One Shot was the book that the first film was based upon, the 9th book in the series. The story is based upon a sniper who one day went to a multi storey car park, armed with a rifle and randomly shot innocent people walking on the pavement, out in the sunshine, minding their own business. Six shots fired, five people dead.
As good as the shooter is with the rifle, he isn’t as careful when leaving the scene and leaves clues which enable the police to quickly arrest the guy. James Barr is taken to the police station to be interviewed.
The suspect is questioned, but won’t talk despite the overwhelming evidence against him. He was a former sniper in the military, finger prints found at the scene, this really is a cut and dried case for the cops. He’s given chance to confess in writing to receive life in jail and escape the death penalty, he takes the pen & paper and writes on the pad; Get Jack Reacher.
If he doesn’t want to be found, Reacher won’t be found – fact !
As it happens he’d seen this on the news and had taken it upon himself to go to the city to see justice for himself, with Barr getting what’s due to him.
Reacher reveals that Barr had previously gone on a killing spree during a tour in Iraq, a case Reacher knew well. Barr escaped prosecution though as his ‘victims’ were under investigation for numerous rapes and the U.S. Army decided to cover the whole incident up. Reacher had sworn that if Barr did anything like this again he would personally take him down and see him tried for murder.
The defence attorney asks Reacher to clear Barr, but Reacher tells her the same that he is here to see justice carried out and Barr to be punished.
Needless to say, things never go straight forward and when Reacher is planning to leave town, a couple of incidents occur which provoke him into staying around longer and becoming involved.
The film Jack Reacher is good because it has opened up the character to so many potential new fans.
What I like about this movie;
Fast paced but without going overboard. The fight scene in the street show how Reacher would take care of things.
If you’ve not read any of the books, you get a bit of an insight as to how his mind works, how he thinks and what makes him a good investigator.
Some of the characters are well portrayed, such as The Zec.
What I don’t like about this movie;
This is based on my reading all the Reacher books.
Tom Cruise is a decent actor, well known for playing Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible movies.
Reacher is a 6ft 5” tall man mountain, so if you’ve read a few of the books, you can easily picture him in situations. Tom cruise is 5 foot 7” tall so the illusion of Reacher towering over some of the 6ft tall bad guys is shattered. At least there’s not been noticeable mention of how tall or well built Ethan Hunt is.
Apart from this and the storyline being slightly different, Reacher has made it to the big screens.
You can order the original move called Jack Reacher here in BluRay or DVD formats.
The second movie called Never Go Back was released in October 2016
The preview clips seemed to indicate another action packed film, with Reacher being the man to sort bad from good. Cover ups and conspiracy plots are unravelled by the hero, once again played by Tom Cruise.
Based on the 17th book also called Never Go Back by Lee Child, sees Reacher returning to the headquarters of his old Military Police unit, the 110th to finally meet face to face the new unit CO, Major Susan Turner, who as yet was just an intriguing voice on the phone, from a conversation they’d had in the book 61 hours previously. When he arrives though, things aren’t as they seem and it isn’t Susan sat at her desk.
As the mystery unfolds, Reacher finds out Maj Turner is actually being held in a military prison cell. Not content with keeping her out of the way, the bad guys decide to send a hit team to eliminate her. Unlucky for them, Reacher manages to get involved and ends up springing her from the lock up.
If you’ve not read this book yet, you can order it here along with all the others in the series.
This movie is like the first one in that it’s not a bad film to watch. it’s got action, shooting, fist fights, loud bangs and everything else you’d expect. Does it do the book justice? Personally I don’t think it does. As I’ve said before though, you can’t have an actor who’s 11″ shorter in real life than the character he’s meant to be playing, expecting it to work.
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I love to watch Turner Classic Movies and sometimes, I leave the TV on just for the company even when I’m not watching it.
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This story takes place in Wyoming in 1977.
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Recently, a friend of mine has been introducing me to movie classics that I’d never seen or in some cases even heard of before. One of the most recent was “The Prisoner of Zenda.” Enjoy the prisoner of Zenda summary here and learn about this movie classic.
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Advertised as a cult-classic film truly like no other. David Lynch’s retelling of Frank Herbert’s deep, complex, and stirring work of science fiction was struck down by bad editing and harsh critics.
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King Henry VIII is remembered in history as a self-centered, somewhat maniacal character who had a penchant for disposing of his wives.
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Fat Lad’s top half-dozen British gangster films set out here in reverse order.
Some you may agree with, some you may not.
Fat Lads Says;
There should be a follow up series of 1 off tv shows each of about 30 minutes in length detailing the career paths of the main characters from the InBetweeners. Without further ado, here’s what I think happened to the characters.
What happens when The Dark Knight, Big Bang Theory and Michael Bay collide in a mainstream sci-fi fest?
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