Splatter: on FILM

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher is still the bold-chested throat-kicker that’s not to be messed with. Tom’s vagabond Jack is on the road and roaming. Reclusive, he avoids interactions without punchlines, friendships, or family ties.  This character reserves his smiles for the deserving, and it seems none are truly deserving. His fight or flight responses usually begin with warnings of how it will be done and end as he says they will.Brutality and daddy issues frame this almost road trip film as ex-marine Jack finds a friend in his old office and asks her on a date. The day he drops in to meet her, she’s been imprisoned and falsely accused. Jack to the rescue. Jack on his own. Handsome and smart, he remains one step ahead of the other guys. Yet, there’s something inside of me that often questions the validity of his offensive moves… Sure some are defensive – someone’s coming to kill him so he kills them first. But this kind of violence seems too commonplace and somehow unextraordinary.  Somehow it’s the opposite of what Jack Reacher really does stand for. He’s a rogue on a mission… Always alone, always fighting. What is he fighting for if he doesn’t stand for something? Is he actually a vigilante? We asked the same of Batman… So why not Jack?