This outrageous but entertaining pulp style melodrama thriller is directed by Christopher McQuarrie who you might remember, brought us the 1996 award winning, The Usual Suspects. He gives us an efficient mesh of nineties John Grisham-esque thriller procedural with flashes of seventies/eighties vigilante style movies, reminiscent of The Firm (1993) meets Shaft (2000). As a matter of fact, aside from the frequent cell phone usage, the events shown could have easily taken place in decades past, allowing for the story line to be boundless from any particular time period. This adds to the uniqueness of the film and makes for great storytelling, in my opinion.
The film starts off with an excellent 8-10 minute opening sequence that gets the adrenaline pumping and envelops the viewer with lots of unorthodox action-thrills and anxiety. These scenes are done without any kind of dialogue, and the result forces the view to observer every action taken, frame by frame. This director delivers both flagrant tension and a feeling that the movie is steering us in directions that we may not be able to handle as viewers. Nevertheless, there is an obvious sense of coolness and confidence about the opening scenes. READ FULL JACK REACHER REVIEW >>