Jack Reacher (2012) on Netflix
Five people are shot dead in Pittsburgh, and the evidence points to ex-Army sniper James Barr, who asks for Jack Reacher by name. Reacher, a former Army investigator, agrees to help.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.0/10395,533 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes64%
Trailer
Plot summary
Pittsburgh detectives start with a shell casing and the quarter pulled from the parking meter inside the garage where the gunman fired, killing five people on the riverfront trail below. A print lifted from the coin is a match for James Barr, a former Army sniper. A search of his home yields a van and a rifle. Questioned by Detective Emerson and District Attorney Alex Rodin, Barr writes one line on a notepad asking for Jack Reacher. Reacher is a former Army investigator who has been out of touch with the world for two years, and he walks into the police station after seeing the news. Rodin will not let him look at the evidence, and Barr is in a coma after prisoners attacked him. His defense attorney, Helen Rodin, asks Reacher to work the case for her.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Jack Reacher (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Fans objected that Tom Cruise, 5'7", did not match the 6'5" Reacher of the novels. Lee Child said Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force: with another actor "you might get 100% of the height but only 90% of Reacher", but with Cruise "100% of Reacher with 90% of the height".
- In a 2018 interview Lee Child agreed the readers had been right about Reacher's size, said there would be no more movies with Tom Cruise, and announced the character would move to long-form streaming television with a completely new actor.
- Cruise performed all of his own driving stunts in the film's car chase. Director Christopher McQuarrie said most chases try to hide the fact that it is not the actor driving, but here the challenge was the opposite: showing that it was always Cruise at the wheel.
- Paramount indefinitely postponed the Pittsburgh premiere on 15 December 2012 out of respect for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting the day before, because the opening scene shows a sniper shooting at people including a woman holding a small girl. McQuarrie said he and Cruise insisted on it.
