tom cruise jack reacher quotes

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Jack Reacher

[from trailer]

James Barr: There's this guy. He's a kind of cop, at least he used to be. He doesn't care about proof, he doesn't care about the law, he only cares about what's right. He knows what I did. You can't protect me. No one can.

Jack Reacher: You think I'm a hero? I am not a hero. And if you're smart, that scares you. Because I have nothing to lose.

Jack Reacher: I mean to beat you to death, and drink your blood from a boot.

Jeb: Hey, outside!

Jack Reacher: Pay your check first.

Jeb: I'll pay later.

Jack Reacher: You won't be able to.

Sandy: [Sandy, Jeb and four other guys all surround Reacher outside a bar] [to Reacher] You still think you're funny now, creep?

Jeb: Shut your mouth, Sandy! No one is talking to you!

Jack Reacher: It's your last chance to walk away.

Jeb: [chuckles] Are you kidding? It's five against one.

Jack Reacher: [shakes his head] It's *three* against one.

Jeb: [perplexed] *How* do you figure?

Jack Reacher: Well, once I take out the leader, which is you, I'll have to contend with one or two enthusiastic wingmen. The last two guys, they always run.

Jeb: Oh, you, uh, you've done this before?

Jack Reacher: [reluctantly nods] It's getting late. [Jeb moves in] Remember, you wanted this. [Jeb smiles and swings at Reacher, who ducks and elbows Jeb in the forehead, who falls to the ground]

Jack Reacher: It's okay. [helps Jeb up] Get up. [kicks Jeb in the groin from behind, Jeb groans and Reacher pushes him aside with his foot. The other four move in closer] Okay, let me know who's who. Let's get this done. [Reacher easily takes down the other four, with him holding the last guy's foot under his arm. Two of the guys get up and both stare at Reacher with fear] Really? [kicks the last guy in the chest, who screams as he falls to the ground. The two guys run away as the cops come. Sandy runs away as well]

Cop: [points his gun at Reacher] On the ground.

Jack Reacher: That's a pretty impressive response time, fellas.

Cop: Do it! [Reacher reluctantly gets down on the ground, next to a groaning Jeb] Hands behind your back.

Jack Reacher: [to Jeb] Who hired you?

Jack Reacher: Look out the window. Tell me what you see. You see the same things that you see everyday. Well, imagine you've never seen it. Imagine you spent your whole life in other parts of the world, being told everyday that you're defending freedom. Then you finally decide you've had enough. Time to see what you've given up your whole life for, everything. Get some of that "freedom" for yourself. Look at the people. You tell me which ones are free. Free from debt. Anxiety. Stress. Fear. Failure. Indignity. Betrayal. How many wish that they were born knowing what they know now? Ask yourself how many would do things the same way over again, and how many would live their lives like me.

Jack Reacher: You think I'm a hero? I am not a hero. I'm a drifter with nothing to lose. Now you killed that girl to put me in a frame. I mean to beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot! Now this is how it's gonna work. You're gonna give me the address and I'll be along when I'm damn good and ready. If she doesn't answer the phone when I call this number, if I even think you've hurt her, I disappear. And if you're smart, that scares you. Because I'm in your blind spot. And I have nothing better to do.

Gary: I need to see some I.D.

Jack Reacher: I'm not showing you any I.D.

Gary: Well, I need to see something.

Jack Reacher: How about the inside of an ambulance?

Jack Reacher: I was born in October; when I get to my birthday I'm going to pull the trigger.

Sandy: [sits down at Reacher's table] Mind if I share your table?

Jack Reacher: [gives a nod]

Sandy: I'm Sandy.

Jack Reacher: So was I, last week. On a beach in Florida.

Sandy: What's your name?

Jack Reacher: Jimmie Reese.

Sandy: You don't look like a Jimmie.

Jack Reacher: What do I look like?

Sandy: I don't know, but not a Jimmie. So you're new in town?

Jack Reacher: Usually.

Sandy: It's kind of loud in here. Do you wanna, maybe, go someplace quieter? I have a car.

Jack Reacher: Are you old enough to drive?

Sandy: I'm old enough to do a lot of things.

Jack Reacher: I'm on a budget, Sandy.

Sandy: [perplexed] What?

Jack Reacher: I can't afford you.

Sandy: I'm not a hooker.

Jack Reacher: Oh, then I *really* can't afford you.

Jack Reacher: What I mean is the cheapest woman tends to be the one you pay for.Sandy: [stands up, angrily] I am *not* a hooker!Jack Reacher: Well, a hooker would get the joke.Jeb: [enters with his four buddies] What's this?Sandy: He called me a whore.Jeb: Is that true?Jack Reacher: Nobody said "whore". She inferred "hooker", but I meant "slut".Punk: Hey! That's our sister.Jack Reacher: She a good kisser?Jeb: Hey! Outside!Jack Reacher: Pay your check first.Jeb: I'll pay later.Jack Reacher: You won't be able to.Jeb: You think?Jack Reacher: All the time. You should try it.Jeb: That's a great joke, but I'm gonna beat your ass. Do you want to do that here or outside?Jack Reacher: [sighs] Outside.[gets up]Jeb: Stay here, Sandy.Sandy: I don't mind the sight of blood.Jack Reacher: [walks by Sandy] Well, it means you're not pregnant, anyway.

Rodin: So... how do we find this Reacher?

Emerson: Obviously you don't find this guy unless he wants to be found.

Secretary: [Knocks and enters the room] Excuse me, sir, there is a Jack Reacher here to see you.

Helen: So why are you so hard to find?

Jack Reacher: I'm impossible to find.

Helen: Why is that?

Jack Reacher: We could say it started as an exercise, became an addiction.

Jack Reacher: There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it's family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next you have those who just need a job. Than there's the kind who want the legal means of killing other people.

Jack Reacher: There're three things cops never do: they don't vote Democrat, they don't drive Cadillacs, and they never use personal vehicles.

[first lines]

Emerson: It's life or death now, James. By that, I mean you're doing one or the other up in Rockview. This here is District Attorney Rodin. Want to know what he's wondering? Whether you're gonna walk like a man or cry like a p*ssy on your way to the death house. See, the D.A. likes the needle, whereas me, I like to see a man like you live a long life - with all your teeth knocked out. Passed around till a brother can't tell your fart from a yawn.

Jack Reacher: Sticking it to your father because...

Helen: No. Not my father. The Office of the District Attorney.

Jack Reacher: ...because the Office of the District Attorney never bought you a pony.

Jack Reacher: You understand you're not just asking me to look at the evidence. You're asking me to look at a cold-blooded killer. A man I know to be guilty. A man you want to keep off death row. And you're asking me to look at him objectively.

Helen: Yes, that is what I'm asking.

Jack Reacher: I'll do it. On one condition.

Helen: Name it.

Jack Reacher: You have to look at the victims objectively.

Jack Reacher: Who is he?

Helen: That's John Doe Number Two. The man on the grassy knoll. The thing under the bed. They call him the Zec.

Helen: Were you really going to shoot him?

Jack Reacher: I knew I wouldn't have to. One look at this guy and you know he'll do anything to survive. One look at me and you know I'm not bluffing.

Helen: What about the truth? What about getting the guys who really did this? What about bringing him to justice?

Jack Reacher: I just did.

Jack Reacher: I need some sleep, you too.

Helen: You really think I'm gonna...

Linsky: I made a mistake. I mean, you can still use me, just tell me how to fix...

The Zec: To survive. Don't say "fix it," because you can't. We covered up the one mess. You made another.

Linsky: All right. You're right. You're right. You're absolutely right. I'm sorry. Just tell me what I have to do.

The Zec: I was in prison in Siberia. I spent my first winter wearing a dead man's coat. A hole in one pocket. I chewed these fingers off before the frostbite could turn to gangrene. These I gave up to avoid working in the sulfur mine. That is how I survived when so many others did not. A man this rare can always be of use. So show me. Show me you are rare. Show me you'll do anything to survive.

Linsky: I don't understand.

The Zec: The fingers from your left hand.

Linsky: Have you... have you got a knife?

The Zec: Did I have a knife in Siberia?

Linsky: No... come on, you've got to be kidding.

The Zec: You can do it. Show me.

Linsky: [tries to chew his finger off] Christ! Can't! I can't.

The Zec: Always the bullet.

Linsky: I can't!

The Zec: I don't understand. [Charlie shoots Linsky]

Helen: You want me to wait?

Jack Reacher: No. I'll meet you back at the office later.

Helen: How will you get there?

Jack Reacher: I'll hitch a ride.

Sandy: Am I in trouble?

Jack Reacher: Not if you lend me your car.

Sandy: I don't have a car.

Jack Reacher: Well, sure you do. It's outside. I'm guessing you 're the Camaro. That whimsy little pickup has Gary written all over it. Keys?

Sandy: I can't. It's Jeb's car!

Jack Reacher: Well, won't he be surprised when I drive it home for him.

Sandy: Who are you, mister? Really?

Jack Reacher: [Sandy gives him a key] I'm just a guy who wants to be left alone.

Jack Reacher: Got a car?

Punk: It's outside.

Jack Reacher: Keys.

Punk: My hand, man. They're in my pock... Okay, okay.

[gives a key to Jack]

Jack Reacher: Now look at your friends. Now look at my face. Do you ever want to see me again?

Punk: No way.

Jack Reacher: Am I stealing your car?

Punk: Use it as long as you like.

Jack Reacher: You're very kind.

Cash: This the lady?

Jack Reacher: Helen Rodin, Martin Cash.

Cash: A pleasure. You look like hell there, Army.

Jack Reacher: You asked if I was afraid I'd end up like Barr. I'm not. I'm afraid I'll end up like this guy.

Cash: There's a lot of dead bodies out here. So, let's get to it.

Jack Reacher: We should probably go.

Helen: Wait. That's it? It's just over?

Jack Reacher: You'll be all right, counselor.

Helen: No. What if I need you? How will I find you?

Jack Reacher: You don't need me. Not anymore.

Cash: Get her number. Let's go!

Jack Reacher: With a name like yours, you're gonna feel right at home.

The Zec: Prison? In America? A retirement home. If I go to prison at all.

Jack Reacher: You think you're gonna walk?

The Zec: You are a homeless drifter wanted for murder. Meanwhile, I am an old man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks to you, who is left to say otherwise? Who?

The Zec: We'll see which one goes to prison.

Jack Reacher: My bet? Neither one. [shoots the Zec in cold blood]

Jack Reacher: [after killing Charlie in a brutal hand-to-hand fight, Reacher confronts Emerson, who is using Helen as a human shield]I know you're in there, Emerson. It was staring me right in the face. The one piece that just didn't fit. The quarter. Nobody would have thought to dump that meter. Not even me. [Emerson fires at Reacher, but Reacher manages to shoot Emerson in the head, killing him]

Cash: [drives away and laughs after Reacher guns down the last remaining men] Haha, suck it!

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31 Jack Reacher Quotes from the 2012 Film That Inspired the Series

https://amodays.com/408049-jack-reacher-quotes.html

Jack Reacher is a fictional character in several crime thriller novels by British author Lee Child. The books have been adapted into two films featuring Tom Cruise as the action hero. Here are 31 Jack Reacher quotes to know more about the character.

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"Jack Reacher" is a 2012 movie that centers around former US Army sniper James Barr, who gets accused of killing five people. Following the senseless massacre, Jack Reacher, a former US Army major, takes it upon himself to investigate the case.

This comes after Barr mentioned his name after claiming to be innocent of the killings in a small town in Indiana.

Jack, who does his best to stay out of trouble, tries to uncover the truth of the incident with the help of a young lawyer. This leads to some powerful dialogue. Here are 31 Jack Reacher quotes.

Jack Reacher's quote: "I was born in October; when I get to my birthday I'm going to pull the trigger" | Source: Amodays

Quotes That Reveal the Character of Jack Reacher

"You think I'm a hero? I am not a hero. And if you're smart, that scares you. Because I have nothing to lose." — Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher: "Pay your check first."

Jeb: "I'll pay later."

Jack Reacher: "You won't be able to." — "Jack Reacher"

"Helen: You want me to wait?

Jack Reacher: No. I'll meet you back at the office later.

Helen: How will you get there?

Jack Reacher: I'll hitch a ride." — "Jack Reacher"

"Punk: Hey! That's our sister.

Jack Reacher: She a good kisser?" — "Jack Reacher"

Gary: "I need to see something."

Jack Reacher: "How about the inside of an ambulance?" — "Jack Reacher"

Jack Reacher's quote: "There are three things cops never do. They don't vote Democrat, they don't drive Cadillacs, and they never use personal vehicles" | Source: Amodays

"Helen: What about the truth? What about getting the guys who really did this? What about bringing him to justice?

Jack Reacher: I just did." — "Jack Reacher"

"Helen: So why are you so hard to find?

Jack Reacher: I'm impossible to find.

Helen: Why is that?

Jack Reacher: We could say it started as an exercise and became an addiction." — "Jack Reacher"

Gary: "Don't move… Ahhh, my hand!"

Jack Reacher: "You got a car?"

Gary: "It's outside."

Jack Reacher: "You're very kind." — "Jack Reacher"

Jack Reacher: "Somebody dead?"

Emerson: "And if someone is?"

Jack Reacher: "Then they died of shame 'cause I was being gentle. Am I free to go?" — "Jack Reacher"

"I was born in October; when I get to my birthday I'm going to pull the trigger." — Jack Reacher

Helen Rodin's quote: "They're like cancer, intimidation, corruption, murder" | Source: Amodays

Quotes Full of Things We Can Learn from Jack Reacher

"Helen: Were you really going to shoot him?

Jack Reacher: I knew I wouldn't have to. One look at this guy, and you know he'll do anything to survive. One look at me, and you know I'm not bluffing." — "Jack Reacher"

"There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it's a family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next, you have those who just need a job. Then there's the kind who want a legal means of killing other people." — Jack Reacher

"There are three things cops never do. They don't vote Democrat, they don't drive Cadillacs, and they never use personal vehicles." — Jack Reacher

"Imagine you've spent your whole life in other parts of the world being told every day you're defending freedom. And finally, you decide you've had enough. Time to see what you've given up your whole life for. Maybe get some of that freedom for yourself." — Jack Reacher

"Look at the people. Now tell me which ones are free. Free from debt. Anxiety. Stress. Fear. Failure. Indignity. Betrayal. How many wish that they were born knowing what they know now? Ask yourself how many would do things the same way over again?" — Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher's quote: "You think I'm a hero? I am not a hero. And if you're smart, that scares you. Because I have nothing to lose" | Source: Amodays

Jack Reacher – Quotes from the Key Moments of the Film

"Jack Reacher: Who is he?

Helen: That's John Doe Number Two. The man on the grassy knoll. The thing under the bed. They call him the Zec." — "Jack Reacher"

"This soldier is asking questions no one else would ask. Get the lawyer." — The Zec

"Jeb: That's a great joke, but I'm gonna beat your... Do you want to do that here or outside?

Jack Reacher: [sighs] Outside.[gets up]" — "Jack Reacher"

"Alex Rodin: "Can I help you?"

Jack Reacher: "James Barr, you said he shot five people. I don't believe he did."

Heather Rodin: "What exactly are you saying?"

Jack Reacher: "He was framed… Any chance I could look at the evidence?"

Heather Rodin: "This is classified information." — "Jack Reacher"

"It's life or death now, James. By that, I mean you're doing one or the other up in Rockview. This here is District Attorney Rodin. Want to know what he's wondering? Whether you're gonna walk like a man or cry..." — Emerson

The Zec's quote: "This soldier is asking questions no one else would ask. Get the lawyer" | Source: Amodays

Jack Reacher: "Helen?"

Jack Reacher: "Helen, are you hurt?"

Thug: "Do I have to tell you how this works?"

Jack Reacher: "Do you think I'm a hero? I am not a hero. The lawyer's all yours." [Hangs up but calls right back] "On second thought, I'd like to kill you." — "Jack Reacher"

"They're like cancer, intimidation, corruption, murder" — Helen Rodin

"Jack Reacher: I need some sleep, you too.

Helen: You really think I'm gonna..." — "Jack Reacher"

Jack Reacher: "Look out the window."

Helen: "No, I've work to do."

Jack Reacher: "Would you tell me what you see?"

Helen: "I see the same... things I see every day." — "Jack Reacher"

"There's this guy. He's a kind of cop, at least he used to be. He doesn't care about proof, he doesn't care about the law, he only cares about what's right. He knows what I did. You can't protect me. No one can." — James Barr

READ: 62 Gob Bluth Quotes - Misifit Magician from Arrested Development

Emerson's quote: "It's life or death now, James. By that, I mean you're doing one or the other up in Rockview. This here is District Attorney Rodin. Want to know what he's wondering? Whether you're gonna walk like a man or cry..." | Source: Amodays

"Rodin: So... how do we find this Reacher?

Emerson: Obviously, you don't find this guy unless he wants to be found.

Secretary: [Knocks and enters the room] Excuse me, sir, there is a Jack Reacher here to see you." — "Jack Reacher"

"Jack Reacher: With a name like yours, you're gonna feel right at home.

The Zec: Prison? In America? A retirement home. If I go to prison at all.

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Jack Reacher: You think you're gonna walk?

The Zec: You are a homeless drifter wanted for murder. Meanwhile, I am an old man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks to you, who is left to say otherwise? Who?" — "Jack Reacher"

"Jack Reacher: Sticking it to your father because...

Helen: No. Not my father. The Office of the District Attorney.

Jack Reacher: ...because the Office of the District Attorney never bought you a pony." — "Jack Reacher"

"The Zec: We'll see which one goes to prison.

Jack Reacher: My bet? Neither one…" — "Jack Reacher"

"[Reacher confronts Emerson, who is using Helen as a human shield]I know you're in there, Emerson. It was staring me right in the face. The one piece that just didn't fit. The quarter. Nobody would have thought to dump that meter. Not even me..." — Jack Reacher

“Jack Reacher: "You're old enough to drive?

Sandy: "I'm old enough to do a lot of things." — "Jack Reacher"

READ: 23 Jurassic World Quotes for the Adventure Lover in You

James Barr's quote: "There's this guy. He's a kind of cop, at least he used to be. He doesn't care about proof, he doesn't care about the law, he only cares about what's right. He knows what I did. You can't protect me. No one can" | Source: Amodays

Jack Reacher has a sharp mind and is physically well-trained. His dry wit and determination set him apart, and it is for that reason that he has become a beloved action hero in modern cinema.

Most importantly, the manner in which he delivers his lines as he exudes confidence has resonated with viewers. Each quotable statement Jack utters shows who he truly is as an individual and what he stands for. The words showcase what levels he would go to get people justice.

In the movie, Jack Reacher is portrayed by none other than actor Tom Cruise . He stars alongside Rosamund Pike , Richard Jenkins, David Oyelowo, and Josh Helman.

If you enjoyed reading quotes from this thriller adaption, then read more from the same genre on " 30 'The Northman' Quotes " by Robert Eggers.

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• Movie quotes
• Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” quotes

“- Turner: Some folks still wonder why you left. - Jack Reacher: Let's just say I woke up one morning and the uniform didn't fit.” Cobie Smulders - Turner Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher

“- Samantha: So, Reacher... are you my father or not? - Jack Reacher: I guess we'll see when your mother gets here . - Samantha: Sure you'd recognize her? - Jack Reacher: I tend to remember the women I sleep with. - Samantha: But who says she'll remember you? - Jack Reacher: Thanks a lot.” Danika Yarosh - Samantha Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher

“- Gen. Harkness: Made a mess , I hear . - The Hunter: This Reacher guy is interesting. - Gen. Harkness: You have no idea . They ran out of medals. So don't make this a competition . - The Hunter: Too late .” Robert Knepper - Gen. Harkness Patrick Heusinger - The Hunter

“- Jack Reacher: Parasource is done. Harkness is in custody. - The Hunter: Congratulations , Jack. I don't give a shit!” Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher Patrick Heusinger - The Hunter

“- Gen. Harkness: Do you know who I am, Major? - Turner: Yes, General. I do. You're the man responsible for the deaths of two of my men. Now, open up those crates before I grab you by your hair plugs and bitch slap that smug look off of your face.” Robert Knepper - Gen. Harkness Cobie Smulders - Turner

“- Samantha: I don't understand. You said you're not a cop . - Jack Reacher: I'm not. - Samantha: What's military police? - Turner: It's different. - Samantha: But... you stole this car. - Turner: It's complicated.” Danika Yarosh - Samantha Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher Cobie Smulders - Turner

“- Turner: You know, I admit to be a little jealous when we talk. Go where you want. Eat when you want. Nobody telling you what to do or how to do it. It's definitely not the Army way. - Jack Reacher: Exactly.” Cobie Smulders - Turner Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher

“- Sheriff: Who the hell are you? - Jack Reacher: The guy you didn't count on.” Jason Douglas - Sheriff Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher

“Never underestimate the charm of a seedy motel .” Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher

“- Samantha: When things get hairy, I just pick out the alpha guy. - Turner: And what? He's supposed to protect you? - Samantha: No, I give him shit. Strong guys don't hurt you. The weak guys do that. Strong guys always have little sisters. Or they want one. I don't know why, that's just how it is.” Danika Yarosh - Samantha Cobie Smulders - Turner

“- Samantha: Dude, you jumped off a building. - Jack Reacher: Yeah, I know. - Samantha: Did it hurt? - Jack Reacher: Yes. - Samantha: Did you see how high that was? - Jack Reacher: Can we possibly have this conversation some other time?” Danika Yarosh - Samantha Tom Cruise - Jack Reacher

“Welcome back to the Army, Major. You're under arrest.” Holt McCallany - Col. Morgan

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Jack Reacher: What I've Learned

Tom Cruise plays Reacher in the new movie Jack Reacher .

Interviewed by Lee Child

I have seen things I wish I hadn't seen. But they existed anyway. So seeing them doesn't make me sad. It makes me realistic.

Tribalism is the defining human condition. We'll never get rid of it. All we can do is recognize it, regret it, and manage it.

A pool cue is the best weapon in a bar fight. And bars generally provide them for you, all lined up in racks, which is considerate.

I'm not afraid of death. Death's afraid of me. Those are the kind of things we say for courage. Eventually we believe them, which makes them true, in a way.

Fighting is a mental process, not physical. The second you realize where the thing is heading, start swinging. Never take the first blow. That's just plain dumb.

Make your first hit count. Your opponent needs to be out of action, which he will be if you do it right. Life is not like the movies. They don't shake it off and spit on the sidewalk and come right back. They're sick and dizzy all week — if they're lucky.

This is the home of the brave and the land of the free. Or is it? Those are targets, not descriptions. We need to calibrate daily. Are we as brave and as free as we could be?

Women are a catch-22 for me. I like them smart, but the smarter they are, the less likely they are to put up with me. After the first day, that is. But the first day is always fun.

The best-ever sex with a woman is the second time. The first time's tricks and anxieties can be forgotten. There's a general sense of what works and what doesn't. You're not bored yet. Second time around, you're ready to rock 'n' roll.

When you're hitchhiking, you can't believe a word that drivers say. Harmless fantasy is part of the deal. I have met cubicle drones who claim to be managers, and managers who claim to be entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs who claim to be successful. People like to inhabit a different life for an hour or two, testing it, tasting it, basking in a phony glow.

I liked being in the Army. And I like being out of the Army. It was a job, that's all. We took pride in doing it well, but we laughed at the preachers and politicians who thought it was a noble calling.

After exhausting all other possibilities, America will always do the right thing.

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13 Leadership Movie Quotes And Principles From Jack Reacher

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1269 Leadership Quotes

It has been a busy year and I finally crossed the finish line at work.  My first act of decompression during the two-week Christmas break was sleeping late today.  The second was going to the 10:00 AM showing of Tom Cruise’s latest movie Jack Reacher .  I would give the film a “B” rating.  It does not require much mental energy and you can just ease back into your cushioned, Dolby Surround Sound seat and relax.

If you want mental stimulation, go see Lincoln .  If you want a classic guy-flick with shiny things and bad guys getting beat up, this will do just fine.

The following are 13 leadership quotes and principles from Reacher I captured during the movie .  

• Great Leaders In Small Churches – Even though it was opening weekend, a Tom Cruise movie, and a crowded mall was across the street, there were only six people in the theater.  The size of the audience was not an indication of the quality of the product.  In a similar way, I know there are many great pastors speaking to small audiences this weekend.  Keep up the great work!  You are desperately needed!   
• The Power of Observation  – One of Reacher’s many strengths was the ability to look at a conversation or situation and discover truths completely hidden from everyone else.  Great leaders can accomplish this very same thing by processing all of life’s events through a leadership grid. 
• “People join the military for one of four reasons.  Family trade, patriots, need a job, or a legal means to kill people.” – I do not if that is true but it is an interesting quote.
• “A gold mine is only as good as the man digging.”  – Great leaders know there is a difference between sensing an opportunity and seizing it.
• When asked the difference was between being a military and a civilian police officer, Reacher responds, “In the Army, every suspect is a trained killer.”
• “The cheapest woman tends to be the one you pay the most for.” – Men, PAY ATTENTION!!!
• “Three things cops never do – they don’t vote democrat.  They never use Cadillacs and they don’t drive their own cars.” – Once again, I do not know if that is true but it is also an interesting quote.
• The Value Of A Female – Dads should prioritize giving their daughters the gift of healthy self-esteem.  There was a young girl in the film named Sandy.  She was attractive, intelligent (she was doing her employer’s books), yet hung around some bad guys to her demise.  To any girls reading this post, you don’t have to let guys use you.
• “Skills become reflex by muscle memory.” – Leaders know that practice makes permanent.  So do it well.
• “You think I’m a hero? I am not a hero. And if you’re smart, that scares you. Because I have nothing to lose.” – Great leaders understand the value of options.  Options allow you perform without fear.
• “Shooting is a perishable skill.” – What made you successful today will not keep you successful tomorrow.  Great leaders know that all skills are perishable and become outdated.  
• The Value Of Experience  – Great leaders strategically leverage the experience and expertise on their teams.  Cash, played by Robert Duvall, proves to be an invaluable resource to Reacher during the film’s climatic action sequence.  The most successful organizations have seasoned leadership adding value at critical moments.
• The Right Tools  – Great leaders have the proper tools to accomplish the right tasks.  During one scene, Reacher had a knife when he needed a gun.  I have known many unsuccessful leaders who figuratively took a knife into a gunfight. 

Leaders, please give me your thoughts on the movie.

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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back Movie Quotes

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quotes bring the thrills to the action sequel about the title character, former military police officer. Edward Zwick directed the film using a screenplay he, Richard Wenk and Marshall Herskovitz adapted from the book Never Go Back by Lee Child. Showing in IMAX and traditional formats, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back opened in theaters on October 21, 2016.

In Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , it's been four years since the events of the first Jack Reacher film and Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise), after some time away, returns to Washington, DC. He returns to meet up with Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who has asked for his help in stopping a plot to kill soldiers, including those in Reacher's former crew.

But when Reacher arrives in DC, he soon learns that Turner has been arrested for espionage, a charge he knows is bogus. But there's more bad news. Reacher is actively being sought, by the hunter (Patrick Heusinger), and accused of a 16-year-old murder. So not only must Reacher work to save the soldiers and Turner, but also protect himself from the hunter and the law.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quotes also feature lines from costars Aldis Hodge, Danika Yarosh, Holt McCallany, Robert Catrini, Robert Knepper and Austin Hebert. For other movie quotes on fall 2016 films, check out lists for The Accountant , Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, The Birth of the Nation , and The Girl on the Train .  

One Magnificent Prophecy

Police Officer: What the hell happened here? Witness: A fight, one guy took them all down with his bare hands. He's still in there. ... Police Officer: Turn around, mister. Let me see your hands, slowly. ... Sheriff: Aggravated assault is a felony in this state, Mr. Reacher. Process him and get him to county.  Jack Reacher: Two things are going to happen in the next 90 seconds.  Sheriff: Excuse me? Jack Reacher: First, that phone over there is going to ring. Second, you're going to be wearing these cuffs on your way to prison. Sheriff: Well that is one magnificent prophecy, Mr. Reacher.  Jack Reacher: It's just going to keep ringing. 

When sheriffs arrive on the scene of a fist fight, they are surprised to learn a single suspect took down multiple others all alone. The sheriff is even more surprised later in these Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quotes when the sheriff himself ends up in handcuffs.

Maybe I Rip Your Arm Off

DOD Official: You think you're invulnerable. Jack Reacher: That's right. Maybe I rip your arm off, beat you to death with it.

Jack Reacher and the DOD official trade some fighting words in these Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quotes. Reacher's words are a tad more violent though.

You're a Legend

Susan Turner: Thanks for tipping us off to that sheriff. When are you coming to DC? Jack Reacher: I move around a lot. Susan Turner: You're a legend. Folks wonder why you left. Purple Heart, Silver Star, there's this big dent in the desk. People say you made it with someone's head.

In a phone call with Major Susan Turner, Jack Reacher's military reputation is highlighted. Susan wonders when he'll be back in Washington, DC, and if all the stories about him are true.

I'm Going to Kill You All

The Hunter: You're a dead man. Jack Reacher: You think you're above the law but I'm not the law so you should start running because I'm going to start hunting and when I find you, I'm going to kill you all.

The hunter and Jack Reacher have a lovely phone call in these Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quotes. Reacher is guilty of speaking an egregiously long run-on sentence, but he gets the message through either way.

Major Turner's Been Arrested

Jack Reacher: Jack Reacher for Major Turner DOD Official: Major Turner's been arrested. Jack Reacher: For what charge?  DOD Official: Espionage  Jack Reacher: She's been set up.

Jack Reacher arrives in Washington, DC, looking to speak with Susan Turner in person only to learn she's been arrested. When Reacher hears that news in these Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quotes, he is certain that she's been framed.

Time to Stop Running and Start Hunting

Susan Turner: Reacher, I need your help. Someone is killing soldiers, men that used to be under your command. Now they're coming after us.  Jack Reacher: It's time to stop running and start hunting.

Major Susan Turner explains the predicament she's in, specifically that she needs Jack Reacher's help in fight back against someone who is killing soldiers. Reacher is ready to help and to hunt.

Shot By One of Their Own

Susan Turner: My men were shot by one of our own. This is bigger than I imagined. You ever lose anyone on your watch, Reacher?

Susan Turner pleads to Jack Reacher for help with a nasty situation as she explains in this Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quote. She needs his help to keep members of the military from dying at the hands of one of their own.

How Much Does Reacher Know?

The Hunter: How much does Reacher know? 

Understanding just how much Jack Reacher knows about the scheme to frame Major Turner is key to this plan's success. Accordingly, in this Jack Reacher: Never Go Back movie quote, the hunter asks about how much Reacher knows.

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Movie Reviews

'jack reacher': well beyond cruise's grasp.

Stephanie Zacharek

Helen (Rosamund Pike) and Reacher (Tom Cruise) work together after being summoned by an accused killer. Karen Ballard/Paramount Pictures hide caption

Jack Reacher

• Director: Christopher McQuarrie
• Genre: Thriller
• Running time: 130 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and some drug material.

With: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall

Watch Clips

'Who He Was'

Credit: Paramount Pictures

'Walk Away'

Whenever James Stewart played a character, he was always a little bit James Stewart; that's a good thing. Cary Grant was always a little bit Cary Grant — also a good thing. But Tom Cruise, through a career that's spanned some 30 years, is almost always very much Tom Cruise. And that, particularly in Jack Reacher , can be a very tiresome thing.

Among those who have read and loved Lee Child's enormously popular Jack Reacher novels, the big complaint about Cruise's having cast himself as Child's burly, laconic protagonist is that he's the wrong physical type. Cruise doesn't have the strapping stature of Child's Reacher, although he is extraordinarily fit — lest we fail to notice, he appears shirtless several times in the picture. He's also pretty good at pulling off the hand-to-hand combat at which Reacher excels.

The bigger problem is that Cruise, as Reacher, has no wit and no style, other than the studiously applied kind. He's so desperate to do everything right that nearly everything he does comes off all wrong. And though director Christopher McQuarrie — who also adapted the screenplay, from Child's novel One Shot — shows some visual intelligence, he doesn't do enough to goad Cruise into giving this performance some shape. Cruise's idea of characterization consists chiefly of glaring and tightening his jawline. How could readers who love Jack Reacher not expect more?

At least McQuarrie, a veteran screenwriter who made his big splash with The Usual Suspects and also did some reworking of last year's moderately enjoyable Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol , has good storytelling instincts. (This is the second film he's directed; the first was 2000's The Way of the Gun , with Ryan Phillippe and Benicio Del Toro.) The picture opens with an extended wordless sequence that sets up the plot in precise visual language: A man whom we later learn — or believe — is a trained Army sniper heads to a specific urban locale in Pittsburgh and coolly picks off five human beings in the span of a few minutes. The suspect, an anonymous-looking guy named Barr (Joseph Sikora), is immediately arrested and taken into custody, where he's quizzed by a detective (David Oyelowo) and the DA (Richard Jenkins). The two try to force a confession out of the suspect, but instead, he scrawls on a sheet of paper, "Get Jack Reacher."

Enter Reacher — eventually, at least. Reacher is a former Army investigator, now a drifter who moves hither and yon, taking action whenever justice needs to be served. (In one case, he does so by bashing the craniums of two meatheads together until the poor sods fall into a heap on the floor.) Reacher knows something about Barr's past, and he agrees — or at least doesn't refuse — to help the man's attorney (Rosamund Pike), who also happens to be the DA's daughter, keep the guy off death row.

Emerson (David Oyelowo) helps investigate the case, which is much more complicated than it appears. Karen Ballard/Paramount Pictures hide caption

Emerson (David Oyelowo) helps investigate the case, which is much more complicated than it appears.

Through it all, Cruise's Reacher breaks the limbs of thugs as if they were twigs, makes wry remarks that don't quite qualify as jokes and drives fast cars, crazily, though the streets and the forlorn outskirts of Pittsburgh.

Watching Cruise wrestle the role of Reacher into submission isn't exactly painful, but it isn't particularly enjoyable, either. Even when Cruise allows himself to be the butt of a joke — when, for example, Reacher is being assaulted by guys with heavy-duty automatic weapons and looks down forlornly at the weapon in his hands, a knife — he's always in complete control; he can never relax and let go.

There's more than a whiff of desperation in the performance: When Reacher enters a bar, or any other place where womenfolk tend to congregate, the ladies in the room fix the female gaze upon him with a "What's that aftershave you're wearing?" intensity. Naturally, Reacher is hot, and obviously irresistible to women. But Cruise plays these moments with faux-cool cockiness that speaks more to his own middle-age insecurity than to anything inherent in Reacher's character.

And again, Cruise never passes up a chance to show what a great bod he's got. (Pike, an actress who's generally cool as a cuke, is called upon to act flustered when she's treated to an eyeful of Reacher's brawny bare pecs.) Luckily, there are other actors to look at here, and they manage to throw off some intelligent energy when they're around: Werner Herzog plays a mysterious baddie with a milky eye and a silky voice, and Robert Duvall, as an extremely helpful ex-Marine, steps in at the 11th hour to show Cruise a thing or two about how to sling a joke. (His buoyancy, even when he's playing your stock, squinty-eyed Marine type, is key.)

But none of it is enough to make Jack Reacher exciting or even just vaguely fun. The picture is joyless and perfunctory. Call it Mission: Possible .

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Jack Reacher Was the Beginning of a Beautiful Blockbuster Friendship

Here are the things you need to know about the character Jack Reacher: He stands at six feet, five inches tall and weighs roughly 250 pounds. He is an ex-military police officer who now drifts across the country, stumbling across small-town problems (an unsolved murder, a kidnapping). Typically he will do what he can to restore order and pursue justice and one time he survived getting shot directly in the chest because he’s so jacked that his muscles stopped the bullet. Jack Reacher is a sparse man with a sparse wardrobe, largely assembled from Goodwills and community thrift stores, picking up what he needs as he finds himself needing it and discarding it when it has outlived its usefulness to him, and in case you skimmed past the prior sentence I’ll say one more time that Jack Reacher is so big that one time his muscles stopped a bullet.

You could be forgiven for reading this description and not immediately thinking of Tom Cruise, a man famously 5’7” on a good day. And yet Cruise took on the role of that beefcake drifter in 2012, garnering vocal outcry from the Jack Reacher fan community (largely comprised of dads, a group who famously refuse to waver in their opinions on the most trivial of matters like, for example, who should play the fictional character Jack Reacher). “He is a terrible match for the character,” Jack Reacher fans insisted. “There is no way Tom Cruise’s chest could stop a bullet fired at point blank range and also he is very short.”

With respect for the Jack Reacher stans, I would posit this: Cruise’s physique is a valid reason to knock his casting but not a valid reason to dismiss the film outright, which holds tremendous merit even if its lead actor doesn’t have pecs dense enough to serve as Kevlar. There are two reasons for this, one being that Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is one of the great movie stars of all time who can bring things to a performance that no 6’5”, 250-pound beefcake who played Aquaman on Smallville can. The second is that Jack Reacher marks the first director-actor collaboration between Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie, a collaboration that has yielded what the kids might call “bangers only.”

McQuarrie first rose to fame as the writer of The Usual Suspects , though after his disastrous directorial debut, The Way of the Gun (it’s bad, and not even in a fun way), he was put in what he long referred to as “director jail.” He returned to his work as a screenwriter and first crossed paths with Cruise during the making of the 2008 film Valkyrie . The film is one of the great missteps in Cruise’s career and had a notoriously troubled production , though amid that chaos Cruise and McQuarrie seem to have found in one another kindred collaborative spirits.

Cruise’s production company Cruise/Wagner Productions acquired the film rights to Jack Reacher back in 2005. The project lingered in limbo for a few years, finally getting a kickstart when McQuarrie was hired to revise the script, an adaptation of the ninth Reacher novel, One Shot . It went into production at a pivotal moment in Cruise’s career as well as McQuarrie’s. For Cruise, his star power — which had fallen substantially in the years following his couch-jumping, histrionic 2005 (an all-time bad PR year for any celebrity) — no longer guaranteed a movie would be a hit. Cruise rethought his approach to blockbuster filmmaking accordingly for Jack Reacher . No longer able to approach every project with a blank check, he agreed to a scaled-down production budget of $60 million. The lower budget made the project an enticing get for a studio — a Cruise movie still had the potential to be a massive hit and this one came with substantially lower risk. It also allowed Cruise some more freedom in his producer responsibilities, such as putting the film’s creative team together. He used that leverage to break McQuarrie out of director jail and put him behind the camera once again.

It proved a savvy move. Whatever Cruise’s physique prevents him from bringing to the role of Jack Reacher — though his performance is as locked in as ever, all simmering rage and gritted jaws and rarely ever smiling — McQuarrie’s script and directing make up for in spades. Jack Reacher is a down-the-middle adult thriller directed with a Hitchcockian eye, meticulously composed and paced with an attention to detail rare in this sort of film. Like all great mysteries, every answer to the questions the audience will spend the film asking is present in the opening set piece.

Speaking of which, an entire essay could be dedicated to the first 12 minutes alone. The film’s opening is dialogue free, with nearly ten minutes of relative silence as McQuarrie walks us through the film’s inciting incident: a mass shooting carried out by a sniper played by Jai Courtney, a man studios have been insisting for years is America’s sweetheart (he is, to his credit, doing the best work of his career in this movie). From here we see, in a VERY deliberately staged series of shots, the subsequent police investigation leading to the arrest of a man pointedly not played by Jai Courtney. At the 8:20 mark the first lines of dialogue are recited and one minute and 22 seconds later our protagonist’s presence is first made known.

It begins with a note written by a murder suspect on a legal pad (“GET JACK REACHER,” which is an incredibly rad way to introduce a character named Jack Reacher) followed by the district attorney (Richard Jenkins) and the police detective in charge of the case (David Oyewolo) going over every piece of information they can find on this off-the-grid drifter. By the time Cruise makes his entrance at the film’s 12-minute mark, McQuarrie has so deftly established the legend of Jack Reacher it’s irrelevant that the man who walks through the DA’s office door isn’t 6’5” and 250 pounds; it doesn’t matter because the man who walks through that door is Jack Reacher and the viewer now knows exactly who that is.

To recount the film’s plot from here feels unnecessary (though in case it isn’t, the short of it is that Reacher and James Barr, the man set up to take the fall for the shooting, have a shady history and Reacher is begrudgingly charged with figuring out whether or not Barr is responsible — which Reacher spends most of the movie certain he is). It is a well-plotted mystery thriller but nothing extraordinary on its own. What is extraordinary is everything else about it, from DP Caleb Deschanel’s work behind the camera (the way that he stages the aforementioned shooting through the scope of the sniper’s rifle is inspired) to a stacked cast that includes everyone from Werner Herzog to Robert Duvall. Jack Reacher does everything a movie of its kind is supposed to do, only it does it 10 to 20 percent better than necessary.

A couple of months into Jack Reacher ’s production, Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol hit theaters, proving a smash hit and grossing nearly $700 million worldwide. It began the long process of restoring Cruise’s star status to its former glory and, crucially, gave the franchise a second wind (before McQuarrie’s uncredited rewrites on the script, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt was rumored to be phased out in favor of a new star, Jeremy Renner). With a fifth Cruise-fronted M:I now on the table, McQuarrie stepped in as the franchise’s next director and, in an unprecedented turn of events, stuck around for the next three sequels (2018’s Fallout and Dead Reckoning, Parts One and Two, which are currently in production), making him the only director to have helmed more than one film in the franchise.

Cruise and McQuarrie’s partnership has now been going strong for nearly 15 years. The latter is responsible for some of the best work of Cruise’s late-stage career, and the former got McQuarrie what’s now clearly a much-deserved second chance as a director. Neither would be where they are now without the other, or without a 6’5”, 250-pound ex-military drifter whose pecs are so big they have rendered him immune to bullets.

Jack Reacher is streaming on Amazon Prime Video .

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Tom Cruise Vs Alan Ritchson: Who Played The Best Jack Reacher?

Jack Reacher originated in the series of novels by Lee Child, in which he's described as 250 pounds, 6-ft 5-inches, and as having "a six-pack like a cobbled city street, a chest like a suit of NFL armor, biceps like basketballs, and subcutaneous fat like a Kleenex tissue." But when Hollywood got a hold of him, they hired Tom Cruise to portray that mountain of muscle in 2012's "Jack Reacher" and 2016's "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back." Unfortunately, at 5-ft 7 inches, the "Mission: Impossible" star just didn't work for many fans. An article in the LA Times quotes one incensed Reacher adherent thusly:

"I can not [sic] believe they actually used an arrogant overexposed short IMBECILE to create such an awesome character. I will not see it and it literally RUINED the whole character for me. HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?"

After "Never Go Back," Cruise's diminutive version of the ex-military police officer disappeared. When Jack Reacher returned to our screens in 2022, it was by way of a TV series that starred an all-new actor in the lead role. The Alan Ritchson-starring "Reacher" debuted on Amazon Prime Video in February of that year, and quickly broke Prime Video records, hitting the top of the Nielsen streaming chart and being renewed for a second season just three days after it launched. All of which was very impressive, but the most impressive aspect was the 6-ft 3-inch, 230-pound Ritchson.

The fans evidently loved Ritchson in the lead role, having waited for a more book-accurate version of Jack Reacher for years. Now, finally, it seemed they'd gotten their wish, with a former "Smallville" and "Titans" star giving them the imposing presence they so craved. But was Cruise unfairly overlooked? Or is Ritchson truly the definitive Reacher?

Tom Cruise is Jack Reacher (but mostly just Tom Cruise)

The Jack Reacher of 2012's "Jack Reacher" and 2016's "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" was less Reacher and more just Tom Cruise being a bit less talkative than usual. Which wasn't always a bad thing. Cruise is an action megastar for a reason, after all.

Fans may have been disappointed they weren't getting the absolute unit they knew from the books, but you can't argue with Cruise's action bonafides, which he demonstrated to great effect in his two Jack Reacher films. He also managed to be quite funny in places, bringing a touch of Reacher's atypical sense of humor to the role. When he tells Alexia Fast's Sandy that he "can't afford her" during the bar scene in "Jack Reacher," she responds, "I'm not a hooker," to which Reacher says, "Oh, then I really can't afford you." Not exactly laugh-out-loud funny, but a decent attempt at bringing some of Reacher's glibness into the movie.

Still, there's no getting away from that fact, as Lee Child put it , "He's too small." Whether you care about that will likely depend on whether you're a fan of the novels. But with Reacher, you do get the sense that his size is somehow integral to the character in a way that it isn't to a Jason Bourne or an Ethan Hunt. Reacher is, as Child went on to say, "a huge hulking scary brute," who if he walks into a room, "the temperature just drops a degree and people are a little worried." That's part of the character's allure, especially since he famously doesn't say much — his physical presence does the talking. But if you're 5-ft 7-inches, how much intimidation through body language can you really pull off?

Alan Ritchson — the Reacher we deserve?

Who'd have thought the male model who wowed Paula Deen with his rendition of "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" on "American Idol" back in 2004 would eventually become known for embodying the hulking killer known as Jack Reacher? Originally, Amazon didn't want to cast Alan Ritchson in the role , which at this point seems crazy given how popular "Reacher" season 1 proved to be — in large part because of its more physically intimidating star.

There's no doubt that Tom Cruise just projected a little too much polished movie star prestige to really embody what the New Yorker described as the "existential hero, the apotheosis of the lone stranger, traveling the Lower Forty-eight with nothing but his folding toothbrush and his code." But while Ritchson brings a certain ruggedness to proceedings, even he can seem a little too finely coiffed at times — his perfectly tailored jackets and form-fitting t-shirts failing to convey the kind of itinerant grittiness that Child envisioned in his novels. He's also just a little too pretty to really maintain the illusion of a battle-scarred badass

That said, Ritchson's version of the character is helped greatly by the brutality of the fight scenes in "Reacher," which the actor told /Film were particularly grueling to train for . When Jack Reacher lays waste to a whole gang of thugs in the brutal prison fight , for example, smashing heads through toilets and sustaining some nasty-looking injuries of his own, you get a much more visceral sense of his preternatural combat abilities than you ever did with Cruise's more streamlined and efficient fighting style. Compare the prison fight to the scene in "Jack Reacher" where Cruise's hero takes out five assailants outside a bar without breaking a sweat, and you get the idea.

This is tough because while many fans of Lee Child's novels feel they've finally been gifted a book-accurate Jack Reacher, there's still something about Alan Ritchson that doesn't quite convey the grittiness of Child's hero. Even buried beneath layers of injury prosthetics and fake blood, he still seems somehow clean-cut. That said, there's no escaping the fact that Reacher's physical presence is an integral part of the character, and Ritchson simply is that.

But there's a little more to it than "Ritchson is bigger than Tom Cruise." The actor clearly values the role in a way that perhaps Cruise couldn't — mainly because a megastar of his stature simply doesn't need Jack Reacher. Cruise can go make a million more "Mission: Impossible" movies and be fine — though he'd better start making them for less than $300 million or hope they do better at the box office than "Dead Reckoning. " But Ritchson seems to have spent his whole career building towards playing Jack Reacher, with the actor revealing that Reacher has been his "favorite role to date," and telling Collider that he'd "really fallen in love" with the character after reading the books.

That commitment and reverence for the role has clearly helped Ritchson get close to portraying the definitive version of Child's hero, and it's a major point in his favor. With that in mind, this one's gotta go to Ritchson. But I think it's worth highlighting that Cruise was perhaps unfairly maligned — especially when the tenor of the fan response can be summed up by the LA Times reader who dubbed him a "short IMBECILE." None of this is important enough to get that worked up over, so while Ritchson just edges this one, maybe revisit Cruise's two movies before you stream "Reacher" season 2 this December.

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Jack Reacher – first look review

Panto season is almost upon us. And here's a late addition to the lineup; an unexpected guilty pleasure full of camp and vanity, complete with hissable villain and heaving cleavage.

It's the first in a hopeful new franchise for Tom Cruise , based on the bestsellers by Lee Child about a massive ex-military cop who travels the US with just a toothbrush, exacting crunchy justice on the fringe of the law. The books are insomniac heaven, pacey male fantasy about a life of righteous slugging and responsibility-free shagging.

But some fans had issues with Cruise's vital stats (Reacher is 6ft 5ins and almost 18 stone; Cruise is not). Child himself came to the rescue. "With another actor you might get 100% of the height but only 90% of Reacher. With Tom, you'll get 100% of Reacher with 90% of the height."

Trouble is, Reacher's stature is a fair percentage of his personality; a fact only patchily transferred to the film. When he duffs up five men in a car park, bystanders are duly awed, but no one remarks that it's especially impressive for a little fella.

Cruise does his best, swinging his arms, puffing his chest, clumping along with the physicality of a bigger man. But just as sucking in your cheeks can't make you thinner, nor does going through doors torso-first actually add inches.

The storyline has our hero teaming up with a hotshot lawyer, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), to track down a sniper behind a seemingly random attack. A scene early on that fairly murmurs with sexual tension has Helen sat on a motel room bed while Reacher explains the plot to her with his top off (he only has one set of clothes, and they've got all wet). Yet Cruise's pumped, hairless chest proves as distracting for us as for her. Partly it's the framing: when Pike is centre-screen, Cruise's left breast keeps poking into the bottom of the shot.

The adaptation is also hobbled by the need for so much of Reacher's lightning-quick calculations to be spoken aloud. A taciturn man becomes a gabbler, even a bit of a showoff. "You gotta pen?" asks one baddie, telling him the address where they're holding a hostage. "Don't need one," replies Reacher. Helen drops him off at a shop and asks if he needs a lift back. "There's a bus station three miles away; I can walk there in 24 minutes." In one glorious sequence he even pulls a Derren Brown-style stunt involving a vital clue written on a folded Post-It note before Pike even has time to put in the call .

Such wizardry is yet more impressive in relief to the widespread bumbling around him. Cops crash their cars, numbskulls knock each other out, murderers direct their best scowl towards the CCTV camera and detectives chat among themselves while their interviewee takes a call from the fugitive.

The film fizzes to life when someone else with a bit of charisma gets a look-in. Luckily, there's two candidates here: Robert Duvall, as a gummy gun store owner, and, as our mysterious uber-villain, the documentary maker Werner Herzog . Playing it so straight you sometimes wonder if he quite knows what he's doing, Herzog keeps his accent, adds a glass eye and explains why he's only got half a hand. "I spent my first winter as a prisoner in Siberia wearing a dead man's coat. I chewed these fingers off before the frostbite could turn to gangrene."

When Reacher has a foe as free-wheeling as that, the smackdown is worth watching. Yet even when it's just a one-man show, there's something compelling here. It is, in its way, a curious sort of auteurist cinema, in which a lone wolf (Cruise produces as well as stars) has taken an impeccably mainstream product and made it strange around him. Fans might have hankered after bona fide strappers like The Rock. I wouldn't have missed this for the world.

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JACK REACHER Review

Jack Reacher review. Matt reviews Christopher McQuarrie's Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Jai Courtney, and Werner Herzog.

It's almost difficult to remember what a hard-boiled, stripped-down, old-fashioned action-thriller looks like.  We've become so reliant on CG for our action and jump-scares for our thrills that we forget solid action-thrillers don't need to rely on gigantic budgets or creepy mysteries to make an impact.  Jack Reacher is that confident action thriller we've been missing.  Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie has created a film that almost feels like a throwback in its confident plotting and attitude.  Furthermore, Tom Cruise once again reminds us that we can never underestimate his acting talent, and while he may not share the physicality of the character in the book, the attitude remains.

Retired military sniper James Barr ( Joseph Sikora ) stands accused of murdering five innocent people in broad daylight.  The crime scene easily leads to his arrest, but during his interrogation, he writes down the statement, "Get Jack Reacher".  Reacher (Cruise) is a former military investigator-turned-drifter who describes his wanderlust as an addiction.  Barr's request piques Reacher's curiosity since he knows Barr committed cold-blooded murders during the war, but escaped on a technicality.  With the help of Barr's lawyer Helen ( Rosamund Pike ), Reacher's hunt for answers puts him in the crosshairs of dangerous assassin Charlie ( Jai Courtney ) and his boss, the Zec ( Werner Herzog ).

Jack Reacher is a welcome surprise in many ways.  McQuarrie doesn't make any overt attempts to echo previous films in the genre or highlight how his movie is refreshingly old-fashioned.  Instead, he ties in the direction to the personality of his protagonist.  Reacher is based on the book One Shot by Lee Child , and Child's series describes the character as 6'5" and able to bear-hug a man to death.  Obviously, Tom Cruise doesn't have that physique, so it's up to McQuarrie and his star to convey that muscle without showing muscles.  Instead, the filmmaker and star play to the toughness of Reacher's personality.

In the book, Reacher is a smart, no-nonsense soldier with a sharp sense of humor.  He's not constantly cracking jokes, but he doesn't have a stick up his ass.  McQuarrie follows suit with a movie that ditches flourishes and flashy effects for straightforward fisticuffs and a terrific car chase that's more of a clever cat-and-mouse rather than a race.  It's a remarkably surefooted accomplishment for McQuarrie, who hasn't directed a movie since 2000's The Way of the Gun .  Whereas Gun felt like it was trying too hard to be hip and stylish, Reacher knows exactly what it wants to be and does it with conviction.

The other revelation is Cruise, although I'm not sure how he keeps surprising me.  Cruise has had a remarkably versatile career even though his main action persona is the guy who's smarter than everyone in the room but one who's rarely imposing.  Cruise usually plays frustrated or clandestine characters, but his filmography consistently shows the chances he takes and how he's succeeded.  We forget his powerful performances in Magnolia and Collateral because they're not lead roles, but they're among his best.  Fans of the book understandably underestimated Cruise, but they should be relieved that the spirit of the character is alive and well in Jack Reacher .  I'll be the first to admit that I didn't find Cruise imposing enough to play a badass, but the film wisely sets Reacher up as someone who has no patience for bullshit.  Having laid out the character's foundation, the movie is able to convince us that Cruise is capable of doling out some serious punishment.

Lee Child wrote an effective novel, and McQuarrie has stripped it down to its essential elements.  Even running at over two hours, Jack Reacher feels remarkably lean, and while it has no grand ambitions, it successfully commits to its task.  If anything, the film could be tolerably longer if it gave a little more time to Herzog, who add just the right dash of camp to a movie that pulls back on levity as Reacher delves further into his investigation.  Minor qualms aside, Jack Reacher is a welcome reminder that bells and whistles may sound nice, but a punch to the gut and the roar of an engine can be just as enjoyable.

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Jack Reacher

• A homicide investigator digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper responsible for a mass shooting.
• In an innocent heartland city, five are shot dead by an expert sniper. The police quickly identify and arrest the culprit, and build a slam-dunk case. But instead of confessing, the accused man writes the words, "Get Jack Reacher." Reacher himself sees the news report and turns up in the city. The defense is immensely relieved, but Reacher has come to bury the guy. Shocked at the accused's request, Reacher sets out to confirm for himself the absolute certainty of the man's guilt, but comes up with more than he bargained for. — Anonymous
• When 5 seemingly random people are shot by a sniper an investigation leads the police to former Army sniper who has a history of shooting people in the streets when he was in the Army. When he meets his lawyer, Alex Rodin, all he tells her is to find Jack Reacher. She learns that Reacher is a former Army Criminal Investigator. Reacher upon hearing the news arrives. He learns Rodin wants him to help her defend the guy but Reacher doesn't want to help him. It seems that Reacher was the one who investigated the shootings he committed when he was in the Army but the Army opted not to prosecute. He told the man that if he did it again, Reacher will come after him. Reacher agrees to look into it if Rodin tries to look at the people he killed. She does and Reacher goes to tell her that the shootings were not the man's m.o. Reacher suspects someone is framing him. So he and Rodin try to find out why and who. — [email protected]
• When a sniper shoots randomly five victims, Detective Emerson finds evidence to incriminate the former paranoid marine James Barr. It is an easy case for the prosecutor Rodin, but Barr refuses to sign the confession and he calls Jack Reacher. When he is transported to prison in a bus, the other prisoners beat him and Barr goes to the hospital in coma. The pacifist attorney Helen Rodin, who is the daughter of the prosecutor, decides to defend him but Jack Reacher is a former military criminal investigator that left the army and has become an unknown drifter. Out of the blue, Jack appears in the city and Helen invites him to work for her investigating the case. Soon he finds that the culprit is innocent and there is a conspiracy behind the murders. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• When a crazed sniper guns down five seemingly random people on a crowded Pittsburgh riverfront, Det. Emerson (David Oyelowo) quickly amasses enough evidence at the scene to implicate an unstable ex-military sniper named James Barr (Joseph Sikora). Upon being questioned by Emerson and DA Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins), however, Barr demands to speak with Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). A former military investigator who fell off the grid following his service, Reacher soon shows up on the scene and begins gathering clues with the aid of talented defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), the daughter of the DA. Meanwhile, when Reacher is assaulted in a local bar, he correctly surmises that someone is determined to impede his investigation. His theory plays out when he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a young woman shortly thereafter. Now, with the police closing in from one side and a gang of ruthless killers gaining ground on the other, Reacher must use his formidable detective skills in order to catch the gunman and uncover his true motives. — ahmetkozan
• In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a man drives a van into a parking garage across the Allegheny River from PNC Park (home of the Pittsburgh Pirates) and parks in a space that had been blocked off to keep cars from parking too close to some construction materials. He oddly puts a quarter in the parking meter for thirty minutes parking, then positions himself and his sniper rifle behind the front facing wall of the garage. He rises up over the edge of the wall and starts scanning the area along the North Shore Trail (between the stadium and the Allegheny River) with the scope on the rifle. Finally he takes aim and starts firing, killing a man sitting on a bench, then a woman in a business suit carrying a briefcase up some stairs, a blond woman carrying a shopping bag on the walking path, another woman who has seen the others go down and is simply trying to run away, and finally a young woman also hurrying to get away while carrying a little girl. The shooter then jumps back in the van and flees. The police arrive, headed by Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo), and after determining there's no suspects around, they begin assessing the crime scene. Emerson discovers a shell casing lying in a crack on the garage floor, and he also decides to empty the parking meter. A fingerprint taken from a quarter in the meter is determined to belong to a James Barr (Joseph Sikora), a former U.S. Army sniper. The police raid Barr's house and find him sleeping. They also find the van (recorded on a security camera entering and leaving the parking garage), equipment for precision hand loading of ammunition (not making bullets as stated in movie), and a sniper rifle. When Barr is encouraged to confess during his interrogation by Emerson and the District Attorney, Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins), he writes on a notepad the words, "Get Jack Reacher." It's determined that Reacher is a former U.S. Army Military Police officer who's been out of contact with the world for the past two years. Rodin asks Emerson how they might be able to find Reacher. Emerson responds that they won't, if Reacher doesn't want to be found. At that moment, Rodin's secretary announces that there's a Jack Reacher there to see him. Reacher had seen the television news stories about the shootings, including a photograph of James Barr, so he immediately interrupted his dalliance with a woman in Florida and boarded a bus for Pittsburgh. Rodin and Emerson take Reacher to the hospital, where Barr is lying in a coma. Barr had not been placed under protective custody, probably on purpose, and was brutally attacked by other prisoners while being transported to jail. Reacher asks to see the evidence against Barr and Rodin refuses. Rodin's only interest is learning why Barr would have asked Reacher to come be a witness for him. Since he's not allowed to see the evidence, Reacher decides to leave. Rodin grabs him and demands that he first tell them what he knows about Barr. Reacher doesn't believe Barr asked for him to come. Rodin tells Reacher that Barr asked for him by name. Emerson wants to know why Reacher was prepared to just walk out on his friend. Reacher tells them that Barr is not his friend, and if he had in fact asked for Reacher by name, it was for the same reason he shot five people, that he's crazy. At that moment, Barr's appointed defense attorney, counselor Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), walks up. Helen is the DA's daughter, which amazes Reacher. He thought that might have been unethical or something. Her job will be trying to save Barr from the death penalty. She chastises her father and Emerson for attempting to interrogate Barr without first notifying her. They explain they hadn't been trying to interrogate Barr. She is also upset that they had found Reacher and hadn't told her. They explained that they had not found Reacher, that he came to them. Helen wants to depose Reacher for the case, but he explains to her that he's not a defense witness, is not Barr's friend, and came to Pittsburgh to bury Barr, not to help him, which no doubt surprises her. He does agree to answer her questions before he leaves town. They go to a café, where Reacher eats while Helen records their conversation. Reacher learns that Helen is not a public defender, but represents a firm that she said believes her father had unjustly convicted other felons for crimes they hadn't committed, and that she and the firm just want to make sure Barr gets a fair trial. Reacher tells Helen that there's no doubt Barr did the crime and she asks how he could know that if he hadn't seen the evidence. Jack then turns off the small voice recorder Helen was using and tells her that he investigated a case involving Barr in the Army, and that Barr confessed to shooting to death four Department of Defense contract employees. Barr was not prosecuted for the murders because the Army and the contractor didn't want it revealed that the four victims, and many others, had been involved in an illegal "rape rally" that provided local women and children for the men's sexual relief. Reacher said Barr had done the shootings in Iraq simply to relieve his own built up tension from having trained as a sniper for two years, but never getting an order to kill anyone. Reacher explains that some people join the military as a way to legally kill people and Barr was one of those. Reacher told Barr that if he ever heard of him doing anything like that again, he would find him and kill him. Believing Helen when she tells him that her father never lost a case and never takes a case he can't win, Reacher determines there is no need for him to take down Barr after all. He prepares to board a bus and go on his way. Helen is still concerned that Barr won't get a fair trial and she can see that Reacher is curious as to why Barr had asked for him. She tells Reacher that her lead investigator has access to all the evidence. When Jack asks who her lead investigator is, she says "he's about to board a bus out of town." Jack thanks her for the coffee and gets on the bus anyway. As Helen is leaving the parking lot, Jack has gotten off the bus and is standing in front of her car. Reacher agrees to help investigate the case if Helen agrees to visit the victims' families to learn more about the victims. Helen's visits with the victim's families aren't well received and she actually fears for her life when Rob Farrior (James Martin Kelly), the father of Chrissie, a young woman working as a nanny, who was shot while trying to escape with the little girl she was looking after. Mr. Farrior was upset at Helen for choosing to defend Barr, and when Helen saw that he had a pistol sitting on a table next to his chair, she quickly apologizes and runs from the house. Alex Rodin confronts his daughter outside Mr. Farrior's house and demands to know what she's doing. He counsels her that she's making a big mistake, both in taking on the defense of Mr. Barr and in the way she's conducting her investigation, particularly in associating with Jack Reacher. He tells her that she's going to ruin her career and tells her it's not worth it if she's just doing it to try and change or hurt him in the process. He wants to know if she'd told Reacher that she can't afford to pay him and that her firm disapproves of what she's doing. She jumps in her car and storms off. Reacher visits the crime scene and is being watched by a man named Linsky (Michael Raymond-James) who'd earlier been over at a business called Brookseal Construction, collecting a bag of money from a man who worked there. As Reacher walks and examines the North Shore Trail near the stadium, the parking garage, and the nearby Fort Duquesne Bridge, he comes to realize that the evidence against Barr is almost too perfect. He doesn't believe that a trained sniper like Barr would have chosen the parking garage to shoot from, but that he would more likely have stopped his van on the bridge, opened the door, and shot people who would have been more in a perpendicular line rather than moving parallel to him, then made his escape. Among the items in evidence were a bullet from one missed shot that entered three plastic jugs of flavored liquids near a concession stand, the brass cartridge that Emerson found in a crack at the parking garage, the quarter in the parking meter that had Barr's finger print on it, and the video showing his van entering and exiting the garage. In Reacher's mind, it all indicated someone who was careless or not interested in getting away. Reacher goes to the police station and looks over the evidence there. Detective Emerson wonders why he didn't take any notes about what he looked at. Reacher told him he didn't need to, implying that he has perfect awareness and recall. Reacher asks Emerson for his opinion on why Barr paid for parking that day. Emerson speculates that Barr did it as a reflex, without realizing he was even doing it. Reacher goes into a very busy local bar to have a cup of coffee and is approached by a young woman named Sandy (Alexia Fast) who asks him if he'd like to go somewhere more quiet, that she has a car. Reacher tells her that he can't afford her. She tells him that she's not a prostitute. He clarifies that he can't afford to get involved with her. Sandy suddenly stands and loudly proclaims that she is not a hooker. Five men immediately appear, one of them claiming that they are the girl's brothers. Skeptical about that, Reacher sarcastically asks the man if Sandy is a good kisser. The biggest of the five men, Jeb Oliver (Josh Helman) tells Reacher to get outside. Reacher tells him to pay his check first. Jeb says he'll pay later. Reacher says "you won't be able to." Jeb then tells Reacher that he's going to beat his ass, but it's his choice to do it inside the bar or outside in the parking lot. Reacher resignedly says, "outside." Jeb tells Sandy to stay inside, but she says she doesn't mind the sight of blood, to which Reacher responds, "well it means you're not pregnant anyway." Outside, Reacher tells Jeb that it's his last chance to walk away, even telling Jeb and the others beforehand how the fight would go. He tells them he'll take out the leader (Jeb) first, then two of the four "wingmen" would probably have the guts to try it themselves, while the remaining two would run. Jeb asks Reacher if he has done this before. Reacher gives something of a yes-you-idiot nod and tells Jeb that it's getting late. Then, as Jeb moves forward, preparing to throw his first punch, Jack says, "remember, you wanted this." Jeb swings with a roundhouse right that Jack ducks under. Jack then twists and brings up his left elbow connecting solidly with Jeb's face. Jeb falls to the ground and Jack pulls him to his feet. While Jeb is bent over, struggling not to fall down again, Jack kicks him from behind, between the legs. That takes care of Jeb. Partly as Jack had predicted, two of the other men position themselves to attack, but the other two are still there and haven't run away. As Jack is dealing with the second and third guys, the fourth man gets in a quick punch. The fourth and fifth guys do finally decide to run after seeing what Reacher has done to the other three. Curiously enough, the police came roaring up to the scene almost immediately. Reacher is ordered to lie on the ground face-down. As he's lying there waiting to be handcuffed, he turns and asks Jeb who hired him. Jeb doesn't respond. At the police station, Emerson and Helen enter Reacher's cell. Emerson has to admit that he can't hold Reacher, as no one was pressing charges. Jack tells Helen that when he was at the bar, the girl Sandy was expecting his name to be Jack Reacher, not the name he gave her, Jimmie Reese (Reese was a former NY Yankees second baseman - Jack's aliases are always former Yankees second basemen). He also told her that the police were rolling before the fight even started and that someone obviously sent the five men to put him down. He also tells her that someone had been following him. Helen speculates as to whom that might have been, but neither she or Jack have any good clues as to whom that might be, or why. Reacher asks Helen how her day went (visiting the victims' families) and she says, "exactly as you hoped it would." Once he confirms she's ok following the experience, he asks her what she learned. Helen reports her findings about the victims, who were Chrissie Farrior, Rita Coronado, Nancy Holt, Oline Archer, and Darren Sawyer. At the Three Rivers Motel, where Reacher is staying, he asks Helen to find out from Barr's credit card records all the places he hung out, including bars, bowling alleys, strip clubs and particularly gun ranges. He wants to find someone, anyone, who associated with or would remember Barr. Linsky meets with Charlie (Jai Courtney - the actual shooter) in a dark alley and hands him the bag of money he'd collected earlier from the man at Brookseal Construction. He also gives him a police file on Jack Reacher. Linsky is the local person that Charlie has been depending on to manage the upfront operation for his group, while Charlie and his group provide the behind the scenes maintenance of things. Linsky explains how he hired five local guys to take out Reacher, but it didn't work out. He also tells Charlie that he had killed and "distributed" the body of the only one of the five men who knew him (that was Jeb). Charlie was not happy about any of these developments. Linsky was not supposed to be doing those sorts of things, especially without first discussing it with Charlie. He tells Linsky that Jeb was now going to be a "missing person" and that was a huge loose end for the group to have to deal with. Also in the alley, standing in the shadows, is a man called the Zec (Werner Herzog). The Zec comes forward and makes it clear to Linsky that he has truly screwed up. Linsky promises to do better and make it up to them, that they just need to tell him what to do. The Zec tells Linsky about his time in a Siberian prison, how during the winter it was so cold, and he had so little clothing, that he had to chew off some frostbitten fingers on his left hand to keep from losing his entire hand. He'd also chewed off some fingers on his right hand to avoid having to work in a sulfur mine. The Zec tells Linsky that the decision to chew off his own fingers was what he had to do to survive. He wondered what Linsky would do to survive, to prove that he's among those people who are so "rare" that they would do anything to survive and thus would always prove that they are somehow useful in the world. He then orders Linsky to prove his worth by chewing off the fingers of his left hand. Linsky is horrified. He can't believe what he's hearing, but seeing the gun in Charlie's hand, he realizes that he'll be shot if he doesn't do it. For some reason, Linsky puts his left thumb in his mouth and appears to be chewing down. He twists and goes down on his knees, howling in pain, but after a few seconds, he cries out that he can't do it. Zec motions to Charlie and Charlie shoots Linsky in the head. Charlie then takes out a small hand saw and appears to be intending to do something to Linsky's body. Helen doesn't come up with any leads in Barr's credit card report. She tells Reacher that Barr bought mostly groceries and gas. Reacher thinks Barr was probably taking trips to a gun range every Saturday, based on his gas purchases. He asks Helen to find any ranges within 150 miles that had ranges up to 700 yards long. Reacher has Helen drop him at the DeFault Auto Parts Store, where Sandy had told him she worked. He encounters the store manager, Gary (Dylan Kussman), who demands to see some identification and to hear a good reason why Reacher wants to speak with Sandy. Reacher threatens bodily harm to the manager, then forces his way into the back office, where Sandy is working. Sandy asks Gary to leave them alone for a bit. Sandy is obviously worried that Jack is there to hurt her. She tells Reacher that it was all Jeb's fault, that he told her at the bar that Reacher was a pervert and would start groping her. She was paid $100 for her part. She tells Reacher that she pretty much did whatever Jeb told her to do. She said Jeb was supposed to be an employee at the same auto parts store (he hadn't come in to work that day), but she said he really made his money from crystal meth. Reacher has Sandy write down Jeb's address and promises he won't get her in trouble if she loans him her car. She says the car she's driving is actually Jeb's, so she is reluctant, but then thinks better of it and hands the keys to Reacher. As Reacher turns to leave the auto parts store, Sandy tells him she gets off at six and suggests they might get together. It's apparent she would much rather be with a man like Reacher than the lowlifes she usually associates with. Jack thinks she's sweet and he tells her that she doesn't have to do what those guys tell her to do. He asks her if she has any money and advises her to get out of town for a few days. Reacher heads for Jeb's house and this time he's followed by another of Zec's cronies, Vlad (Vladimir Sizov). Jack takes a paper from the glove box of the car and flashes it at a woman (Jeb's mother) sitting on the porch, telling her he has a warrant to search the premises. The woman is staring vacantly and doesn't speak. Reacher notices drug paraphernalia on a nearby table and figures the woman is under the influence. He goes ahead and opens the door and walks inside the house. The woman then pulls a cell phone from under a blanket on her lap and makes a call. Reacher checks each room of the house. One bedroom appears to have been ransacked. He picks up the phone receiver in the hall and is about to make a call when he changes his mind, hangs up the phone and wipes his prints off. Then he enters the bathroom and is curious as to why the shower curtain appears to have been ripped off it's hooks. As he stands by the door pondering things, two men sneak up on him from behind. One of them has a baseball bat and he uses it against the back of Reacher's head, knocking him into the bathtub. The two attacking men then struggle to enter the bathroom and be the first to get at Reacher in the tub. The man with the bat swings again, but misses Reacher and hits the wall. He rears back for another attempt and his buddy pushes him from behind and sends the bat crashing into the bathroom window. The second man pushes the man with the bat out of the way and brings a crowbar down towards Jack, but he misses the mark too. The man with the bat yells at the guy with the crowbar to stand back. As he pulls the bat backwards for sort of a stabbing attack, the small end of it hits crowbar guy in the forehead and knocks him down some stairs. The next attempt for the bat guy goes badly, as Reacher ducks and grabs the guy by the head and smashes him into the tile wall, then gouges his left eye with his thumb, causing the man to scream in pain. Crowbar guy has recovered and comes up the stairs swinging, so Reacher pulls bat guy's body in front of him and the crowbar hits the bat guy across the back. Jack then pushes bat guy into crowbar guy and knocks them both on the floor. He then grabs bat guy's head and repeatedly smashes it against crowbar guy's face, until both of them are knocked out. Jack is pausing to recover from his exertions when a third man comes up from behind, holding a hand gun to Jack's head and telling him not to move. Jack makes a quick move anyway, grabbing and twisting the man's gun hand, his trigger finger trapped in the trigger guard and painfully bent back. The man goes to his knees. Reacher asks the man where Jeb is. He doesn't know, saying that Jeb appeared to have cleared out, that his mother had told them Jeb had removed all his stuff from his room and was gone. Reacher demands the keys to the man's car. He asks the man if he is of the opinion that Jack is stealing his car. The man, after glancing at his two buddies sprawled out on the floor, tells Reacher to use the car as long as he likes. Reacher tells Helen that Jeb Oliver was murdered and someone tried to make it look like he'd only left town. Jack then explains to Helen all his latest theories regarding the evidence against Barr and how it's all just too complete and too convenient, especially the pristine bullet trapped in those flavored liquid containers on the shot that missed. It was that bullet that tied Barr's rifle to the killings. Jack is convinced that Barr asked for him because he knew Reacher would take a hard look at the evidence, even if others would simply accept it all at face value. He tells Helen that Barr is innocent. Helen has a brief moment where she seems convinced that Reacher is delusional, that her father was right in warning her about her hiring him without knowing anything about him. Reacher waxes philosophical for awhile, as he explains to her why he is the way he is, then he suddenly asks her to run the license plate number on a silver Audi that has been following him all day. Zec receives a phone call, then makes one to Charlie. Charlie is sitting in the Audi with Vlad. Charlie tells Vlad that his cover was blown, that the lady lawyer had run the license plate for the car. Zec issues new orders to the men. Helen is having a hard time understanding or believing that there's some sort of conspiracy involved in the seemingly random killings. She can't see what the motive would be. Reacher writes something on a small piece of paper, telling Helen it's a motive and she should just hang onto it. Helen receives a call, informing her that the Audi is registered to Lebenhauer Enterprises, the company involved in the lawsuit against the Archers. Helen then unfolds the piece of paper Jack had given her. He'd written "Oline Archer" on it. In her review of the victims, Helen had determined that Mr. Archer had run upon some difficult times with the business, which in combination with his declining health and a lawsuit between him and Lebendauer Enterprises, had forced him to make arrangements to sell his company, Brookseal Construction. However, after Mr. Archer died at his office desk, Mrs. Archer decided she wanted to keep the company. Reacher then explains to Helen that Mrs. Archer, who'd assumed ownership of her husband's business, was the lone intended victim and that the killing of the other four people was simply intended to cover up that fact. Although Mrs. Archer had reached a settlement of sorts with Lebendauer Enterprises, she was shot the day she was on her way to get a loan for the business. Reacher further explains to Helen how the longer time between the first and second shots fired by the sniper (compared the to the shorter time between the other shots) was so the shooter could make absolutely sure of the second target, the only truly intended target. He tells her that the shooter had to know about Barr and Barr's history in Iraq in order to set him up for the murders. He tells Helen that if she finds the person who is a friend or associate of Barr then she'll find the real shooter. Helen tells Jack that she's just a lawyer, not a cop, and finding the real killer is not her job. She says she can't do this anymore. Reacher walks out. Sandy is dressed up to go meet some friends when she's approached outside her apartment building by Charlie. She doesn't remember Charlie, so Charlie reminds her that he's Jeb's friend and that they'd met once before, even though they were both drunk. He pretends that he's just moved to a nearby apartment. He invites her to go get a drink, but she declines. Vlad had snuck up behind Sandy and at a signal from Charlie, Vlad delivers a huge punch to the side of Sandy's head, knocking her out. Charlie then leans down and places his fingers on her nose and mouth, suffocating her. Helen runs after Reacher, hands him the keys to her car, and tells him about a shooting range in Ohio that meets his stated requirements for the type of range that Barr would have used. She tells Reacher that she was going to go look up Oline Archer's legal history. Reacher warns her not to do that, as it would attract attention and put her in danger. Emerson examines Sandy's body, which had been dumped near the motel where Reacher was staying. Emerson asks the desk clerk for the name of any guests who look like they might be capable of killing the girl with one punch. She gives him the name "Ernie Johnson" (another NY Yankee second baseman). Reacher returns to the motel for the night and sees the police standing out front. He watches as two men from the Medical Examiner's office put a body in their van and he can see that it's Sandy. That distresses him. Then he sees Emerson walk out and they make eye contact. As Emerson reaches for his gun, Jack puts his car in reverse and peels out, whipping the vehicle around and taking off. The police scramble to get to their cars and take out after him. As he's evading the cops, Reacher comes upon the Audi, with Charlie and Vlad inside. They had been observing from nearby. Jack begins chasing them. With the help of a police helicopter, the police soon have Jack's escape routes closed off. Realizing that, he brings his car to a crawl and calmly steps out and walks over to join a group of people at a bus stop. The car continues rolling until it softly collides with a police car and comes to a stop. A black man at the bus stop apparently figures Jack is worth helping (or, more likely, that the police are not to be assisted), so he hands Reacher his ball cap, allowing Jack to hide his face from the police who are driving by. Another man at the bus stop then steps in front of Jack, shielding his body. Jack then gets on the bus with the others and makes his escape. Emerson and Alex Rodin go see Helen, and ask her where Reacher is. They explain to Helen Jack's suspicion in the murder of Sandy, his driving around in Jeb Oliver's car, and that he'd put three more men in the hospital after a fight at Jeb's house. Jack calls Helen while she's talking to Emerson and her father. He tells her that whoever killed Sandy wants him to run and he's not going anywhere. He offers Helen a way out of the entire mess by telling her that he stole her car and she might want to report it missing. He also tells her to be careful about what she says to Emerson and her father, as one of them might be part of the conspiracy, reminding her that only Emerson, her father and she knew that he was in town that first day, and he'd been followed around town since day one. The next day, Jack drives out to the Hinge Creek Gun Club and talks with the owner, a Mr. Martin Cash (Robert Duvall), an ex-Marine gunnery sergeant. Cash denies knowing James Barr, but Jack will have none of it, realizing that Cash is most likely worried that if he's associated with the man accused of the shootings in Pittsburgh, that might be the end of his business. The men exchange a few threats, but Jack has the upper hand. Even so, Cash decides to make one other demand before he agrees to talk about Barr. He tells Jack that if he can put three shots in the center of a target, maybe they'll talk. They go out to the range. Jack is allowed one shot for practice. It's six inches right. He makes a two click adjustment to the scope and puts the next three shots just within the outer band of the center ring of the target. Cash looks at the target and says, "you're a little rusty, Mr. Reacher." Cash then explains that he saw a man with similar mannerisms shoot like Jack did at a competition 10 years ago, and he was pretty sure Jack hadn't played second base for the Yankees in 1925, so that's how he figured him to be Reacher. Cash tells Jack that he'll answer just one question. Jack asks him who his best shooter is. Cash said it was James Barr. He shows Jack the targets Barr had used. They were the best he'd seen outside the military. Jack tells Cash that Barr couldn't shoot like that on his best days in the Army. Jack wants to know if anyone came to the range with Barr. Cash can't recall, so he gets out his videotapes, and sure enough, there's bad man Charlie arriving at the range with Barr. Jack figures that Charlie did the shooting and allowed Barr to claim the targets as his, for bragging rights. Barr apparently confided in Charlie about his history in Iraq as well. Jack calls Helen and tells her what he has discovered and that he'll be back to Pittsburgh in three hours. Helen is talking to her father at the time, telling him what she'd learned about Lebenhauer Enterprises. She tells him that Lebenhauer has a shell corporation in Georgia (Russia) and work their devious system in one city at a time. The acquire local construction concerns, just ahead of major projects that are coming up for bid. They always win the bids. They had moved to new cities 12 times in 15 years, and every move was surrounded by allegations of corruption and was accompanied by millions of dollars in missing public funds, yet there had never an investigation, or even an inquiry. Alex Rodin suggests that it might just be bitterness on part of the companies who lost the bids, since it was those companies making the accusations. When Helen suggests that there is apparent collusion with corrupt officials, and in some cases killings of those who refuse to play along, her father thinks she's delusional. Helen tells her father that if Reacher is right, her life is now in danger because she'd signed out all the documents pertaining to Lebenhauer in her name. She tells her father that his next move, as district attorney, will indicate to her which side he's on. Mr. Rodin thinks it's absurd, but he agrees to look into it for her. He then picks up the phone to arrange for protective custody for her, but she says no, realizing that she would be even less safe if her father or Emerson are actually part of the conspiracy. As Helen gets on the elevator at the courthouse, Detective Emerson appears and enters the elevator with her. She becomes agitated and tries to stop the elevator and get off. Emerson produces an electric prod and shocks her unconscious. When the elevator door opens, Charlie and Vlad are there. They pick up Helen and carry her away. Reacher calls Helen's cell phone. Charlie answers. Reacher figures he has a wrong number, but then he recognizes it as the man in the Audi. Charlie puts Helen on to demonstrate to Reacher that she's with him and ok. He then tells Reacher Helen won't be ok if he doesn't get to where they are within one hour. Reacher decides to tell Charlie about his trip to the Hinge Gun Range and how he has Charlie's prints and pictures and will be going to the Feds with it. He tells Charlie that the lawyer is all his, then he hangs up. That wasn't what Charlie had expected to hear and he tells one of the men to go get the Zec. Reacher then calls back and says, "on second thought, I'd like to kill you. Let's say winner takes all." Charlie calls Jack a prick and threatens to kill the bitch Helen if Reacher isn't there in one hour. Jack again slams the phone down, but he quickly calls a third time and tells Charlie that he's not happy that Charlie killed Sandy just to frame him. He tells Charlie that he intends to beat him to death and drink his blood from a boot. Reacher agrees to come to wherever Charlie and Helen are, but he'll do so in his own sweet time and if he even suspects that Helen has been hurt, he will disappear and take his time in tracking down and killing Charlie. That night, Helen, the Zec, Emerson, Charlie, Vlad, and three other men are all on high alert at a large rock quarry, waiting for Reacher to appear. Reacher is at the rim of the quarry, looking things over when Cash comes driving up. Cash brought a sniper rifle and Jack was expecting to get to use that, or another gun. Instead, Cash hands Jack a large knife, telling Reacher that he doesn't want him shooting anybody with one of his guns. Reacher is incredulous, but at least glad to have Cash there to help. As Reacher and Cash discuss their plan of attack, Jack is having second thoughts about how much help Cash may prove to be. Cash tells Jack that he isn't going to start shooting until the men below shoot first. His plan is to have Jack drive down there and prompt Charlie and the others to start shooting at him, while Cash remains on high, returning fire once he locates the shooters below. In the office, Helen asks Zec how he can kill so many people just for money. Zec replies that it is just what they do, because they can. She then turns to Emerson and asks him why he is involved. He says that he had no choice in the matter, telling Helen that she'd understand what he means before long. Helen tells the men that she'd already taken steps in the event something happens to her. Zec tells her that if anything happens to her, it will happen to her in front of her father, while he begs for her life. It's clear that the Zec can't allow any "loose ends" at any level, and if anyone refuses to accept that, or can't demonstrate their "rareness" to do what's necessary to survive, then they will be killed. Reacher calls Helen's phone and tells her he's coming to get her, that they won't hurt her until they have him, and that won't happen. Jack gets in Helen's nice Mercedes car, reclines the driver's seat, and goes barreling down the road in reverse, using the rear view camera for guidance. He says to himself, "this was a bad idea," just before Charlie and the others open up on the car. They shoot out the mirrors, the sun roof, the windows, and eventually the rear view camera. Jack can't see where he's going and high centers the car on a rock. Gunny Cash has yet to return fire, sitting on the rim of the rock quarry with his eyes closed, apparently getting a sense of where the shots are coming from. Reacher is freaking out, wondering why Cash isn't shooting. Cash does finally raise up and starts firing, quickly locating where each of the three men firing are located. That causes them to pause long enough for Reacher to jump from the car and run behind a large rock. Cash continues firing allowing Reacher time to dash for another rock. The Gunny is then able to place a shot through the end of a trailer house and hit and wound one of the shooters hiding around the corner. Vlad decides to go on the attack and approaches the rock that Reacher is hiding behind, alternately firing at the rock and at Gunny Cash. Reacher has dropped his knife, so he can only pick up a rock for defense. He bolts from behind his hiding place just as Vlad is directing fire towards Cash. He hits Vlad in the face with the rock, then again flush against the back of Vlad's head, either knocking him out or killing him. The third shooter revives and comes around the trailer preparing to shoot Reacher, but Reacher has Vlad's gun in hand by then and shoots the man dead. Charlie has made his way to a large portable search light and turns it on, the beam directed at Gunny Cash's location. He then shoots and causes some rock chips to cut Cash's face. Before Charlie can fire at Cash again, Reacher fires and knocks out the search light. As Charlie then takes a bead on Reacher, Cash recovers and fires again, putting a bullet into the side of Charlie's weapon, rendering it useless. Jack runs up to the quarry office and kicks open the door. No one is inside, but he sees a chart on the wall showing that there's also a main mine office building. He grabs the keys to a large dump truck and exits the trailer. Charlie goes to the main office building and sends the last two men outside to go carry on the fight, leaving himself, the Zec, Emerson and Helen in the office. The dump truck comes roaring down the road and the two shooters are ready, but they are shocked when the truck just roars on by. As they step out from behind their cover, Reacher appears and shoots them down. In the truck is Gunny Cash, providing the diversion and laughing at what suckers those two guys were. Charlie advises the Zec to get out of there, then he opens the office door and goes outside to find out what's happened, although he probably has a pretty good idea. It's raining hard now and Charlie is sneaking around looking for Reacher when he feels a gun barrel at his head. Reacher orders him to put down his weapon, then Jack steps back, facing Charlie. Jack tosses his weapon aside and the two men prepare for hand-to-hand combat. The blows are brutal on both sides and Charlie eventually produces a knife, which Jack knocks away. He puts Charlie down with a vicious punch, then grabs Charlie's arm by the wrist and twists, breaking it. Zec, Emerson and Helen can all hear Charlie's screams from inside the office. Reacher then places his foot on Charlie's head and firmly pushes it down on the ground. Then he lifts his foot and brings his boot down hard, crushing Charlie's head. Inside the office, Emerson gets ready, taking two handguns and positioning himself behind Helen, a gun in each hand, one pointed towards the door, the other at Helen's head. Jack creeps up to the edge of the door and tells Emerson that he knows he's in there. He tells Emerson that no one would have thought to dump the coins from that parking meter, not even him, and that's put him on to suspecting Emerson. Jack then jumps into the doorway, Emerson fires twice and misses, then Jack fires once and hits Emerson in the head, killing him. Helen is sitting there petrified and Jack walks slowly up to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. She relaxes and hands him Emerson's pistol. She says, "you were wrong about my father," then rolls her eyes as Jack says, "I wouldn't make a big thing of it." Jack approaches the Zec and asks Helen who he is. She tells him. He asks Zec what his real name is. When the Zec stays silent, Jack points the gun at him and tells the Zec that he was born in October and when he counts up to the number for that month, he will kill the Zec. The Zec then tells him his name is Zec Chilovek. Jack speaks enough Russian to know that the words mean "prisoner human being." Zec says it is the only name he can remember being called in his lifetime. Jack tells Helen to call the police. She gets put on hold. While waiting for the police to answer, Jack tells Zec he should feel right at home in jail. Zec infers that he would consider an American prison a country club in comparison to what he's experienced, but he figures he probably won't even go to jail, because Jack, already wanted for the murder of Sandy, had killed all the people who could prove Zec was a criminal. When Zec says "we'll see which one goes to prison," Jack responds, "my bet, neither one," and he shoots Zec in the head. Helen is shocked and asks Jack about bringing out the truth and providing justice to those who deserve it. Jack says, "I just did." Jack is preparing to leave again and Helen is concerned about clearing both he and Barr from any murder charges. Jack tells her he thinks that she and her father will be able to work that out. Jack and Cash jump in Cash's truck and take off as the police are arriving. Helen is upset that Jack is leaving, that he will disappear again and she won't be able to find him. Helen goes to see Jack Barr, who's out of his coma. He doesn't remember the shootings, but heard the nurses and cops talking about it. He figures if they said he did it, then he did it, because he'd done something similar before and got away with it. With Alex Rodin standing nearby listening, Helen shows Barr photos of the stadium, parking garage and bridge and asks him how he would have done the job. His assessment is exactly what Reacher said it would be. Helen tells Barr he's going to be all right, that she's going to take care of him, but he is remembering Jack Reacher's promise to come get him. He figures he's a dead man. Helen will no doubt explain that to him later. Meanwhile, Jack is again traveling on a bus and he hears a man in the back of the bus yelling at a woman, threatening her. Jack gets up out of his seat and turns to walk back to where the couple is sitting. The movie ends.

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8 things amazon's reacher does better than the tom cruise movies.

Reacher season 1 was a highly successful show for Amazon due in large part to things the show did better than the Tom Cruise movie adaptations.

Reacher was a huge success for Amazon, and a big reason for that was the show's insistence on sticking to the source material and doing things differently than the Tom Cruise movies. The comparison to the Tom Cruise movies is inevitable, and for fans of the franchise, the details make all the difference. The films took a left turn from the source material, particularly in how the character of Reacher himself was portrayed, and Amazon's casting and story direction took those lessons to heart. From characterization to story, Amazon's version of Jack Reacher provided a more familiar and accurate depiction of the character from the books.

While the two Jack Reacher films were great action movies, the characterization of Reacher and his interactions with the world and other characters around him left a lot to be desired. Fans of the books did not consider Tom Cruise's interpretation of Reacher to be an accurate adaptation of the beloved character. Amazon's Reacher has been welcomed with open arms by those who appreciate the books, for a number of reasons.

Related: Amazon's Reacher Can Fulfill 1 Perfect Tom Cruise Jack Reacher Wish

9 The Height and Stature of Jack Reacher

It's no secret that many scratched their heads when the casting of Tom Cruise was revealed as the casting choice for Jack Reacher. According to one of the Jack Reacher books, Killing Floor , Reacher stands at 6'5" and weighs 250 pounds, while Cruise comes in at around 5'7". While Alan Ritchson is 6'2", he still makes for a more imposing and book-accurate Jack Reacher than what the film version portrayed.

8 Better Chemistry Between The Characters

From scenes with detective Finlay to the romance with Officer Roscoe Conklin, Reacher's dynamic with the characters works much better in the Amazon show. The show takes the time to foster the relationships between the characters and gives everyone something to do. This dynamic between the characters was sorely missed in the films and is another reason why the Reacher show is different from Tom Cruise's movies .

7 More Time for The Story

The nature of a TV show typically allows more time for the story to develop; however, Amazon's Reacher handles its story and plot with more attention to detail than the Tom Cruise movies. The show made it a point to humanize Jack Reacher while staying true to his book roots. Ritchson's Reacher taking the time to solve puzzles, investigations and make deductions was done organically throughout each episode leading to a more involved audience experience.

The show also allows the supporting cast to get more attention and development, mainly Detective Finlay and Officer Conklin. The story progresses organically, and it genuinely feels like a classic Jack Reacher story coming to life, and sets up Reacher season 2 after its initial success .

Related: Reacher Season 2: Cast, Story, & Everything We Know

6 Reacher Is More Menacing in the Show

Ritchson's portrayal of Jack Reacher is more menacing and intimidating than the Tom Cruise version. Putting size difference aside, Ritchson's delivery of lines and presence set him apart as someone who could actually handle himself in the wild situations he finds himself in throughout the show. Ritchson's portrayal of Reacher is given the time to grow throughout the season and feels considerably different from the calm, cool, collected demeanor that Tom Cruise chose to go with.

Sticking closely to the source material had a lot to do with Ritchson's performance, of course, but his presence and intimidating aura set the series apart from the films.

5 The Physicality of Reacher

Tom Cruise is not as physically imposing as Alan Ritchson; that much is clear, but it affected the fight choreography of the films and the TV show. Tom Cruise was initially cast despite his size as Jack Reacher, and this did not work for all fans. A significant aspect of the Jack Reacher novels was the portrayal of Reacher's combat prowess and his ability to kill someone with his bare hands. Ritchson showed this throughout the series, with the shower fight scene being a great example. Cruise is less physically imposing, and his fight scenes rely on technique and skill to win, especially when the odds are not in his favor.

Ritchson's Jack Reacher was a force of will throughout the series, and that shined through in every fight scene. The punishment Ritchson takes in the show is more realistic and shows the character's gritty, determined side much more effectively than the Cruise version.

4 Ritchson Says More With Less

Ritchson's Jack Reacher was a force of will throughout the series, and that shined through in every fight scene. The punishment Ritchson takes in the show is more realistic and shows the character's gritty, determined side much more effectively than the Cruise version. Jack Reacher is a man of few words and while Amazon's Reacher featured plenty of iconic quotes and lines, Reacher himself was a man of few words and mostly let his physicality do the talking. Alan Ritchson understood the assignment and delivered small one-liners without cracking a smile or making it feel too campy or cheesy.​​​​​​​

Related: Reacher's New Look Fixes The Worst Tom Cruise Casting Mistake

2 Sticking to the Source Material

From the first episode of Reacher , it was clear that this was the show fans of the books were waiting for. Reacher season 1 adapted the first and most well-known book, Killing Floor , and Amazon made it a point to remain as close to the source material as possible. The brutal prison scene was a particularly exciting moment from season 1 and a shout-out for die-hard book fans to enjoy.

A big part of getting the Jack Reacher adaptation right was portraying the height and build of Reacher, which added authenticity. The books made it a point to include how Reacher stands out in every room, and the casting of Ritchson allowed fans to experience that in live action and a refreshing departure from Tom Cruise's version.​​​​​​​

1 The Reacher Show Told a More Personal Story

Alan Ritchson's Reacher undergoes a very personal journey throughout the series. He always has a five-o'clock shadow, open cuts, and always seems to be on edge. So much so that the supporting cast constantly comments on his appearance and lifestyle. Ritchson's gritty and realistic performance gives this version of Jack Reacher a much more intriguing angle for the audience to enjoy and relate to. While Reacher season 2 is jumping to book 11 , it still promises to be a faithful adaptation of Lee Child's long-running series.

Cruise's Reacher was calm, cool, and collected, resulting in a more traditional action movie than the down-to-earth small-town story Amazon's Reacher told. Alan Ritchson was a perfect choice for Jack Reacher and encapsulated the vision of the character from the original source material.

Reacher season 2 is scheduled for release sometime in Spring 2023.

More: Reacher Season 2's Cast Gamble Could Confirm (Or Kill) The Show's Future

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Jack Reacher Film Series : All Jack Reacher Movies in Order

Tom Cruise Jack Reacher Movies in Order: Want to enjoy one of the best Crime-Thrilling-Action series based on Lee Child’s novel “One Shot” centering Jack Reacher, a title character and the protagonist of a series, starring Tom Cruise in the lead. After leaving the US Army as a major in its military police at age 36, Reacher roams the United States taking odd jobs and investigating suspicious and frequently dangerous situations. Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever. Cruise gives a riveting performance as Jack Reacher, a nomad with a military past who frequently gets involved in solving crimes.

People are fans of Tom Cruise and if you are one of them and wish to watch this Tom Cruise movie i.e Jack Reacher then here is the best guide for you to watch Tom Cruise Jack Reacher Movies in Order and how many Jack Reacher films are there?

Order to Watch Jack Reacher Film Series Movies

1. jack reacher (2012).

Ex-military investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) leaps off the pages of Lee Child’s bestselling novel and onto the big screen in this explosive thriller. 

In the film, A seemingly purposeless shooting rampage claimed the lives of five people in a typical town one morning. The investigation quickly zeroes in on a single possible suspect, a former military sniper, who is taken into custody without delay. The questioning of the individual results in one statement: Get Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise).

Reacher, a mysterious former Army investigator, is convinced that the authorities have the correct suspect, but he still agrees to work with the sniper’s defense attorney (Rosamund Pike). However, the more Reacher investigates the situation, the less black and white it seems to be.

2. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Jack Reacher returns to enforce his bold brand of justice in the action-packed sequel based on the 2013 novel Never Go Back by Lee Child.

In the films, Jack Reacher, a former soldier and drifter, completes his mission to dismantle a human trafficking organization, he travels to Washington, DC, to meet with his liaison, Major Susan Turner, for dinner. But instead, he runs into her replacement, Colonel Sam Morgan, who tells him that Major Turner has been arrested on espionage charges.

Jack consults with Colonel Bob Moorcroft, her seasoned attorney, who reveals that Major Turner is also under suspicion for the deaths of two American servicemen in Afghanistan. In addition, he informs Jack that a woman has filed a lawsuit against him, claiming that he is the father of her fifteen-year-old daughter, Samantha.

Jack is thrown in jail after being falsely accused of murdering Moorcroft. He realizes that he and Turner are both in the crosshairs of two assassins and that they have been set up. But he comes to her aid, and they make their escape. It doesn’t take long before they figure out that army personnel and a powerful government contractor/arms dealer are involved in a plot.

Additionally, Jack finds out that Samantha is in danger, and he and Turner end up saving her. While they investigate the source of the conspiracy, they decide to keep her safe from the assassin who is after them. What or who can we put our faith in?

How many Jack Reacher movies are there?

The smooth, charismatic performance by Tom Cruise elevates the average crime thriller Jack Reacher to the next level. There are a total of TWO (2) films in the Jack Reacher film series. The ex-military cop that Jack Reacher is following in this thrilling thriller is investigating a sniper accused of five murders, and Reacher finds himself drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. The second half of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back involves Reacher and an Army major who has been falsely accused of espionage going on the run together and uncovering a sinister conspiracy.

All Jack Reacher Movies in Order of Release Date 

Here is the list of Jack Reacher films in order, they were released.

1. Jack Reacher — December 21, 2012

2. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back — October 21, 2016

Where to Watch Jack Reacher Movies?

Want to enjoy one of the best Crime-Thrilling-Action series centering Jack Reacher, a title character and the protagonist of a series. But Where Can I watch Jack Reacher movies in order? You are able to stream Tom Cruise Jack Reacher films in order by renting or purchasing on Amazon Prime because it is pretty much solely available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Are Jack Reacher 1 and 2 connected?

The two Jack Reacher movies with Tom Cruise in the title role are not related, despite sharing the same source material (Lee Child’s crime novel series) and star (Tom Cruise). In the first film, there is a case involving the deaths of five people after a shooting, and there is one clear suspect. When Jack gets involved, however, the investigation takes a more sinister turn, and he learns some unpleasant truths about the underbelly of bureaucracy. In the sequel, Jack and an army major who has been falsely accused of espionage go on the run together and uncover a nefarious government plot. So Jack Reacher 1 and 2 connected are not connected.

Lee Child Jack Reacher Books in Order

Known by his pen name, Lee Child, British author Jim Grant created the character of Jack Reacher for a number of works. Reacher has quit his job as a major in the Military Police and is now working odd jobs across the country. He travels to a new location, helps a stranger in need, eliminates the bad guys, and then leaves on the next bus out of town. Reacher doesn’t actively seek out trouble, but it seems to find him anyway. The Jack Reacher novels are presented here in the order in which they were written, though they can be enjoyed in any order.

Jack Reacher Novels in Order:

• Killing Floor (1997)
• Die Trying (1998)
• Tripwire (1999)
• Running Blind / The Visitor (2000)
• Echo Burning (2001)
• Without Fail (2002)
• Persuader (2003)
• The Enemy (2004)
• One Shot (2005)
• The Hard Way (2006)
• Bad Luck and Trouble (2007)
• Nothing to Lose (2008)
• Gone Tomorrow (2009)
• 61 Hours (2010)
• Worth Dying For (2010)
• The Affair (2011)
• A Wanted Man (2012)
• Never Go Back (2013)
• Personal (2014)
• Make Me (2015)
• Night School (2016)
• The Midnight Line (2017)
• Past Tense (2018)
• Blue Moon (2019)
• The Sentinel (2020)
• Better Off Dead (2021)

Jack Reacher Books in Reading Order(In-story chronology):

• Second Son (short story, 2011)
• High Heat (novella, 2013)
• Deep Down (short story, 2012)
• Small Wars (short story, 2015)
• James Penney’s New Identity (1999 edited 2006)
• The Visitor – aka Running Blind (2000)
• Guy Walks into a Bar… (2009)
• Knowing you’re Alive (with Morgan Snow) (2011)
• Everyone Talks (2012)
• Not a Drill (2014)
• Good and Valuable Consideration (with Nick Heller) (2014)
• No Room at the Motel (2014)
• The Picture of the Lonely Diner (2015)
• Maybe they Have a Tradition (2016)
• Faking a Murderer (with Temperance Brennan) (2017)
• Too Much Time (2017)
• The Christmas Scorpion (2017)
• The Fourth Man (2018)
• Cleaning the Gold (with Will Trent) (2019)
• Smile (2019)
• The Sentinel (October 2020)
• Better Off Dead (October 2021)

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10 Best 'Jack Reacher' Books, Ranked

• The Jack Reacher series by Lee Child has had mixed success with its adaptations, with Tom Cruise's portrayal receiving criticism.
• The new Reacher series on Prime Video, starring Alan Ritchson, has been a hit and has already been renewed for a third season.
• The below list ranks the top 10 Jack Reacher books, highlighting their compelling plots, character development, and moral dilemmas.

There are 27 books in Lee Child 's ongoing series following the adventures of military investigator turned noble-ish drifter Jack Reacher. Before handing the keys to his Mission: Impossible franchise over to Christopher McQuarrie , Tom Cruise drafted him to write and direct 2012’s Jack Reacher , adapted from Child's ninth book in the series, One Shot . Cruise is no one’s idea of what the six-foot, five-inch, 250-pound Reacher is supposed to look like, but he and McQuarrie turned in a solid action-thriller that accurately caught the book’s tone. The critical drubbing and audience indifference to 2016’s anemic follow-up, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , effectively killed another Cruise franchise.

Now, Alan Ritchson ( Smallville ’s former Aquaman ) has taken over the role for the latest adaptation of Child's books, Prime Video's Reacher series . The premiere was an undeniable success for the streamer; the show was renewed for a second season only three days after its launch on Prime Video, and a Season 3 renewal soon followed before Season 2 had even premiered. While Season 1 followed the first book in Child's series, The Killing Floor , and Season 2 was based on the events of the eleventh book in the series, Bad Luck and Trouble , it was recently confirmed that Season 3 would adapt Book 7, Persuader .

Whether you're a longtime fan of the books or brand-new to the franchise thanks to the Prime Video series, you might need to know the best place to start. Here are the 10 best Jack Reacher books, ranked.

When retired Military Police Officer Jack Reacher is arrested for a murder he did not commit, he finds himself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy full of dirty cops, shady businessmen and scheming politicians. With nothing but his wits, he must figure out what is happening in Margrave, Georgia. The first season of Reacher is based on the international bestseller The Killing Floor by Lee Child.

Cast Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, Alan Ritchson, Maria Sten, Serinda Swan, Robert Patrick

Main Genre Action

Genres Drama

In a typically intricate plot, Lee Child’s third book in the series finds Jack Reacher in Florida, digging pools by shovel during the day, while working as a bouncer by night. When a private eye finds him on behalf of someone he’s never met and is gunned down shortly thereafter, Reacher finds himself drawn into the orbit of a deadly black market moneylender. The daughter of his former mentor enlists his help in tracking down a helicopter pilot thought to have died in Vietnam, leading to a ruthless, hook-handed villain and a bullet in Reacher’s chest. Tripwire makes it into the edge of the top 10 thanks to Child’s shading of Reacher’s character. Usually, Reacher is a constant from the beginning to the end. He doesn’t change much, if at all. However, when he is vulnerable and capable of injury, his facade cracks a bit, making him more human and compelling.

Die Trying opens with Reacher stopping to help a total stranger with her dry cleaning. They’re both held at gunpoint, tossed into a van, and driven across the country. He discovers that the woman is FBI agent Holly Johnson, daughter of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and goddaughter of the President of the United States. The third book in Child's series drags Reacher into a dilemma with far-reaching consequences. Most Reacher books deal with more modest, localized crimes and conspiracies, but Die Trying ’s national scale is an outlier. The plot verges on the absurd (as many others do), but it remains an entertaining read thanks to some blockbuster action sequences. Reacher’s unrequited romantic interest in Holly also adds a bit more dimension to him.

Many of the Reacher books start with simple coincidences, which then snowball into wildly complicated situations. Make Me follows this basic premise, as Reacher gets off a bus in the small Midwestern town of Mother’s Rest just because he likes the name. He meets a private detective named Michelle Chang and throws in with her as she investigates her ex-partner’s disappearance. Make Me delves into another small-town conspiracy plot, but is notable for some continued development of its main character. Child doesn’t go too long without a romantic interest for Reacher, but Michelle Chang is no one-night stand. She and Reacher develop a strong bond and end up together by the end of the book. Make Me ’s overall plot is not quite as compelling as some others, but it offers a significant bit of growth for Reacher. No one expects him to settle down anytime soon, but Child hints that he is at least (in theory) open to change.

In the first Jack Reacher book, the main character is six months out of the Army and very bitter toward that particular institution. Lee Child toggles between first and third-person narrations throughout the series, with The Enemy serving as a prequel in the first-person. Rolling back the clock to when Reacher was a military investigator, The Enemy finds him delving into the scandalous death of a major general. He discovers a bigger scheme to prevent the modernization of the American military via the assassination of top military officials. This look at Reacher on the job offers an intriguing contrast with the bulk of the series, where he is a drifter who prefers anonymity. During The Enemy , Reacher’s mother dies in Paris. Between that loss and Reacher’s discovery that the military will cover up any embarrassing scandals like any other bureaucracy, we find a source for the man’s bitterness.

Without Fail

Reacher’s past finds him again as his former Secret Service agent brother’s colleague and old flame, M.E. Froelich, reaches out with an offer: help her plan to assassinate the Vice President. Without Fail nimbly merges a standout thriller plot with some deeply affecting personal stakes for Reacher. He falls into bed with Froelich, but he and the reader learn how much she still loves Reacher’s older brother in a heartbreaking scene near the end. Without Fail delivers a more interesting storyline than many other Reacher books, as Child again drags Reacher into a plot on a scale that could affect the entire country. The book delivers the kind of incremental character growth we’ve come to expect, which dovetails nicely with stakes that become personal for Reacher by the end.

The fourteenth book in the series finds Child upending much of his successful formula for the previous books. Typically prone to wandering the Southern and Midwestern U.S., this time Reacher finds himself in a snowbound small town in South Dakota. The local police are trying to protect the sole witness to a major methamphetamine operation, but they are contractually bound to come running if there is an emergency at the huge local prison. When the cops discover Reacher’s background, they naturally want his help. Things are not exactly as they seem, as Reacher uncovers a conspiracy within the police department related to surplus World War II equipment, including certain stimulating substances meant for bomber pilots. The cops have linked the meth operation to Plato, a Latin American drug lord and little person. The final sequence takes place in small tunnels beneath an old Air Force facility, where Plato’s size gives him a rare advantage over Reacher. Throughout 61 Hours , Reacher is way outside his usual hyper-competent comfort zone. He makes mistakes, is too late to save a key character, and needs help. 61 Hours introduces Major Susan Turner, Reacher’s replacement in his old division, and their hint of romance carries over through the next few books.

Gone Tomorrow

Gone Tomorrow begins with one of Child’s most ingenious setups. On a New York City subway, Reacher suspects a fellow passenger might be a suicide bomber. Narrated in the first person, Reacher runs down all the tell-tale signs. When he attempts to help her out of the situation, she shoots herself in front of him. Driven by a need to know what happened — and guilt over her suicide — Reacher investigates and promptly drops down a disturbing rabbit hole. The bomber, Susan Mark, was a pawn in a bigger plan involving the dark secrets of a crooked congressman, undercover terrorists, and federal agents willing to neutralize Reacher to keep things covered up. Published in 2009, Gone Tomorrow examines a morally gray post-9/11 world. In different hands, Reacher’s clear moral throughline could come off as jingoistic or insincere. Child keeps us grounded in Reacher’s calm fury as he penetrates layer after layer of lies and betrayal. Reacher usually wipes out the corrupt, hidden garbage people behind the shadowy plot, but Gone Tomorrow ’s ambiguous ending reflects the morally complex world around him.

Worth Dying For

The basic premise of the Jack Reacher books parallels any number of American Westerns: a capable stranger wanders into town, sniffs out some trouble, and mops the floor with the bad guys by the end. Lee Child often takes pains to steer his installments away from obvious Western territory, but in Worth Dying For , he leans right into it. Usually, Reacher is content to mostly stay out of trouble until he can’t, but this time he goes looking for it. Reacher overhears a drunk doctor in a remote Nebraska bar blow off a call from a patient. He drives the doctor to the house of a man named Seth Duncan, whose father and uncles run the county, and who clearly beats his wife. Reacher gives Duncan a piece of his mind (and fist), and becomes embroiled in a conflict with the entire Duncan clan. Reacher is in classic hero mode in Worth Dying For , which contains some of Child’s richest prose and sharply drawn supporting characters. Reacher ably dispatches wave after wave of would-be hitmen, which could become tedious if not for Child’s skillful handling. In Worth Dying For , the Duncans are such odious creatures that keeping Reacher in a superior position makes for a ripping good read.

The 2012 Jack Reacher movie adapted One Shot as a kickoff to the would-be franchise, which was a wise decision. McQuarrie and Cruise stay quite faithful to the source novel, which arguably features Child’s most engaging plot. A shooter seemingly kills five random people with six shots. One missed shot conveniently leaves a bullet behind. This evidence leads directly to a former Army sniper named James Barr, who will only tell the police that he’s the wrong guy, and to find Jack Reacher. They don’t have to, since Reacher sees a CNN report about the killings and immediately heads that way. He’s not there to defend Barr, but to help put him away. Barr is counting on Reacher’s clear moral purpose, but he’s beaten so badly that he can’t remember anything about the day of the shootings. Reacher must piece together what happened, and in the process picks apart the prosecution’s case. One Shot presents one of the best moral dilemmas for Reacher. While in the Army, Barr committed an unsanctioned mass murder at long range. Army politics allowed Barr to walk free, but Reacher promised that if he ever stepped out of line, he’d be there to bury the sniper in prison. One Shot gives Reacher perhaps the closest thing to a Bond villain he’s ever faced in the sinister Russian mob boss known only as the Zec, played by the unforgettable Werner Herzog in the film. One Shot presents Child’s writing at his peak, gradually tightening the Swiss watch of a plot as Reacher balances his hatred of Barr with the morality of railroading an “innocent” man.

Killing Floor

The Reacher series started at the beginning , adapting Child’s first Reacher book, Killing Floor . While Child would go on to craft more sophisticated action-mystery plots for Jack Reacher to unravel, this character’s debut is unmissable for the fresh approach Child brings to this genre. Written in the first person, Killing Floor remains his most compelling adventure as it introduces readers to this remarkable character, who is both an unstoppable force and an immovable object. Six months out of the Army after 13 years of service, Reacher drifts across the United States. He finds himself in Margrave, Georgia, simply because his brother once told him that blues legend Blind Blake somehow died there. The opening chapter tells us everything we need to know about Reacher. As the local police herd him out of a diner with shotguns, he narrates calmly, assesses the situation, and decides not to break their arms and take their guns. We understand that he absolutely can, but chooses not to, even though he’s done nothing wrong. As he is clearly railroaded for a murder he couldn’t possibly have committed, Reacher uncovers the first of many small-town conspiracies he will come across. This Reacher is bitter, rather cold-hearted, and has a much bigger chip on his shoulder than he will in later installments. In a morally gray universe, Reacher’s unflagging sense of justice is already fully formed in Killing Floor .

Both seasons of Reacher are currently available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S., with Season 3 to premiere at a date yet to be announced.

Watch on Prime Video

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