After years off the radar, former military investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is drawn out of the shadows when a trained army sniper is arrested for the apparently random shooting of five people. According to the suspect, Reacher is the only man that can prove his innocence.
Investigating officer Emerson (David Oyelowo) is convinced of the man's guilt and therefore amazed when brilliant young lawyer Helen (Rosamund Pike) comes forward to defend him. She enlists Reacher's help, and the pair soon discover that the case is anything but open and shut. The more they dig up, the more it becomes apparent that the real enemy may still be out there.
It may fail to fully commit to its 70s exploitation roots, but Christopher McQuarrie's adaptation of Lee Child's bestselling novel One Shot offers plenty of preposterous fun. With bar-room brawls, car chases and a street-fight set piece choreographed to within an inch of its life, fans of the genre will not go wanting.
Equally, while the casting of the diminutive Cruise as the supposedly enormous Reacher may have left some fans wondering whether he could rise to the occasion, the use of Werner Herzog as the villainous Zec is a masterstroke. Bristling with menace, the legendary German director is effortlessly convincing as a gang leader forced to spend much of his life in a Soviet gulag.
Jack Reacher is a Film programme that first aired in 2012 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
