Christopher McQuarrie directs Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike and Werner Herzog in this pulpy detective thriller based on a best selling series.

As a bit of undemanding entertainment Jack Reacher passes the time nicely enough but both tries I’ve given it I just wanted to like it more than I did. Moment by moment it is difficult to fault which makes this review feel begrudging. The action is cartoonishly OTT as Cruise problem solves and slams himself out of various set pieces with grin inducing ease – his take on Reacher is part Sherlock Holmes, part Jean Claude Van Damme in Hard Target, part Lynx advert hero. Nothing wrong with that. The plot and mystery are both involving and throwaway – an airport novel writ large. Giving Pike the chance to do her thinking man’s totty schtick, while Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney and ice cold nasty from another world Herzog also shine very much doesn’t hurt the “classy” factor either. It just never all gels. Not nearly as smart or as hard boiled as McQuarrie’s work on recent classics like The Usual Suspects or Way of the Gun nor as fantastically as cool a use of Cruise and a tentpole budget as Rogue Nation – you leave Jack Reacher feeling adequately serviced rather than impressed. Hopefully everything will be blended smoother in the sequel as the components are all leftover here for an enjoyable mid scale, middle aged action franchise.

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