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Jack Reacher (2012)
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This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris are on the case to discuss the first adaptation of Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, the 2012 Tom Cruise movie, as season 3 of the Amazon series just kicked off.
Based on the Jack Reacher novel One Shot, a troubled Army sniper, James Barr (Joseph Sikora), is arrested for killing five people in Pittsburgh. He asks for Jack Reacher (Cruise), who shows up ready to confirm Barr's guilt based on an incident during the Iraq War. Instead, he uncovers a larger plot involving a shady construction company run by a sinister man known as "The Zek" (Werner Herzog). Zach and Chris discuss Cruise's Reacher compared to Alan Ritchson's, Herzog's fantastic villain performance, overly complicated criminal plots, intense speeches about freedom, and more.
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Transcript
Introduction to Everything Action Cast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast week of February 24th, 2025. I'm your host, Zach. I'm your co-host, Chris.
Jack Reacher Adaptations Discussion
00:00:27
Speaker
yeah And this week we are on the case with Jack Reacher. We're talking about the 2012...
00:00:32
Speaker
Tom Cruise movie because ah season three of the Amazon show just kicked off i think last week. They dropped the first three episodes. um But the the first time we ever saw Jack Reacher on film was the Tom Cruise movie, which is kind of hard to believe because the book series started in 1997.
00:00:49
Speaker
And it took however long, you know, a decade or so for it to actually like get an adaptation.
00:00:58
Speaker
And ah kind of kind of a ah strange adaptation if you're a fan of the books, because Tom Cruise is not what you would think of when youre if you're like a Jack Reacher fan.
00:01:09
Speaker
No, if you think... look Because Jack Reacher is such a larger-than-life character, but then Tom Cruise is sort of larger-than-life person in real life. and But like but like notoriously short. then And then Jack Reacher, the character, is like six five like depending on what i guess what book, it's like between 210-250 pounds.
Reacher's Character and Traits
00:01:31
Speaker
like Just like a mountain. you obviously Obviously, the Amazon show Nails It with Alan Richson, who is like a mountain of a man. but yeah it was That's kind of a crazy like kind of a crazy way. like
00:01:43
Speaker
If you've been reading like Jack Reacher books for like since 1997, you're like, wait, what? Tom Cruise is Jack Reacher? Yeah. Yeah, definitely when I heard about it, because i definitely did not really know a lot about Jack Reacher when this was like getting promoted. And I was like, oh, it's not quite like a Bourne thing. It was like in this era of movies, it was like a lot of Jason Bourne-esque things.
00:02:08
Speaker
Do you remember that? yeah And this was like, hey, it's none of that. Just a straight up. Here's an action thing. No spying. Just go, go, go, go. He's just going to kick ass and you're like, Tom Cruise?
00:02:22
Speaker
Tom Cruise? Okay.
00:02:26
Speaker
I think it's similar to, there's another series, like, it's similar to like um Clive Cussler, who like does, it's like a very similar, like it's this super long running series of like action adventure novels, but the only adaptation has been like Sahara, the Matthew McConaughey movie.
00:02:45
Speaker
You know, I was thinking another one that's like that is The Walking Tall.
00:02:50
Speaker
Where it's just like a humble guy solving problems just with like whatever he's had on hand.
00:02:58
Speaker
Have you seen like the Walking Tall movies? Yeah. I think it's like ah it's like a series of movies of the same guy. Not the sequels. They keep rebooting it. I'm talking about just like... It's very like... Guy just has a sense of justice and he's just fight for that.
00:03:12
Speaker
I'm just talking about like... like how like It's like this this like for like Clive Kessler. It's a super long-running series but then there's like... There's like... Oh, like... No adaptations.
00:03:24
Speaker
You'd think there'd be like way more like attempts to make adaptations. or like different Like movies like scattered throughout. but True. But we also think that... I mean, at least I think it's it's kind of like... um One of those like dad books.
00:03:39
Speaker
It's like, oh, Tom Clancy's a little too tactical. Like Jack Reacher books are a little easier.
00:03:45
Speaker
i mean you' still I think it's so there's still quite a bit of like ah detail. and you know I think Reacher knows about like all like like every weapon spec, and he can like tell you like what bullet in, what gun. He put this bullet and this gun, so that's that's how you know he's an amateur, not a professional. like right now It's very Sherlock-y when it comes to he's just but he knows this for whatever reason, and it always comes down to um if it's military, like it makes sense that he knows it. But if it's something a little weirder where it's like don't you know the color of this paint was only like made in this factory during this time. And it's like a rare color. It's like, what?
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah. He picks, he picks up a lot of details and then he notices a lot of details. That's like one of his good observance. But honestly, the series never, I mean, the, the fantastic part is the actual hours he takes to then research, whatever weird detail you picked up on that may come in handy.
00:04:39
Speaker
Um, it's funny that we say that, but, um, I'm watching a lot of um high potential. ah like So it's that too, where her gimmick is just like, she, she doesn't, she has like insombia. So she, she also has a photographic memory and it's like beyond the scope of what they think but photographic memory is. And it's that it's like Jack Reacher has the same thing where he even does like kind of mind tricks where it's like, Oh, I don't need to write shit down. I just always know it It's like, I have a photograph photographic memory.
00:05:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah. But that still requires like hours of burning it into your brain. And even then, it's like the image of what you photograph gets blurrier unless you like revisit it.
Adaptation Differences
00:05:21
Speaker
That's the limitations of it. Actually, I just finished reading one of the books. It was the second one that came out, Die Trying, where it's like Richard's it's it's kidnapped by this like FBI agent. and They're both kidnapped by like this like militia group.
00:05:37
Speaker
And he is able to, like, basically, like, he has, like, an internal alarm clock, can basically, like count, like, he can, like, super accurately tell the time, like, he just, like, knows what time it is. I mean, we know what time is it. It's kick-butt time.
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah. But, I mean, is it of those, like, he has an internal... Some people do have, like, a... I guess, just, like, you can sense how long time has passed since the last time you find your marking.
00:06:03
Speaker
Some people do it but based on their facial hair. If they shave all the time, they know based on the growth that, hey, it's this time because it always grows at this kind of rate. I think it was just like he's counting and it's like a military thing where he like, he like it's like that's how like when he was on like, on like, on like, ah you know, a patrol or on guard, like he's like, you you'd count to keep yourself awake or keep yourself like in like a ready state, just like count the hours or count the minutes.
00:06:26
Speaker
Holy shit. I mean, that's like a constant thing. basic because like that's ah You've basically built ah built an alarm clock. It's just like, well, when's last time? I've counted. Alright. And then you gotta keep going, okay, it's been an hour.
00:06:38
Speaker
I mean, I can't do that. Just the the mental capacity to remember how long time has passed is fucking hard. i think that I think that the season three of the show, they just did it. We tried to get up at midnight to be a beast-aware.
00:06:52
Speaker
and then it's like so he goes to bed and he like cuts like 10 minutes before midnight. and then he's's He's like already up and ready to go.
00:06:59
Speaker
It's like, oh, he set his mental alarm to get up.
00:07:04
Speaker
None of that stuff is in the Tom Cruise movie, but there is a lot of... like He does you know no and understand details. He knows sniper... There's a lot of sniper knowledge that he goes through. because i think one of the details in the Reacher books is that he won like the Marine like i a sort of like ring Corps like ah Army Shooting Challenge.
00:07:26
Speaker
are the army like shooting challenge like like It's like the prestti like the most prestigious like shooting competition Yeah, because that and that becomes like a plot point later on for Robert Duvall.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:41
Speaker
But, ah anyway, yeah, so in the movie movie's also the it's the first ah time Christopher McQuarrie directed Tom Cruise, which obviously would be ah long, still ongoing ah relationship.
00:07:54
Speaker
All the Mission Impossible movies post Jack Reacher, ah and then I think also Tom... ah but was yeah he did to the ne outside of like the... ah Was it Oblivion?
00:08:08
Speaker
No, that was that was just those was Joseph Kaczynski who did Tom Cruise Maverick. Well, I think Christopher Quarry's either he's ah either like wrote every Tom Cruise movie basically since Jack Reacher or like, val actually like Valkyrie was the first one and then he directed Jack Reacher and wrote Jack Reacher and then he's either like directed or written any every Tom Cruise movie since then.
00:08:32
Speaker
Except for Jack Reacher, Never Go Back. like ah Funnily enough, because and i think you can probably tell that the sequel is not good. It's a different tone.
00:08:44
Speaker
Yeah, totally stylistically. it's just like It's way more generic, I feel like, the second one is. I feel like this one, the second one should be the first one, and then this one should be the sequel.
00:08:56
Speaker
But you can you can watch, the the cool thing is that you basically watch as out of order, and it still makes sense. Yeah. yeah whole the The book series, the TV show, everything it's it's all super episodic. You can just basically jump in whenever you want.
00:09:11
Speaker
It's just Reacher just reach just like traveling around. getting the like just stumbles into a small town and uncovers a murder or a conspiracy that kills everyone and stops it. And then he just gets on a bus and leaves.
00:09:23
Speaker
yeah Rinse and repeat. But yeah, so in... ah so in the movie, which is, it's based on One Shot, which is the ninth book released. And actually, actually when when Tom Cruise and Paramount got the rights in 2005, that was like the most current book.
00:09:40
Speaker
So that's what that's why they based the movie on that book. But they released Jack Reacher book like every year. they were like, there's sorry there was like, by the time this came out in theaters, there was like seven more books that came out.
00:09:54
Speaker
I mean, they bought the... I mean, good to secure something to get inside the franchise, but I think the Amazon were smart to go, okay, now that he's established, this pay all the rights to basically just keep making series out of it, so no one no one has the rights to make a movie.
00:10:10
Speaker
they also based... The the first season of the show was based on the first book.
00:10:15
Speaker
but Which wasn't a bad thing. i so in the Do you want to compare the show to the movie? Because it's like, they're totally separate things, but they're both enjoyable.
Character Motivations and Skills
00:10:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I also think that there's a lot of weakness about like not knowing who Jack Reacher is if youve this is your first thing to watch the movie. Because the book kind of flushes... the this The series does make more sense, but the villains are weak.
00:10:44
Speaker
And here, the villains are pretty good. Just Jack Reacher is sort of like, mysterious. Yeah, they there's the definitely the hint around... like yeah or you have to really like kindic pay attention, because they'll drop like little like details, like we like which like the sniper competition...
00:10:59
Speaker
Or, like, Tom Cruise has that monologue about freedom, where he's like, look these look at the people across the street, they know like you know what freedom is? Like, but should they want a life wait like me, like I drift around America and just like, see America.
00:11:13
Speaker
I'm super free, I live off the grid. It's very, like, anti-capitalist, anti, I guess, establishment. i feel I feel like Tom Cruise Jack Reacher is a little more intense than I feel like the show or the book Jack Reacher. Cause the whole reason Jack Reacher is like traveling around the country is he just wants to see America. Cause he's never like, he's barely lived in America. Like he's only been in America like once.
00:11:37
Speaker
When he was a kid. He was like, born he was like, like a adult yeah yeah he was like born in Europe. He was deployed off seas. And then he's like, I want to see America that I've been like defending and like, you know,
00:11:49
Speaker
like see all these like landmarks and see all these cities and stuff. so that's basically I want to see where all my time in war is worth it. He's kind of gauging how America is, and he's correcting things that like are but like people don't know about.
00:12:04
Speaker
It makes sense. think in the book, it's way more delivered in a more patriotic way. But to me, yeah. He's doing it because he enjoys it too. He's kind of like a like the world's most jacked tourists. is He's just like, i want i want to see Mount Rushmore, like the, like Liberty Bell and like all that stuff. And then it makes sense in the book, right? It's more flushed out. I didn't, I never, always ah I never read the book.
00:12:28
Speaker
I know of them, but I just never read them. Um, But based on like the speech he gives in this movie, the intensity, it's as if he's like trying to convert the DA or whatever his name is. Rosamund Pike's character? wrote would be like will we drift No, no, no. Even that, Zach.
00:12:46
Speaker
It's like as if he's like, Scientology is the answer. It's that kind of intensity of a speech that he gives. I give him credit because I feel like because um Tom Cruise is the executive producer of Jack Reacher in this one of the movie,
00:13:03
Speaker
he got to put that speech in there. And then he delivered his way. Where I feel like in an almost propaganda thing, and I think they probably gave him notes to say, you can't do
Supporting Characters and Plot Complexity
00:13:12
Speaker
that. He was just like...
00:13:14
Speaker
You know what's also holding his... Those people who constitute their phatons in them. They gotta get rid of them. but I can sense that like there's bad energy in them. you know like He could easily... like I imagine in those Scientology like giant meetings where they bring like you know Tom Cruise in there and he does give those giant motivational speeches.
00:13:35
Speaker
He probably does the same intensity because his acting is really convincing you know like in person. And then he delivers that fucking blow of just like... give yourself to Xenu and like, and I'm like, Whoa, whoa I could see, uh, I could see a heavy handed, um, like the, the pitch hidden in all the details.
00:13:58
Speaker
Kind of like how in this movie, there's this, um, you know, assassination hidden amongst the chaos of the shooting, which is really, like, horrific in the beginning. Oh, yeah. yeah like i yeah I forgot, like, the the opening is, like, super intense. Like, if there's no dialogue for, like, 10 minutes.
00:14:18
Speaker
It's eerily quiet, and then it's just chaos. And you're, like, in the crosshairs, you kind just, like, you're, like, just going across, like, it's, like, who's the sniper go to shoot? And, you know, you're just in the beginning. You're just like, Jack Courtney, it's okay, man. Like, your career's gonna be okay.
00:14:33
Speaker
Well, it was... I feel like this was right before it kind of, like went on like, went off the rails for a little bit. Because he was in Spartacus before this. Yep. And then this. and it was like, oh, this Jack Courtney guy, he's, like, super interesting. No, no, he was also in Live Free and Die Hard, I think. That was the year after this.
00:14:47
Speaker
Oh, it the year after. That's when it started going downhill. was like, oh, no, they're trying to make Jack Courtney the next big thing. It's like, he he works... He's in bad. Well, he definitely is, like, all of the movies where he's, like, a side character or, like, a villain or something, like he's, like, way more interesting than, like, trying to make him, like, the like the big, like, leading man star guy Like, he was in, like, Divergent and all those other movies. they were trying like Terminator Genisys, like... You know, I didn't mind Terminator Genisys.
00:15:18
Speaker
I mean, he's not an awesome John, but I get it. Kyle, but... A lot lot lot of the guys here, i feel like they're pushing around this time. like It was like Jai Courtney, Sam Warrington, Taylor Kitsch. I feel like all of them are like way more interesting as supporting characters.
00:15:35
Speaker
like so like this just like like current like like now Everything they're doing now is like a lot more interesting than like like the the big like blockbuster stuff we're trying to do
00:15:45
Speaker
But he's like at least a... What's the term? Like, on par with Jack Reacher. Like, he's also a metic... Like, Jack Courtney is a henchman, but also, like, a boss. Like, he he actually does things. He... He's on par with Tom Cruise, Jack Reacher.
00:16:03
Speaker
No, no. I mean, well, yeah, but... If it was, like, you what it was, you like, actual, like... Alan Richman? Yeah, Alan Richman, Jack Reacher. I feel like... Jack Courtney's, like, taller than Tom Cruise in this movie.
00:16:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Jack Courtney's, like, a big guy. He's, like, six years. like Yeah, he's like he's like Jack Reacher size, almost. so Yeah. But Tom Cruise, I think, is like i have something Yeah.
00:16:27
Speaker
I mean, it's fine, but in this movie, he's like he's definitely wearing heels. he's and when he hes They do like very clever camera tricks to make him seem very imposing.
00:16:40
Speaker
Though, like I said, Tom Cruise, he still acts... All the things I say ah about him about Scientology, if you separate that, there he... he does a great first like action sequence in this movie in the bar.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yes. It's still pretty cool. Like, it's just that like classic, um, guy who wants no trouble. And then when trouble kicks off, he's just like, how to handle myself. So I have this like cool confidence that all the people who are just bullies, like they're not getting what they want.
00:17:13
Speaker
So it just has to resort to just basically like, um, just violent, the generic violent action. I do appreciate that this movie opens with that, that to show Jack Reacher is not someone that you basically um can just like throw a punch and just expect that like he's trained.
00:17:34
Speaker
Well, we were talking about it before we started, too. like it's it's It's also much more believable that like people like this like local townie thugs could think they could take down Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher compared to the Alan Richardson one. If someone paid you $100 to try to fight Alan Richardson's Jack Reacher, like you'd be like, ah I need more money, please.
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's like, oh yeah what do you paid them yeah what what what did you pay the local hooligans in? It's like, well, I gave them coupons, and then... give him an Amazon gift card. It's like, that's not enough. Well, doesn't Sandy say she got paid hundred dollars?
00:18:11
Speaker
and Something like that. and Yeah. She was also the femme fatale, I guess. Yeah. And just the, I don't know what she does or like, she just hangs out with a whole bunch of like thug guys.
00:18:26
Speaker
Uh, but they, they focus on her a lot more than I thought in this movie. Yeah. That's why I f forgot about that too. Like she's like a main character, like a, kind of a significant character for a while. It's almost like a Bond movie where she's the second Bond girl that has to die in the movie as motivation for Bond.
00:18:42
Speaker
Yeah. So Jack Reacher is like sympathetic and more enraged about his mission. But I don't know. like It's not bad.
00:18:53
Speaker
I feel like in any other movie, that's just like a one and done character in a scene.
Critique of Movie Plot and Production
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah. like she runs She runs off into that fight and then it's just like, oh, you never see her again. and And if you do see her, it's like, oh, she's just sort of like a photo or like it makes sense in some conversation and that's it.
00:19:11
Speaker
She doesn't have more, but you see like two more scenes of her. Three if you count like what happens later. Well, because she works at the auto parts store, which I love it. love it's called default auto parts.
00:19:24
Speaker
But it's like it's clearly like a like a pep boys or something. They just couldn't get the right. They couldn't get rights. I mean, even okay even the leaps of logic are pretty big in this movie.
00:19:35
Speaker
ah So just like Sherlock Holmes, it's like very vague of what he's talking about, and then it just gets bigger, and then it comes like his, oh, I'm brilliant moment. yeah Meaning, where he goes, oh, what do you what do you think, he asks Rose Pike, like, what do you think when people say the auto body shop? And then it's like, they go to the one place. and The auto parts store, yeah. Yeah, it's like, wow, this is a bad marketing.
00:19:56
Speaker
For, like, the store. Yeah, cause because Reacher's like, she didn't say a auto parts store, she said the auto parts store. Like, i should know what that is. So then, what is that in Pittsburgh? It's default auto parts.
00:20:14
Speaker
And it doesn't really have to, like, it it's just where she works, but it hasn't do anything with the main plot, you know? It's not like she's the... It would make sense in ah and a very dumb, convoluted way if she was, like, the secretary or a worker at the construction site.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah, maybe, yeah. That makes more sense. It's like, okay, they just got, like, a crew... You know, someone's dating her and was like, bring her along. We'll use her as part of our dumb plan. Like, they didn't think because they're not good at, like, crime.
00:20:45
Speaker
You know, they're good at, like, muscle work, but they're not good at thinking about the bigger picture. So then it's like, you don't, you know, get the company involved. And that's where, like, the subplot happens.
00:20:56
Speaker
But they kind of, like, went to a secondary, like, a giant, like, unconnected, like, group that gets connected just by, like, two little small incidences. You know, and then the movie just sort of has the balls. this is where I kind of hate it, too, where like a lot of the other subplots happen off screen and then it's only mentioned in passing and dialogue.
00:21:17
Speaker
Like Jeb. Yes. Do you think Jeb's going to be like the way they talk about Jeb? It's like a bigger conversation. And it's not. By the end of the third act, you're like, oh, what well happened to Jeb? Did they find his body? Like what?
00:21:30
Speaker
Where is he? So I think I was reading INDB. um so so So Jay Courtney is Australian. Josh Hellman is also Australian. keep but Josh Hellman plays Jeb. He's also like young William Stryker in the X-Men movies later on.
00:21:45
Speaker
ah But apparently like this like because this is like one of their like first big movies, they were having trouble with English accents. they could They couldn't believable English accents. like like They cut a lot of their dialogue and scenes out.
00:21:58
Speaker
It's why, like, Jay Corden doesn't have a lot dialogue this movie. Because he just couldn't couldn't, he couldn't, like, get rid of his Australian accent.
00:22:07
Speaker
That's fine. Also, he doesn't, he also, it's crazy, he's like, he doesn't need to be American. it It doesn't, it's not vital that he has to The company is German, or whatever, whatever the great Werner Herzog is. He's supposed to be, like, he's, he's, guess he's Russian, because he was in, like, the Siberian Gulag or whatever.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, and he's not even Russian in real life. I mean, Werner Herzog's... He barely has an accent. i mean it's just the Werner Herzog method of acting. like Like, low pitch, draw, like, do you see my thumbs?
00:22:46
Speaker
I am a survivor. Yeah. I will do anything to survive. Man, his his intro is so good. Super good. Yeah, it's like but if if Tom Cruise wasn't like a megastar, like the Werner Herzog part of this movie is just so haunting.
00:23:07
Speaker
it's its It's the perfect... like If Werner Herzog is your villain, it's the perfect Werner Herzog crazy monologue where he chewed his own fingers off in the gulag. And then forced him to chew his fingers off.
00:23:20
Speaker
And it's not even like he does much. It's just his presence, his like his attitude towards humanity is so fucking cold that he doesn't have to hold a gun to be menacing in this. You know what mean? like He's very...
00:23:36
Speaker
um His will is so presented just by the way he carries himself. And it's great. It's a great, like simple performance. There's no silly props. like They gave him, like what, a blind eye? make it seem like that's how much of a
Villain's Scheme and Execution
00:23:52
Speaker
survivor he's lived. and it's like he can He just wants people to suffer, or he wants control because he lost it at one point to be in the Grulog.
00:24:00
Speaker
Well, it's weird because their plan is... they they just comment that like Their company comes into town just builds unnecessary... construction projects they get forced out town. They just build up, like, they just, like, get a ton of money for, like, construction projects they don't build, or they build them and then, like, charge the city or something, they leave, and they get... No, so, what they do, if you... It's really fucking convoluted, so I'm surprised they got caught.
00:24:28
Speaker
It's like when Steven Rosenberg lays out the whole, like, plot scheme.
00:24:33
Speaker
Okay. So... The plot is that Werner Herzog is a real estate tycoon. Yes. They go around trying to muscle out the other contracts of construction companies that are trying to like do betterment of the town.
00:24:52
Speaker
That way, he could infiltrate establish like um market and then basically create his own network of mob enforcers for the company because now they own the crew who build the buildings and then they're going to be known as like the number one construction crew to always be and then they buy out everyone else and if they can't buy them out they'll kill them No one's figured out that pattern.
00:25:20
Speaker
Especially because like cause they've been to, because when Pike lays out, oh, they've been to like Sacramento, Austin, ah Albuquerque. It's like they've been like so many cities before and like no one like and that no one's ever like No one's pointed out that there was a dude with like two fingers walking around sounding like Werner Horzog. like there's still like There's no like FBI investigation into this company. It just like travels through like different cities and strip mines them for money and leaves. like Yeah.
00:25:46
Speaker
It's like, you know, the company, it's a mysterious company, shell company. It's very like, oh, secret thing. But honestly, it's like, They're just a real so it's it's basically they're like Zillow.
00:25:59
Speaker
Zillow does this to real estate buildings. It's really fucking shitty, but it's legal. They just buy a bunch of property and then that way they can charge the market. If they own majority of it and they can set the market price and then they basically don't allow anyone else in the market.
00:26:16
Speaker
That's a legal thing. You don't need to do fucking all this if you just want to build property.
00:26:21
Speaker
It's dummy. It really fucks over the local economy and the people that actually need the money. Like that small business that basically... um What was it? Remember the like the the woman the who took over for her husband?
00:26:34
Speaker
It was so stressful it gave him a heart attack. Yeah. So, I mean... they and don't It's not like they are under a timeline to do all this. no well No one was investigating that company.
00:26:47
Speaker
ah They didn't want to like clean their tracks. was like like They're not blamed for that heart attack. You know what I mean? Werner Herzog wasn't seen. It's so like shadowy, so it's like very well hidden.
00:27:00
Speaker
Their only mistake was to do all this fucking complicated shit. like You know what I mean? like they could it Kill five people to kill the one person. They don't even need to kill her. Just wait her out. that She was filing for a loan so that she can keep her company afloat for another like year or finish the contract.
00:27:18
Speaker
They could have just built more property in the one thing. Or... Go to another fucking city. Outbid her. under You have to underbid. You could have underbid her. And then she would... No matter what, like she couldn't last. like You just outlast her.
00:27:34
Speaker
And then... or Go to another city. Yeah. you You already did it to three other, four other cities, and then you're, and then maybe, I'm not sure if they're all, see, that's the thing.
00:27:46
Speaker
The movie never gives us a good hint of a history of what they've done. They're so mysterious that, like, you're supposed to just hate them for doing this thing in Pittsburgh, but we don't know what else they did. You know, it's like, is Werner Herzog the end of the whole ah company? Is he just, like, the kind of kind of of the Jai Courtney of that management level?
00:28:07
Speaker
but's like It's also so weird because like you normally when you think about like a corrupt like construction company, you think like like the Italian mob or something. You think it'd be like ah like a Tony Soprano kind of guy running it. but you know that's but they not So they get you because that's what the other guy was. The guy who failed to bite his finger.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah. That's why they were keeping their hands clean. They like they hired the local mob But then you got but you have like, for Hertzlog, like, if fu see t of man the men, the survival is doing whatever it takes. and it's like and he's right But he's running like this like construction scam?
00:28:41
Speaker
Like, you think he'd be he'd be like, and don't human trafficking? Or something like weird? like Higher briber market. Yeah, like, ah I mean, granted, it's still what their plan was even stupid of like, okay, they went to like the most extreme...
00:28:55
Speaker
like, terrorist level? Like, they committed a, like... Or he's he's, like, running, like, an underground fight club. He's like, well we we will see who the true survivors are before we run our underground fight club or something. Like... You want... Here's something that's very simple they can do and that just, like, kind of makes it easier.
00:29:12
Speaker
human organs organ harvesting. Yeah. That makes sense about the finger biting makes sense about the human sacrifice. He's like, you know, he can even say like, I don't kill the people. I just take parts. I need, you know, it' just like really messed up because he just sees people as like auto parts.
00:29:28
Speaker
yeah So it makes sense about the auto parts store and all that. So it's like, that's a plot. that That's the like the stupid, like, oh, it's, it's sort of like, you know, people trying to buy parts and pieces and all those other things. It's just, if you have the money, i will get you a car and a lung. Like, oh, okay.
00:29:48
Speaker
Yeah. The company is weird, but I it. Yeah. His, his whole vibe kind of clashes with the, the overall scheme. Like, it's like, I'm going to build a bridge to nowhere. Yeah. that And then, And that that signifies the futility of man's attempt to like live forever. you You ever seen the Werner Herzog documentary where he he narrates about that penguin that runs into like the abyss of of like Alaska?
00:30:15
Speaker
It's haunting. But... ah I would love to him to give that kind of speech of just the fertility of man and and sort of like running into the abyss headfirst for certain doom.
Reacher's Journey and Challenges
00:30:29
Speaker
And it's all about trying to set up like a beautification project in Pittsburgh. The people, they demand a public park, but they don't understand that there is no such thing as a public park. You're like, what? what like Like, there's like this, like, this this movie has like a super long, like, Verder Herzog, like classic Verder Herzog, like, like,
00:30:49
Speaker
super depressing monologue. And it's, at the end of it, it's just like, ah anyway wait, wait. So before we get that part, that's what the speech that Tom Cruise gives is what the Werner Herzog should have been giving.
00:31:01
Speaker
Yeah. These people think they have freedom, but they don't have freedom. See, doesn't that make more sense? And then Tom Cruise probably heard that goes, no, no, no. I'm going to give that speech. Like let Jack Reager give that. Like that's the villain speech. It's like, no, no, no.
00:31:13
Speaker
Now it's the Jack Reager speech. Yeah. It'd be funny if, like, Verner Herzog gave us a monologue, and at the end of it, you find out he's, like a town hall or something, and he's like, anyway, we're going to build a road. We're going to build new streets.
00:31:26
Speaker
Just, okay, you've seen, that you've seen you you've seen Parks Rec, right? Yeah. In the part Verner Herzog talks about the doll factory that, like, Andy and his girlfriend, like, move into. Mm-hmm.
00:31:37
Speaker
that he talks about it in like the depressing, weird, mysterious way. Yeah, it's like, it's a Parks and Rec. He is a perfect Parks and Rec character to come up during it like a Pittsburgh town meeting. And it's like, alright, who's voting about the zoning of like you know more residential buildings? And he's up there going like, does Pittsburgh need more residential buildings or does it need more cemeteries? And you're like, what the fuck?
00:32:00
Speaker
It's that. They're like, shit. The only road that matters is the road to our certain deaths. no one knows where the housing might go, but we all know that you'll always end up in the grave. Like, oh my, whoa.
00:32:13
Speaker
Anyway, my company's here to bid on the extension of the the expressway.
00:32:21
Speaker
You know, I think it's about bridges. That's what, that's what, that's what, that's what, that's what Pike says is like, oh, they build, they build roads nowhere. They build bridges. Don't go anywhere. Like this is, it sounds they just build like, like random shit and then just like leave it and then to another city.
00:32:37
Speaker
I mean, some contracting companies like really scumbag ones will do that. They'll take the job, get paid for the certain amount of hours that they can. And then knowing that the next phase of production is like harder and then, you know, demands more skill, they'll just bail.
00:32:51
Speaker
Yeah. That happened to my grandma's place once. Like we hired a contractor to fix stuff and then they were just like, oh yeah, we, we like are leaving. It's like, wait, but what about this? It's like, no, we'll just, we'll bill the hours we did. And that's it. to find another guy.
00:33:05
Speaker
That's literally a construction scam. It's not against the law. They only... Because it's like, you didn't break the lease. It's not like you guaranteed I get this job done. It's like you still pay the hours they worked and then they just go... They usually so do... It's really scumbag, bitch. They just set up the next gig.
00:33:22
Speaker
Like, you have to set up another gig in order to do the scam.
00:33:27
Speaker
So that's what they did. But the problem is is they did they did it in a very convoluted way. And it involved a lot of, like, guns and hiring people and then, like, trying to keep it secret and trying to keep it secret made more fucking problems. and then Like, Jay Courtney had to spend, like, who knows how long... Befriending that dude. right Bringing a sniper guy ah faking the the shooting range papers, like... ah Going to lunch and listening to this dude's story for, like...
00:33:59
Speaker
countless weekends yeah to like inner circle trust him. but Yeah, break into his house, get like, so break into his house, steal all, like he steal his rifle and get like fingerprints off everything and bring it all back without him like waking up. and the start to I don't think they drugged him. I think he was just like sleeping. They drugged him. Oh, they drugged him? Okay.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah, there's like a on the table where like he rubs the guy's greasy nose on the quarter. Yeah, there was just like bottles of pills, which I think the guy needs because he's like on anti psychotic meds. So.
00:34:31
Speaker
Yeah, he they probably just like take five and then I don't know. Or, you know, it's supposed to imply that the dude is heavily medicated or sedated. And then he's able to do all this like morning, you know, terrorist things. And then he gets back in, drops the clothes because he wears the Jack Courtney also had to pick a guy that he was also roughly the same size as because he wore the dude's jacket. He wore the dude's like shoes to really plant the evidence.
00:34:55
Speaker
But. Yeah. Yeah, like and then the that's what ties it together because everything else is like incidental. the The quarter with the fingerprint is like what seals the thing.
00:35:08
Speaker
That's more conclusive evidence. That's why even Jack Reacher was like, I wouldn't have thought of that because why pay parking if you're going to do all this? You're not there for the whole day. You're literally there for like five minutes.
00:35:25
Speaker
And then who, and then that's how he knows that like ah David O. Yellow is like the corrupt cop because what, like no one would like open up a parking meter and look find like the one corner that has like the DNA on it or whatever. Oh, I mean, yeah, it's like, it's a crazy thing to think now in 2025 where when's the last time you went to a parking structure and then use coin money to pay for the meter inside of a building?
00:35:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's all it's all an app, or it's all, like, prepaid, or it's all, you know, it's all digital now, so... I mean, there are some machines that still require, like, oh, you want to feed it a dollar, like a vending machine? But those are being phased out, like... Like, I've not seen one. I'm so used to just, like, an app and leaving a digital footmark.
00:36:17
Speaker
And, again, not fine for me, because I'm not doing anything crazy, but... Yeah, mm-hmm. um in the movie sense, it's like, that's very, like, a dated thing. And it's like, oh, this dude was so used to it. and it's like, okay, hard sell. Now when you think about it in the movie, it's like a dead giveaway that it's, like, weird, and then it just keeps getting weirder.
00:36:38
Speaker
ah Okay, in a true kind of 90s way of a movie, it like Tom Cruise should used a quarter to kill David Aiello. Like, he should have, like... your quarter.
00:36:50
Speaker
Yeah, like, he would have basically, like, somehow slingshot the quarter into Dave Aiello's head. or like, flip it so that it distracts him and they shoot somebody he looks up, like, look at the quarter or something.
00:37:05
Speaker
Or, you know, like, um, you know, Dave Aiello instantly was just like, oh, Reacher, I'm trying to arrest you. Well, they did that giant car chase. Which is, yeah, that car chase awesome.
00:37:17
Speaker
It is pretty cool. Uh, it would have been something like, oh, man, like, if if and Honestly, there's just more exchanges between them because they only they only talk like two times.
00:37:29
Speaker
It's like the first time they meet. He goes see the evidence see and all the evidence then... ah
00:37:37
Speaker
what's What's this? yeah He goes to see the evidence. When Reacher gets like locked up after the the fight. Yeah. And then he's like, oh, well no one pressed charge so you I gotta have to go. just Which is also funny. funny um The cop at the desk when Reacher gets his stuff back is Lee Child, the author of Jack Reacher.
00:37:55
Speaker
It's fun. I didn't know that either until later. I looked that up.
00:38:01
Speaker
ah But is Lee Chow's in the show? No, i don't think I don't think he said it came on the show yet. Wow, that's weird. i' but I'd sh sneak in the show if I was at the creator.
00:38:14
Speaker
And then just have it be like some multiversal con like crossover.
00:38:19
Speaker
Jack Richa's going to Pittsburgh.
00:38:22
Speaker
i think i think I think Lee Chow is also like, he's pretty tall and like like pretty big, so he's like, oh, Jack Reacher's me, basically. Makes sense. It's a paratrip fantasy.
00:38:32
Speaker
Write what you know.
00:38:35
Speaker
Is Lee Chow secretly a Reacher? Like, he just he's going across the country, kicking butt, and then writing them down. These are all like confessions. These are what he's actually been doing. Yep. He's like, you know, I solved like a real estate conspiracy.
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah. also solved a...
00:38:52
Speaker
A hostile takeover of a pharmaceutical company? That was the TV show, I think.
00:39:00
Speaker
Uh... Second season was like the crazy, like, Robert Patrick was doing the his crazy, like, missile deal or something. ah He also had a private military. Yeah. yeah were all He was a contractor that was basically getting into, like, global terrorism.
00:39:12
Speaker
He was basically trying to become Cobra. because yeah the The super special missiles that were un-detectable. They basically were trying to become Cobra. i yeah And then season three is like Anthony... whatever his name is. Anthony Michael Hall is an American mobster. like he's I don't know what the his gimmick is yet.
00:39:36
Speaker
Well, he's got a boss that I don't think they've revealed yet. Oh, I thought he was the boss. Interesting. No, there's like ah like one of the things in the first three episodes, like, oh, he but it's like like the kid that Richard saves, like, Nathan Michael's whole son, is like, oh, my dad yeah my dad's not the boss. like He's got a boss above him.
00:39:53
Speaker
Oh, spoiler. Is it Rurnal Herzog? yeah I wish.
Supporting Characters and Final Showdown
00:39:58
Speaker
He's like, I died in a previous life, and I'm back, and I've got more fingers.
00:40:05
Speaker
but I have all my fingers now. i mean, the the stories of Jack Reacher make sense. They all to be in America. They all have to be within a reason of limit that doesn't cross over into almost supernatural.
00:40:16
Speaker
um Where, like, it's all... The things he's doing is still military-based. It's not like suddenly it's, like, ninjutsu.
00:40:27
Speaker
You know, it's not like Reacher spent time in the mountains like Batman and then came back and he's like, League of Assassins. It's, like, all realistic. Mm-hmm.
00:40:37
Speaker
Until, like, the until, uh, what's-his-face? Lee Childs is really digging deep, and he's like, what what can Reacher fight now? And he's like, crab monsters. um i i up from I mean, it's still coming out. there's a new There's new book coming out in November, so.
00:40:53
Speaker
I mean, that's the same thing about, like, Alex Cross novels.
00:40:58
Speaker
So it's like, you sort of just stick to the basics, and then it's like, this makes sense to why you read this character. Mm-hmm. Though in some novels, Alex Cross's wife is alive or his girlfriend's dead and just like mix and match.
00:41:14
Speaker
ah But Reacher, like I said, I think I mentioned this earlier, like because his background is very weak, he's got no weaknesses. And that's sort of like a strength. He does mention it later. He's like, I'm a drifter.
00:41:27
Speaker
i You know nothing about me. I have no stakes. I could walk away right now. I'm a ghost. Yep. i've i've i've i can devot I have nothing to do. I can just devote all my time to like killing you or you're like stopping you.
00:41:40
Speaker
It's like, I'm insanely good at what I do. You know it. All it takes is time. You're going to mess up. I'm going to be there. Very threatening. I don't mind that. But it's like, you really have to know yourself to give that kind of answer to somebody.
00:41:54
Speaker
Because you can't be like, I got nothing to lose. It's like, what about your family? And they're like, oh, oh yeah, that's right. I do have family. And in No, you can back it up with, like, your funny skills or, your like, your, like, knowledge of whatever's happening.
00:42:08
Speaker
Yep. Oh, I want to go back to the car chase quick for a second, because, like, the end of the car chase is kind of weird, where, like, Richard, like, like, walks out it. He just, like, basically ghost rides the car, like, walks out of it.
00:42:20
Speaker
It's, like, rolling down the street. And then there's a crowd of people that see him being chased by cops in, like, a wrecked car. And then they just help. Like, the one guy's like, um yeah, I'll help you, mysterious man. Like, here's my hat. like Also, this is the same city that just maybe four days ago experienced a domestic terrorist attack.
00:42:39
Speaker
Yes. a mass Like a mass shooting. It's like a tragedy. And they covered it up. Like, they covered this up. Because obviously the police are trying to chase somebody, not just like a purse robber.
00:42:52
Speaker
You know what i mean? And the city's just like, we're not stitches snitching. Yeah, like Pittsburgh does not snitch. This guy gets out of the car in the middle street and then like, I don't know his arm.
00:43:03
Speaker
They don't know what's going on. Roadblock in front of him. Car cars sweeping on behind him as well. And guy's like, all right, you're good. You're cool. <unk> but Here's my hat. You can hide.
00:43:15
Speaker
And I do love like he's in the bus like right next to David. I don't know. And this is like doesn't see him because he's got the hat on.
00:43:24
Speaker
It takes the bus out to Ohio.
00:43:28
Speaker
That's where the people need to be. to go To go visit Robert Duvall, who's also like one of the support characters in the movie.
00:43:37
Speaker
Which... Days of Thunder reunion. Yes. I'm surprised they didn't mention anything like that. There's no nothing about Robert Duvall talking about cars, or something about ice cream.
00:43:51
Speaker
Yeah. Those are the two big scenes I remember about Days of Thunder. Him... Comparing the engine like a lady and then eating ice cream. And then Tom Cruise is freaking out.
00:44:02
Speaker
It's like, do you drive as do drive as well you shoot, son? He's nah, shooting's done. Let's get to the real talk. Get in this car. Let's let's do some laps.
00:44:13
Speaker
Yeah, the Robert of All part's pretty fun because I always thought it was going to be like the one scene and done, but then when he's actually reaches back up at the end and yes it's like very reasonable of a guy who's like, yeah I agree to help you. Like, I don't know the full situation, so here's a knife and like I'll gauge it from there.
00:44:32
Speaker
Well, i like I really noticed that this time, like, I mean, obviously you can notice the first time, but like definitely this time, like right like he's like intentionally not hitting anybody. He's, like, just shooting around people to, make them, like, duck down so that Reacher can, like, move.
00:44:45
Speaker
but Because he's, like, I'm not gonna shoot, like, random strangers, like, ah based on your word. but So he's, like, shooting, like, into, like, bulldozers, into windows, making, like, the all the goods, like, duck down and, like, get out of the way. Yeah, very clever.
00:44:57
Speaker
Clever way to not really villainize the heroes of, like, justifying their actions of brute force until it's, like, warranted where it's, like, it's either you or him. Mm-hmm.
00:45:10
Speaker
So like it's it's very restrained. Which I don't mind. That's what I kind like about the movie. In other tough guy movies like this. Like a John Wick. Those guys would just be like Kung Fu'd and flipped didn and shot in the head all at once.
00:45:24
Speaker
Oh, speaking that. I forgot to mention like the the bathroom scene. Where those guys try to beat Oh, like the three stooges? Like the wackiest... is like It's like this crazy like comedy like action sequence where Richard's just like in the tub.
00:45:42
Speaker
These guys just beat the out of each other because they get like the bathroom's so small. and then Like the giant guys. Yeah. And I also love it. Richard uses one guy's head to like smash another guy's head.
00:45:55
Speaker
Very fun. Um, I, I definitely appreciate that scene. It definitely breaks up the pacing of the other existential dread of like what's going on. Yeah. Uh, though, I feel like Reacher gave those guys on the, like the, the, the dudes he smashed a dude in like massive brain damage.
00:46:16
Speaker
Probably. Yeah. Those guys are going to need like physical therapy. Um, Yeah, like, you want to use another person's play like head as a as a club. It's like, they're gonna have some speech problems.
00:46:34
Speaker
ah But yeah, I do appreciate the comedy. It's very at left field, because we don't see Reacher get injured to that degree ever again and the movie.
00:46:47
Speaker
Yeah, he takes he takes like a broadside, like a baseball bat to the back of the head. Yeah, where he's like stumbling and he's in a bathtub and very vulnerable and it's like dumb luck that these people that are there to beat him up are dumb.
00:47:02
Speaker
Meanwhile, it's like the Jai Courtney fight was basically a flawless victory.
00:47:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's that that part's great. we're like I mean, yeah i it's gotta be raining, it's gotta be dark, and then Reacher gets the upper hand and then he throws the gun away and it's just like, we're gonna do this hand-to-hand.
00:47:23
Speaker
and and But it but is is it is noticeable where it's like, oh, Jay Courtney is, like, taller than Tom Cruise. And it's like, he's, like, the intimidating, for like, physical one of this fight.
00:47:34
Speaker
Which is supposed to be the other way around. But, yeah, Tom Cruise still, like, beats him down, stomps on his face.
00:47:45
Speaker
And then then does the... ah there Like, I don't even know how, like... because David Aiello has, like, two guns. Like, he's got one gun to Rosamund's head and the other gun. And then, I guess, Reacher's so fast, he just, like, bursts in and shoots him without him being able to fire either gun.
00:48:01
Speaker
it's just, like... I
00:48:06
Speaker
also like that Reacher takes... He takes the scope off the gun. disease just He's doing it, like, no scope. Like, just, like, the the sights. Shot from the hips, yeah. Yeah. Um... i it It definitely was a very tense moment. I definitely remember seeing that and going, oh, is this where like, you know, Rose Pike is going to do some action moves? Is this the part where like... Stop on his foot or do something knock him, hit him, hit him, hit him or something?
00:48:33
Speaker
It's not, because at some point, this whole movie, she doesn't She just, like, is frustrated a lot during this movie. She's just bottled down like, Reacher, I didn't tell you to do that. Or, like, she's just, Reacher, put your shirt on. Oh, like, I'm all flustered.
00:48:48
Speaker
So she's not, like, she doesn't have that, like, she can hold her own. So... I'm fine with that. Um... Because she's not, like, a fighter, so it makes sense.
00:48:59
Speaker
But... It is weird to see Dayo Aiello's, like, final showdown is just, like, two guns. You ready for this, like... um face-off Reacher where basically I'm a super big coward.
00:49:15
Speaker
um ah I'm going to duck all way down behind first of my pike and then shoot you when you walk through the door. yep
00:49:22
Speaker
Because he ran out of plans. And then Richard... like so Still... Just, like, the miniscule part of his, like, how it's, like, outside of... It's like, it's shot.
00:49:34
Speaker
But, I mean... yeah Richard won that... He won the sniper competition, so, i like, he's, like, one of the greatest shots in the world. I guess that makes sense. Yeah, he could shoot from, like, what? 700 yards?
00:49:46
Speaker
Some crazy distance? And it's like, this was maybe...
00:49:52
Speaker
10 yards. 10 yards. He shot in that room.
00:49:58
Speaker
that's like nothing to him.
00:50:02
Speaker
The trick cause was not to get shot. And yeah, he still got, he got winged, I think.
00:50:08
Speaker
But yeah, it's, a bit it's fun. Like in terms of like the escalation and then like the big bad in, in this era of movie making, at least it didn't end with a glowing blue light in the sky.
00:50:24
Speaker
Yeah. It didn't end with um David Aiello getting to a car and then like blowing up from his own ineptitude.
00:50:32
Speaker
And it also didn't end with um the like big reveal that it's all a dream or some bullshit. Because in 2012, movies were just like, let's just see what works.
00:50:47
Speaker
Well, I always love when the bad guys are, like, overconfident, and then, um or like, the underestimate, like, whoever's coming, and then they just get, like, they just start getting taken out one by one, and this is they get more and more, like, like scared or frustrated, where she's like, oh, it's like, Richard is taking out, like, three or four guys, and it's like, they're like, oh, shit, like, I also like that guy. David Aiello was, like, nowhere near the level of Jack Courtney, so when it was his turn, it was just like, I don't have any of those guys.
00:51:19
Speaker
All I know is like I'm still like a cop by day. like i my My skills are cop. Not that I was secretly a special ops agent. It wasn't like he on the side was just running a merc team.
00:51:33
Speaker
i feel they're trying to set up possibly that he had some sort of like... Because he they do like that like he does like the gunslinger like quick draw when he reaches in the car. tra Like, like he does he does, like, the Arthur fist, which is funny. there's like it's but It's, like, literally the shot for, like, oh like the Arthur meme, where it's, like, his fist. It's just, like, a shot of his fist.
00:51:55
Speaker
Well, I mean, you can't just quickdraw, shoot Reacher, and then, let's say even does that, it's, like, not a justified shot. It's just, like, he's still a cop. So many goddamn witnesses are there. Yeah.
00:52:07
Speaker
I feel like they're setting up like, oh, he's like a... he Maybe they'll do like ah like a gunslinger draw or something. Oh, yeah, that that would have been a ah fun thing. Just like, hey, it's like, Reacher goes, do you remember when you misdrew on me?
00:52:20
Speaker
like like just Like justified. Yep.
00:52:24
Speaker
Actually, yeah, you're right. That would have been... That makes way more sense as a motif that they got between them. Two tough guys. One's like mystery military cop. The other guy's like a Pittsburgh cop.
00:52:35
Speaker
it's like, you think you're tough, Reacher? Like, I've working the beat. I know what tough is. And Reacher's just like, shut up and draw. Like, that would have been it. That's... That's a good, like, face-off.
00:52:48
Speaker
Corrupt cop versus, like, morally superior military cop. Mm-hmm. But... It still ends okay. The Werner Herzog part was fun.
00:52:59
Speaker
the Where he's just like, I would get out. American prisons are nothing like the gulag. he was like guys so He's like, completely in a phase. just like you You killed everyone. There's no witnesses now. I'm going to i'mnna free be free to go. You'll go to an American prison. It's like a club met to me.
00:53:16
Speaker
Do they serve gruel? No. It's like, dudes at hotbeds? Yes. Okay. don't have to chew the my one last finger off.
00:53:29
Speaker
But then Richard goes for the kill shot, and then... Okay, but that's an ah that's be a hard one to like justify. It's like, alright, now we gotta give Werner Herzog a gun, too. and Yeah, how do you how do you stage... He reaches and stages the scene to make it look like yeah like like David Oyelowo shot them, or like there was some sort of weird... like He just leaves it all, it's like, yeah, everyone's dead. Well, no, David Oyelowo did pull the trigger.
00:53:58
Speaker
in in that scene where where they were doing the um hostage situation. So that's the justified shooting. Werner Herzog wasn't. It was just more like he was going to get away with it because the guy was going to get away with like surviving in jail still getting away with it.
00:54:13
Speaker
But Reacher's like, I don't care about the law. like I will let the law figure itself out. Everything else is going to be that. Well, Rose pe is like, i thought you wanted like find a people behind everything and get justice. He's like, I did get justice.
00:54:26
Speaker
The end. Yeah. A mess of injustice. just drives off with Robert Duvall. It's like, so it's like, clean up, just explain everything, and like like, figure out how to, like, clean up whatever's going happening.
00:54:38
Speaker
Oh, no. He, she basically has to explain this to her father, who's the DA, and then <unk> he's going to have questions. Be like, so you're, you're like, investigator, you're a private investigator you hired, killed, everyone killed everyone and left.
00:54:54
Speaker
That's a crime. Like, I feel like, or it's a summons. Like, you just can't do that. But I think that's what Reacher's like, oh this isn't the first time I've done this. Like, this is why i keep fucking running. Because I've killed a lot of key witnesses and things. and I'm just going go to go like, a new state and just, like, visit, like, a landmark and probably stumble across a dead body or something.
Plot Inconsistencies and Character Impact
00:55:16
Speaker
big I mean, a lot of the Reacher things, if it's like some big thing that requires more than two days for him of doing work, it's always like some sort of military thing.
00:55:27
Speaker
Otherwise, it's solved by him punching people and they just said, okay, hey, yeah, we shouldn't hit this woman.
00:55:35
Speaker
Or we shouldn't sell drugs through like our business. I mean, I pegged Reacher things. I kind of want you to read the latest book and tell me which one of the three things he always he does.
00:55:48
Speaker
Yeah, ive ive i've I bought a ton of them because the Jack Reacher books are like prime thrift store library book sale things. like So I just i found like a ton of them over the summer last year for like a dollar.
00:56:02
Speaker
like's like it's just got like an armful of Jack Reacher books, but i I've only read two of them so far. ah kind of want you to read all of them and we'll do something about that.
00:56:12
Speaker
The Reacher Chronicles and we'll just talk about like a Reacher book and like how basically it's the formula. The Reacher book club. Reaching books.
00:56:25
Speaker
Or, um, what what ah one of one of one of the ones I read, like, the instigating thing is that Reacher finds a West Point ring in a pawn shop. He's like, I'm gonna find the person, like sold this to the pawn shop? because like Why would you sell you West Point Ring? It escalates to this whole crazy like conspiracy thing. see but that's like so it' like he's ah like He gets off a bus in a pawn shop and he's like, oh, West Point Ring, that's weird.
00:56:53
Speaker
it's like I'm going to solve this. But see, he always has to stumble something military as this big thing. It's never just like, hey, Reacher, there's a shortage of water in this town. He's like,
00:57:04
Speaker
Does it involve military rations? Like, no, it doesn't. It's like, I'm not interested. i't I feel like it always becomes like an NCSI case with him, where it always has involved, like, the Navy, like, crime.
00:57:20
Speaker
I feel like he gets into, like, a lot of kidnappings, a lot of, like, like small town drug rings or, like, murders. Well, usually because it involves, like, someone from his military or um the the the guilty like scapegoat patsy is like a military person so he steps in and is just like, not on my watch.
00:57:40
Speaker
Not on my US Army.
00:57:44
Speaker
I'm surprised Rishi never had like a cheesy catchphrase like that. Like,
00:57:51
Speaker
It's you failed You have failed with armed forces or something Arrow-like. The show's trying to make... ah like what was you say It's like Assumptions Kill or something. It's like trying to make... think he's got sprays.
00:58:04
Speaker
Really? I forgot. Because was like... theyre like that was like when he was like like is t like the one- tenth like m p team, it was like he told like, yeah don't don't assume anything
00:58:26
Speaker
But yeah, anything else about the the movie, ah Chris? um I wanted to say that this movie is very heavily influenced by Tom Cruise because every female character and this movie, if they see him, they want him.
00:58:41
Speaker
Well, that's a Reacher thing. i mean that's like like and like Every Jeff Reacher book has Reacher is going to bang the female character that he's paired up with. character that he's like like like you know paired up with True, but it's a little more weird because, like,
00:59:01
Speaker
like he goes to the bar and that waitress like he hands his dish to, they have that like glancing look like, hey, what's up? Like, yeah, you to go on the back? like And then the bait girl. Because she's sort of like, what are you doing later?
00:59:17
Speaker
And then Rose Pike, obviously. yep Which, it's it's weird that did they never, like, you know, get together. I'm fine with that. It's just supposed to be, like, a fun tension. But he's just like, ah, you love me. i don't love you. Bye.
00:59:31
Speaker
um oh okay. And also, the how about the scene where Rose Pike goes to the victim's house? And there's, like, this super, like, serial killer vibe that's going on. And then that just sort of ends.
00:59:43
Speaker
Like, yeah, like, the... the father of like the the nanny girl that gets killed it's like has a gun and he's just like, no, you sit here. going to sit here and listen to me But then I guess i guess like eventually he's like, alright, you can leave now.
00:59:57
Speaker
No, Brosepike just runs out. it sounds it's It's like she's just trying to leave because what's stopping him from coming out of the car and just going crazy? Yeah. but Never addressed. Never like, hey, technically it's not against the law to wave, to show a gun in your house.
01:00:12
Speaker
Is he going to kill himself? Is he going to like go into the hospital and kill like the sniper guy? Like, what was his plan? Yes. Like, it's never brought up again. It's like, but like no He doesn't get closure.
01:00:23
Speaker
he Yeah, like that's the but that to me is the weird part because the movie's like there's definitely like extra scenes. They had a cut for the time or like it just it didn't fit. So I would have loved at the end, like Rose Pike talks that guy again and he's more calm and he's like, thank you for getting justice. So it's like a full circle.
01:00:41
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it's weird because, like, Rosam Pike doesn't even mention it, like, that mentioned that at, like, when she goes to hotel and talks to Reacher about, like, she's like, i went I went to talk to all the victims, to the families. It's like, she didn't even go, like, oh, and one of them was, like, waving, like, going to threaten me with a gun. i don't know if he's going to, kill himself or kill the, like, the guy in the hospital, but that was weird.
01:01:01
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. And he and she's like, anyway. Yeah. um that thats It's, like, stuff like that that I'm, like, I don't know why that isn't addressed.
01:01:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it's still it's still super fun. it's it's ah if you like its It's a fun Tom Cruise action movie. Now that we have the Amazon show, like that's like that's if you're a Reacher fan, that's the true Reacher stuff now.
01:01:30
Speaker
Yep. If you enjoy the concept of Jack Reacher, not necessarily this movie, it's better amplified on the TV show. Yeah. Like, like, Alan Richards is just like, it's such perfect cast against Jack Reacher.
01:01:45
Speaker
Oh, it's funny. I was reading, um, apparently like when, cause like, you know, ah like we were talking about like, people were like upset that like Tom Cruise is playing Jack Reacher. Like all Jack Reacher fans were like, oh, he's like, he's too small. And then Lee Child, when the first movie came out was like, oh, well, you know, it's like his size is a metaphor for him being unstoppable. Yeah.
01:02:04
Speaker
So he was trying to kind of play it off
Future Projects and Conclusion
01:02:08
Speaker
for the first movie. Then the second movie was like, oh, no, yeah, Tom Cruise is not a good creature. We need to do a streaming show or something and recast him.
01:02:16
Speaker
If that was Tom Cruise, I would have said, like, hey, what the fuck?
01:02:23
Speaker
No, I get it. It just... It's different. i mean, especially when the book really does do a lot of physical descriptions, so it's not, like, vague. It's very detailed. I mean, that's that's, like, one of the defining features of Jack Freachers, how huge he is. Yeah, supposed to be like an oak tree.
01:02:39
Speaker
Yeah, and that plays into all the fights and all of this. He does all like physical like physical the feats in the books. He'd smash through walls or like push a car off of some water. like I mean, the second season the show, like he kicks the car and sets off the airbag.
01:03:01
Speaker
Very hard to do. Yeah, so like all look all that stuff, that's a really like pivotal Jack Reacher thing. He like... he is like almost from the Hulk level. like He's got brute strength, but then a tactical mind. So he's not like a dumb big guy, but he is big guy.
01:03:17
Speaker
Yeah. He's got it all. He's got brains and broad.
01:03:27
Speaker
What about you? Any last things? no just it was it was ah is It was a fun watch again. I'm probably never going to watch sequel ever again because like Never Go Back was not that good. It was super disappointing.
01:03:38
Speaker
it It was okay. It's definitely like ah not as good as a follow-up, um but I'm not mad at it I mean, they got to try. And then they were like, oh, let's that's why even when they did the Jack Reacher show, were just like, oh, was it like four years after that movie?
01:03:58
Speaker
like That was 2016. When did the show start? that was which show start one i think so, yeah. so couple years afterwards. yeah see They had to figure out how reformat it and get like figure out who's going to do the show.
01:04:16
Speaker
They had to wait for Richardson to just basically inflate. Yeah.
01:04:25
Speaker
Yeah, because Blue Mountain State, he was not that like he was not that huge. No, he's very slender. He's supposed to be like Tom Brady. Yeah.
01:04:36
Speaker
Aren't they talking about a reboot of Blue Mountain State a continuation? A continuation. It's just be like Jack Reacher-sized Elmerson going back. It's like, what happened?
01:04:48
Speaker
I worked out a lot. I would love if they did, but then it just like it's the same kind of acting um where he's like, I mean, did you watch Blue Mountain State? I see a little bit of it. Dude, you just gotta like marathon it.
01:05:00
Speaker
It's a little like dated, but it's fun. It's like an American pie kind of humor, but um to see him go from bad to this is just like a a crazy transformation.
01:05:16
Speaker
but Yeah, I think we've pretty much addressed everything. Yeah, and then obviously we're going to you know keep watching the the current season of of Reacher, which is seems like it's pretty it's been pretty fun so far.
01:05:28
Speaker
um And yeah we'll be back next week. I think we're we're still figuring out our March schedule, so it'll be surprise, but come back next week for whatever we're doing next week. And you can also check out right now our ah February commentary. It's Jupiter Ascending.
01:05:43
Speaker
We watched the Wachowski Space Opera for its 10th anniversary. and You can watch along with us on think down to Max, watch along with us. was first time Chris ever saw that movie. So you can see.
01:05:56
Speaker
It's a lot of cool concepts. A lot of cool visual stuff, lot of cool ideas, but then it's just like falls apart. why is this bad I just remember at the end, ah dumb sneakers that make you float. Two two two two endings. There's basically two full endings to the movie.
01:06:17
Speaker
But yeah, you can experience all that with us for the commentary. And head over to check all of your usual stuff on the site. We've got trailers, we've got we've got all sorts stuff up there. Head over to check it all out.
01:06:29
Speaker
And yes, for Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week. For more for Everything Action, head to www.everythingaction.com. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash everything.action and follow us on X at EVAction.
01:06:46
Speaker
We're also on Instagram and threads at everything.action. Find episodes of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your at podcast app of choice. And be sure to rate and subscribe.