Saw this last night in Oakland - vocal audience.
Okay, I haven't read the books but I kind of think Cruise being short *helps* the story - because he is always against taller and seemingly stronger guys. You wonder how he's gonna win the fights, instead of it being a given. Hate me if you want.
Thought it was okay - and will probably do enough business to be a new Cruise franchise. Some have said Rosamund Pike just played "the girl", but I think her father relationship subplot made her character more than that... though I wish there had been more scenes of her running down stairs. The problem my friends had with her character was when Reacher tells her that her client is innocent, and she calls him crazy... instead of *liking* that. She is the worst attorney in the world - she just seems to sit back and not run down evidence on her own. When Reacher finds something - she doesn't ask for the facts, she calls him crazy. This could have been fixed with a line or two.
The idiot henchman who drives a company car to follow Reacher and uses the same car when he kills people? Ummm, WTF? And that character and actor are bland. I kept comparing him to Gary Busey in LETHAL WEAPON (Christmas film!) since they played similar roles... and have some similar scenes.
On the other hand, Herzog seemed as if he had been dropped out of a Roger Moore James Bond movie. Would you have a mega-villain who can't even dial a phone or text? The biggest problem with the film for me was this thing I call "punishment fits the crime" - basically risk to reward ratio. The villain's plan involves a lot of killing and car chases and other things that are high risk... but the reward *seems* to be not worth all of this effort. I kept thinking, "All of this for... that?" Again, I think they could have solved this with a couple of lines explaining how something that seems small time is really big money... and legal big money. But they didn't.
Oh, all of us disliked the scene where the two huge guys attack Reacher, but are so inept they hit each other with their aluminum bat and crow bar instead of Reacher. Maybe it was supposed to be funny, but it just seemed lame. The end of this scene - where Reacher actually kicks their asses, is great stuff.
Another problem is more subtle - in a revenge or vigilante film you want the protag to be a juggernaut - an unstoppable force that is hurtling towards the bad guys. The trailer has a character talk about how that's what Reacher is - but the placement of that scene in the movie kind of undercuts the film. We needed that earlier... and maybe from Reacher. I love the drink your blood from your boot line - and wish that had been much earlier... and then referenced when those two characters cross paths. "Hey, you brought a knife... and boots!"
The thing that made the film work was Robert Duvall - who steals the show in that last third. I want to see a movie where Duvall's character is the lead! Duvall doesn't just add humor and attitude, he seems to bring it out in Cruise as well. The other thing that makes the film work is the humor - and even though there are some great lines and lots of fun action stuff throughout, when Cruise and Duvall team up at the end the film kicks into high gear.
Good car chase, good action scenes... flimsy plot. Cruise is short - get over it.
- Bill
Okay, I haven't read the books but I kind of think Cruise being short *helps* the story - because he is always against taller and seemingly stronger guys. You wonder how he's gonna win the fights, instead of it being a given. Hate me if you want.
Thought it was okay - and will probably do enough business to be a new Cruise franchise. Some have said Rosamund Pike just played "the girl", but I think her father relationship subplot made her character more than that... though I wish there had been more scenes of her running down stairs. The problem my friends had with her character was when Reacher tells her that her client is innocent, and she calls him crazy... instead of *liking* that. She is the worst attorney in the world - she just seems to sit back and not run down evidence on her own. When Reacher finds something - she doesn't ask for the facts, she calls him crazy. This could have been fixed with a line or two.
The idiot henchman who drives a company car to follow Reacher and uses the same car when he kills people? Ummm, WTF? And that character and actor are bland. I kept comparing him to Gary Busey in LETHAL WEAPON (Christmas film!) since they played similar roles... and have some similar scenes.
On the other hand, Herzog seemed as if he had been dropped out of a Roger Moore James Bond movie. Would you have a mega-villain who can't even dial a phone or text? The biggest problem with the film for me was this thing I call "punishment fits the crime" - basically risk to reward ratio. The villain's plan involves a lot of killing and car chases and other things that are high risk... but the reward *seems* to be not worth all of this effort. I kept thinking, "All of this for... that?" Again, I think they could have solved this with a couple of lines explaining how something that seems small time is really big money... and legal big money. But they didn't.
Oh, all of us disliked the scene where the two huge guys attack Reacher, but are so inept they hit each other with their aluminum bat and crow bar instead of Reacher. Maybe it was supposed to be funny, but it just seemed lame. The end of this scene - where Reacher actually kicks their asses, is great stuff.
Another problem is more subtle - in a revenge or vigilante film you want the protag to be a juggernaut - an unstoppable force that is hurtling towards the bad guys. The trailer has a character talk about how that's what Reacher is - but the placement of that scene in the movie kind of undercuts the film. We needed that earlier... and maybe from Reacher. I love the drink your blood from your boot line - and wish that had been much earlier... and then referenced when those two characters cross paths. "Hey, you brought a knife... and boots!"
The thing that made the film work was Robert Duvall - who steals the show in that last third. I want to see a movie where Duvall's character is the lead! Duvall doesn't just add humor and attitude, he seems to bring it out in Cruise as well. The other thing that makes the film work is the humor - and even though there are some great lines and lots of fun action stuff throughout, when Cruise and Duvall team up at the end the film kicks into high gear.
Good car chase, good action scenes... flimsy plot. Cruise is short - get over it.
- Bill
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