From the very first scene, Ol' Jackie never stood a chance. Tell me if you've heard this one before: A guy wants someone dead so, he gets a sniper to take out the target. The sniper, being a real class act, decides that the best way to cover up the murder is by murdering a bunch of random folks along with the real target so that the cops can't determine the cause of the killing. I don't know why this sounds familiar to you, it's not as though it was already done here or here or in any of these.
Come on, I hear you saying, you can't judge the movie because it had one cliche. Everything these days has some, usually obvious, inspiration from something else. Oh, you naive reader who is somehow talking to me while I'm writing this, Jack Reacher doesn't just have this one cliche. It's gonna be a dirty job but someone has got to dive down the rabbit hole and pick out each and every cliche this movie has.
- Killer framed an innocent man for the killings.
- Sniper is a meditative, almost silent character.
- (former) Cop who doesn't play by the rules.
- Protagonist starts off the movie after implied sex with some chick.
- Main character is coming out of hiding for one, last job (looking forward to Jack Reacher: Never Go Back!)
- Female love interest is a lawyer because her Dad is a lawyer (heaven forbid a woman gets a high-paying job by her own merits!)
- Female love interest has serious daddy issues.
- Protagonist deduces everything immediately because of some incredibly minute detail a la Sherlock Holmes.
- Protagonist turns down sex with hot girl because reasons... Morality? Honor? (I know she was supposed to be underage but the actress was 19 and they were in a bar, it wouldn't have been a ridiculous assumption for her to be over 18.)
- Protagonist gives five guys attacking him the opportunity to walk away.
- Protagonist beats up five guys by himself.
- The only bad guy actually doing anything is actually the sidekick for the real big baddie.
- Russian speaks in philosophical bullshit and/or about how he can eat frostbite for breakfast and that somehow makes him more useful.
- "You have failed me for the last time!" (To be fair, this scene did involve biting a dude's fingers off. That was fun.)
- Protagonist feels regret because someone died because he was getting too close to the truth.
- Car chase,
- Protagonist writes down significant plot points and folds up paper, waiting for other characters to figure it out first.
- Protagonist has to prove his skills to a plot character by shootin' real, real good.
- Real estate scam somehow equals action movie plot. (It's freakin' incredible how common this is: Real Estate Scam Trope Page)
- Plot twist! The guy we thought was the criminal wasn't the criminal after all!
- Dirty cop is helping the baddies.
- Dirty cop is working with Russian mob boss. (duh)
- Elevator betrayal scene.
- Kidnapped female love interest.
- "You think I'm a hero? I'm not a hero." (I'm an anti-hero! Which is completely and totally different!)
- Final epic gunfight where the bad guys suddenly forget how to aim.
- Protagonist relies on sidekick who takes a dramatically long time accomplishing his goal.
- Anti-hero kills bad guy because bad guy is above the law.
- Protagonist beats up abusive guy for character development... at the very end of the movie... Just had to get one more cliche in there?
- The whole thing is a vehicle for Tom Cruise to be an action hero.
Wouldn't it be great, though, if cliche's were this movie's only flaw? Nah, it also has it's fair share of ridiculousness. First of all, fun fact: Did you know you can't bite your own finger off barring extenuating circumstances? Here's a link http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/15231/does-it-take-the-same-force-to-bite-through-a-finger-as-a-carrot. The first answer has links to the studies showing that the newton force required just isn't possible from the human jaw. The more you know.
Anyway, the whole premise of the movie is based around the idea that this former sniper, a known killer who got away with his crime because it was too complicated, I guess, decided that for his defense after being framed, he'd request the army cop who busted him in the first place. Good idea! I know the best way to be proven innocent will be to request the person who hates me more than anyone else alive. Jack Reacher then discovers the shenanigans because he was watching the news one night. He makes it out to Philly and somehow knows that he's been requested and is on the case. That's... convenient. So you're telling me that the whole plot of this movie hinged on whether or not Jack Reacher would happen to be watching the news one night?
There are plenty of nitpicky problems throughout the plot but I want to jump right at the big bad one. The antagonist's motive is literally never explained. In fact, none of them are! First, we've got Jai Courtney (who seems to be showing up in my movies a lot lately...), a sniper working for the Russian mobster and the actual murderer who set everything in motion. He just blindly follows the Zec (sorry, I'll stop calling him the Russian guy) without any real motive for doing so. He's clearly willing to give his life for this cause but we never know why.
Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad if we knew what the Zec's motives were. We could then just assume that Jai follows him because he shares his beliefs or is in it for the money. However, at the end, the Zec specifically says how it isn't about the money. He says he just takes because he can. What kind of a motive is that? You are a badass former Siberian prisoner so you made a shady real estate business because you like taking things? Worst motive ever.
Then there is David Oyelowo, the dirty cop who betrayed them to help this evil real estate business commit their heinous real estate acts. The only hint we're given as to his motives is the line "Do you think I had a choice?" To which she responds, "Didn't you?", essentially contradicting the only bit of information about him we get through the entire movie.
So there you have it, three bad guys and not one of them has any clear motive whatsoever. The closest we get is someone likes to take things. Who knows what he likes to take? Just things, I suppose. You know what I like to take? Better movies!
