with the code Jack Reacher appears to adhere to?

This movie is based on a novel from a series of books featuring Jack Reacher, that were penned by Lee Child .

The most recent home video release of Jack Reacher movie is May 7, 2013. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: Jack Reacher

Release Date: 7 May 2013

Jack Reacher releases to home video (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy) with the following extras:

- Commentary by Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie

- Commentary by composer Joe Kraemer

- When the Man Comes Around

- You Do Not Mess with Jack Reacher: Combat & Weapons

- The Reacher Phenomenon

Related home video titles:

A former military hero gets caught up in a crime in The Manchurian Candidate . Tom Cruise plays another one-man-army character in the Mission Impossible franchise.

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'My Head Is Always Pounding': Alan Ritchson Explains What The 'Reacher Hangover' Is To Fans Amidst Season 3 Filming

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

The first two seasons of the action drama Reacher , available with an Amazon Prime Video subscription , did a lot of heavy lifting with regards to establishing the character and his world. Jack Reacher (played by Alan Ritchson) is an ex-military investigator now out of the service who wanders the Earth and gets embroiled in vicious predicaments where innocent folk are being abused by evildoers. And Reacher does everything in his significant power to help the underdog out. The initial Reacher season established our guy as a loner, and Reacher Season 2 dug into his ties to the Special Investigators, his elite military team. As we prepare for Reacher Season 3, we keep getting updates from Ritchson on the set, and in this latest one, we learn about the “Reacher hangover.” I’ll let Ritchson tell you about it himself:

A post shared by Alan Ritchson (@alanritchson) A photo posted by on

It’s sad to hear that Alan Ritchson doesn’t enjoy night shoots while working on Reacher , because some of the most memorable moments in the first two seasons take place at night, when Jack Reacher and his crew are taking down  bad guys – like this unforgettable confrontation with Reacher Season 2 bad guy Robert Patrick.

At the same time, it’s so sweet and beautiful that Alan Ritchson has a lovely partner who knows that her husband suffers migraine during night shoots, and is willing to start his day with, as he puts it, “a paper plate full of love” in the form of rehydration and medicine. He feels cared for, which is exactly what I want out of my Reacher. Put that giant teddy bear under a comfortable blanket and let him rest!

The hangover isn’t going to be the only reason that Alan Ritchson is hurting thanks to Reacher Season 3. As we reported, the main character is going to have to go toe-to-toe with the Dutch Giant in bodybuilder/actor Olivier Richters, who will play the character of Paulie from the book Persuader . And if you have read that book, then you know that they are due to have a confrontation that will rival two superheroes hammering away at each other. I only hope the show can do justice the way that author Lee Child put it on the page.

Now we just have to wait and see when Reacher Season 3 is going to arrive on Amazon Prime Video. We know a lot about the casting on the season , and Ritchson gave us a very blunt reason as to why they film the series in Canada. But the premiere date remains a mystery for the time being. So keep it on CinemaBlend, and we’ll report in as soon as we know.

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Anthony Michael Hall Confirms That Reacher Season 3 Has Found Its Paulie, And Now I'm Scared For Alan Ritchson

This guy is going to intimidate Reacher.

Adapting any literary series comes with challenges. It’s easy to make a character come to life, in various shapes and sizes, on the page. Transitioning over to live-action, however, can be limited by casting options. The hit Amazon Prime Video series Reacher has largely succeeded in its casting coups, starting with the discovery of the bulky and intimidating Alan Ritchson as the title character, Jack Reacher . That eye for casting has led to commendable representations of beloved Reacher characters such as Frances Neagley (Maria Sten), Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan), and David O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos). As Reacher gears up for its anticipated third season, though, we can confirm the casting of a key character from the Lee Child book Persuader , and based on what we see, it’s an ideal choice. 

From here on out, we’re getting into spoilers for Reacher Season 3, so duck out now if you do not want to know details.

As has been reported, Reacher Season 3 – available to anyone with an Amazon Prime Video subscription – will adapt the book Persuader . Set in the coastal region of Maine, the story sends Reacher ( Alan Ritchson ) undercover in the castle lair of the mysterious Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall), whose son is almost kidnapped. Beck lives in fear of his own employers, and relies on bodyguards to keep his family safe. 

One of those bodyguards is a deranged bodybuilder named Paulie, which we have learned will be played in Reacher Season 3 by Olivier Richters, an actor nicknamed “The Dutch Giant.” 

Paulie stands out because author Lee Child describes him as being so big, he intimidates Reacher. Child wrote in the book: 

He was a very big guy. I stand six feet five inches tall and I have to center myself quite carefully to walk through a standard thirty-inch doorway. This guy was at least six inches taller than me and probably ten inches wider across the shoulders. He probably outweighed me by two hundred pounds. Maybe by more.

Which is fine on the page, but how does one cast a role that large? I wrote about the challenge facing the producers of Reacher , because fans know that Paulie needs to tower over our already large hero, and cast a massive shadow. And during a recent interview with Anthony Michael Hall on behalf of his upcoming film Trigger Warning , Hall revealed to CinemaBlend that Paulie will be played by Black Widow and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny co-star Olivier Richters.

Here’s a clip of the 7 foot, 2 inch actor arm wrestling David Harbour in the Marvel Studios prequel:

CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER

Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News

When describing his Reacher co-star, Hall went outside of the Marvel series and compared Richters, instead, of a classic James Bond villain . Said Hall:

He reminds me of , do you remember when we were kids? The Spy Who Loved Me, the Jaws character that Richard Kiel played? He was a literal giant, like seven foot two. … That character (Paulie) does live in the show, and they have an epic battle. I don't want to give it away, but yeah, they definitely meet as they do in the book. … You know, Reacher and Paulie colliding – there's something Marvel about that, right? They're like two superhero-sized guys, so it's kind of cool.

Purely based on his physical appearance, Olivier Richters seems to be the perfect foil for Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher. He’s a towering giant of a man, who clearly spends more than enough time in the gym. And as Anthony Michael Hall promises, these two are expected to have a bare-knuckle brawl in Reacher Season 3 that, if it lives up to the book, will rank as one of the greatest fight scenes in television history. 

We don’t know yet when Reacher Season 3 will arrive on Amazon Prime Video, but our guide to the upcoming season has the most detail with regards to plot, casting, crew and more. Ritchson also let us know where the season will be filmed . Just so long as they get Zachary Beck’s castle correct, I’ll be happy. 

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.

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Reacher has a big plot hole due to 1 important blunder in research.

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Why Reacher Left The Military & How It Changes Lee Child's Books

Reacher season 3's paulie casting makes one season 2 problem even worse, the acolyte’s opening repeats obi-wan’s oldest lie.

• Jack Reacher's military pension in the franchise is a plot hole, as he never fulfilled the 20-year service requirement in real life.
• Reacher's earnings are mainly from his military pension and cash grabs from bad guys, with occasional payments through "spoils of war."
• Despite minor inconsistencies, Reacher's engaging storyline in the Amazon series and original books keep readers and viewers hooked.

Most story elements in the Reacher franchise seem consistent and cohesive, but there is one major plot hole that seemingly stems from a lack of research surrounding the titular character's background. As seen in Reacher season 2, there are moments in the Amazon series and even in the original Lee Child books where the titular character's feats force a viewer to slightly stretch their suspension of disbelief. However, despite this, the overarching storylines in the Amazon show and the original books usually remain engaging and well-crafted, ensuring readers and viewers are not distracted by silly plot developments.

Unfortunately, despite Lee Child's best efforts to create a narratively sound series, it seems like the author glossed over one detail from Jack Reacher's military backstory . This little detail creates a major plot hole in the franchise, making one question everything from Jack Reacher's lifestyle choices to his ability to stay afloat. There are still some narrative workarounds that can solve aspects of this plot hole, but it cannot be completely fixed due to a massive research oversight from the author.

Reacher season 2 sheds light on why exactly Jack Reacher left the military to become a hobo and it's significantly different from Lee Child's books.

How Reacher Survives As A Wandering Hobo In The Series

Reacher primarily lives off his military pension.

Early on in Reacher , the titular character establishes he survives primarily on his military pension, which he picks up from different Western Union locations. Since Jack Reacher lives like a hobo, only carries a toothbrush, and barely spends a dime on unnecessary luxuries, one can believe he sustains himself on his military pension. Apart from the military pension, Jack Reacher also likely uses some cash appropriated from bad guys and even does part-time gigs during his journeys .

Much later in the book series, Jack Reacher also acquires a house after General Garber wills it to him and even receives sporadic payments through " spoils of war. "

However, as seen in Reacher season 2's ending , the character cares little about stacking up wealth for himself and lets his former team members from the 110th Special Investigation Unit keep the money they bust from an international criminal operation. Much later in the book series, Jack Reacher also acquires a house after General Garber wills it to him and even receives sporadic payments through " spoils of war. " Unfortunately, in all of these convincing details about Reacher's earnings, the Lee Child books seem to miss one detail.

Reacher Would Never Get An Army Pension In Real Life

Reacher does not fulfill army's minimum pension requirements.

The fact that Jack Reacher earns a pension is a plot hole itself. As Lee Child's Jack Reacher books suggest, Reacher was discharged from the military in 1997 after serving as a military policeman for 13 years. Given how the US military only offers a pension after 20 years of service (via GoArmy ), Jack Reacher should technically not even receive it, since he falls seven years short of the threshold . However, since the Reacher franchise is fictional and portrays a heightened reality, one can suspend some disbelief and accept that the character somehow receives a pension despite not meeting real-life military requirements.

Produced by Amazon Prime Video, Reacher adapts Lee Child's Jack Reacher book series to live-action. The series follows veteran Military Police Officer Jack Reacher as he unravels a dangerous conspiracy in the fictional town of Margrave, Georgia. Played by the towering Alan Ritchson, the titular hero collaborates with officer Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald) and Chief Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) to clean his name and save Margrave from crime and corruption.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Itinerant former military policeman Jack Reacher solves crimes and metes out his own brand of street justice. Based on the novels by Lee Child. Itinerant former military policeman Jack Reacher solves crimes and metes out his own brand of street justice. Based on the novels by Lee Child. Itinerant former military policeman Jack Reacher solves crimes and metes out his own brand of street justice. Based on the novels by Lee Child.

• Nick Santora
• Alan Ritchson
• Malcolm Goodwin
• 2.1K User reviews
• 90 Critic reviews
• 1 win & 6 nominations

Episodes 17

• Jack Reacher

• Frances Neagley

• Oscar Finlay

• Roscoe Conklin

• Karla Dixon

• David O'Donnell

• Shane Langston

• Officer Baker

• Mayor Grover Teale

• Gaitano 'Guy' Russo

• Young Reacher

• Josephine Reacher

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Alan Ritchson read all 24 Jack Reacher novels in preparation for his role as Jack Reacher.
• Goofs The teenage Reacher's eye is brown color, but the adult Reacher's eye is bluish-greyish.
• Connections Featured in Jeremy Vine: Episode #5.35 (2022)

User reviews 2.1K

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• Feb 3, 2022
• How many seasons does Reacher have? Powered by Alexa
• February 4, 2022 (United States)
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• Kingston Penitentiary, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (location)
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• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 50 minutes
• Dolby Atmos

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Season 1 – Reacher

Where to watch, reacher — season 1.

Watch Reacher — Season 1 with a subscription on Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home.

What to Know

Reacher captures the trademark bulk of its titular hero while trading away some of his definition, but fans of the novels will find plenty to love about this faithful adaptation.

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Reacher shares first look at new season 3 villain

Just imagine the arm wrestles they'd have...

Portrayed by Black Widow actor Olivier Richters, bearded newcomer Paulie stands at over 7 feet tall and can be seen in a behind-the-scenes picture on Instagram as shooting on the next season continues.

Seen crossing out Reacher's name on his trailer's front door and replacing it with his own, a caption reads: "REACHER isn't going to like that. @thedutchgiant has arrived to Season 3."

Related: Reacher season 2 ending explained

Prime Video's third season adapts the seventh book in author Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, Persuader , which was published in 2003.

In its pages, "deranged bodybuilder bodyguard" Paulie is described by Reacher as being: (via Forbes ) : "A very big guy. I stand six feet five inches tall and I have to center myself quite carefully to walk through a standard 30-inch doorway.

"This guy was at least six inches taller than me and probably 10 inches wider across the shoulders. He probably outweighed me by 200 pounds. Maybe by more."

Related: Reacher season 2 review: The best thing about Reacher isn't actually Reacher

Reacher stars Alan Ritchson in the title role, but Rictchson recently revealed that he could have been famous for another role if only he had taken his audition seriously.

Speaking to Men's Health , Ritchson said he auditioned for the role of Thor , but he was more concerned with looking the part rather than acting the part.

"I didn’t take it seriously," he explained. "I was like, 'They’ll throw me the part if I look like the guy. Nobody really cares about acting'."

However, the casting team said Ritchson hadn't shown he had "the craft", and the part went to Chris Hemsworth.

Reacher seasons 1 and 2 are available on Prime Video , with a third on the way.

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In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.

.css-15yqwdi:before{top:0;width:100%;height:0.25rem;content:'';position:absolute;background-image:linear-gradient(to right,#51B3E0,#51B3E0 2.5rem,#E5ADAE 2.5rem,#E5ADAE 5rem,#E5E54F 5rem,#E5E54F 7.5rem,black 7.5rem,black);} Reacher

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It would be easy to chalk these shows up as successful because they feature “middle-aged guys with guns.” And maybe you wouldn’t be wrong. But in an age of streaming, these are more than that. They have gripping mysteries, compelling characters and ongoing stories with something to say. Maybe we should amend that term to call it “prestige dad TV.”

It’s taken time, but as streamers mature, they’re looking to expand their programming mix — and attract a broader audience. In a recent Variety cover story, I noted that the streamers are looking to emulate the networks more, particularly now that they’re all mostly selling advertising as well. But that also means opening the programming aperture. Male viewers have always been harder to reach in series TV, but older skewing broadcast shows like “NCIS,” “Law & Order” and “Blue Bloods” — most of which still skew more female — have managed to bring in men as well. (The most-watched entertainment show of last season on the broadcast networks? The very dad-friendly “Tracker.”) And repeats of those shows do well on streaming.

Taylor Sheridan has become, perhaps, the king of “dad TV” and seems to have an unending string of stories to tackle, starting with “Yellowstone” (well, whenever that comes back) and its companion series “1883” and “1923.” Also on Paramount+, he’s got Sylvester Stallone in “Tulsa King,” David Oyelowo in “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” Jeremy Renner in “Mayor of Kingstown” and the Zoe Saldaña- led “Lioness,” which is not a dad-led show but is a spy thriller — the dad genre of all dad genres.

It doesn’t have to be all investigative procedurals. I’m a dad, and I guess I count too. I lean more toward those spy thrillers — let’s not forget Apple TV+’s “Hijack,” the edge-of-your-seat entry from Idris Elba. Or comedic actioners like Guy Ritchie’s (another patron saint of dad entertainment) Netflix entry “The Gentlemen.”

Dad TV isn’t big awards bait — as we saw a few years ago when “Yellowstone” suddenly hit it big, and we expected the kudos to follow. They didn’t. But that’s OK.

Still, I keep hoping for some Emmy attention for the Apple TV+ show that for me is Peak Prestige Dad TV: “ For All Mankind .” You know how some guys apparently think a lot about the Roman Empire? I spend many a day thinking about what this country would be like if the space race had never ended and how that might have advanced our country’s technological and social movements. I’m such a sucker for this alt-history story, and I’ve even roped my son into many a conversation about how “For All Mankind” reimagines a very different, and very exciting, society.

A show that gets me to converse with my kid? That, my friends, is the best kind of Dad TV.

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