5 people are shot dead and incontrovertible evidence leads the police to immediately pick up sniper James Barr, who simply asks for Jack Reacher. Reacher, an ex-army policeman of shadowy background, tells defence attorney Helen Rodin (who appears to have taken the case simply to spite her District Attorney father) that he believes Barr to be guilty because he got away with something similar while he was in the middle east. But he starts investigating anyway.

Based on what I have read in the press, I find Tom Cruise the man to be an odd individual. But as a performer, there is a reason why he has been at the top of the pile for a long time - he makes good films, and he is good in them. Jack Reacher is one of his best.

It is a very good part for Cruise - a macho protagonist, well able to handle himself, but not infallible. The story is strong, if a little familiar. The script is good fun, the action is handled well, Rosamund Pike provides solid support, and Robert Duvall, in a part which is little more than a cameo, is wonderful.

But this is Cruise's film, and it is one of the best action thrillers in recent years.

Jack Reacher was a surprisingly fantastic film. I went in thinking, thanks to some slightly misleading trailers, that this was going to be a high octane action movie with a bunch of gun fights, car chases, and explosions but little development and quality. I was completely wrong. While there were a few gun fights, one car chase, and an explosion of sorts, it was done in a completely different manner and was more of an action thriller. Tom Cruise did a great job in his typical role. The rest of the supporting cast was solid enough and the cameo by Robert Duvall was awesome. The plot developed really well and made it more of a "thinking movie" than I anticipated. That being said, the turns in the plot kept the film from becoming stagnant or boring and the action sequences felt real and authentic. I wasn't a huge fan of some of the cinematic elements and there were some flaws in one of the plot twists but nothing that really hurt the movie-watching experience. All-in-all, I'd say this was a great movie that most people would very much enjoy watching.

Tom Cruise stars in Jack Reacher who is like a modern day Simon Templar without the elegance. We're not sure just what side of the law our protagonist is on, he certainly dislikes being called a hero.

It is understandable that the debut of this film was postponed with the tragedy of the Sandy Hook school shooting as the film opens with just such a shooting from one side of the Allegany River to another in Pittsburgh. A loner ex-GI with a penchant for violence who trained as a sniper who it is broadly hinted has done similarly evil stuff in the past gets accused of a mass shooting where six people die.

There was a really good Law And Order episode where Sebastian Stan plays a high school kid who shot four people at random to cover up his intended target. That's what's going on here. And as investigator Reacher sees, there's a grassy knoll scenario being played here.

Cruise whose latest films have a decidedly more violent bent to them, seems determined to finally shake off that youthful image that has stood him in good stead with films going way back to All The Right Moves. He doesn't look like the all American kid in his Twenties, but as the male player with the surest box office draw he can't exactly transition to character roles the way others can.

One guy who successfully has is Robert Duvall who has a colorful and eye catching role as the owner of a rifle range whose clientèle has the key to this mystery. Duvall and Cruise are reunited from Days Of Thunder as Duvall serves as backup. Guys like the folks in back of the massacre are giving gun owners and shooters a bad name which is why he teams with Cruise. That is a message I'm not sure how it will be received in this climate.

Rosamund Pike plays the attorney with father issues personal and legal who is representing the accused shooter. When your father is played by Richard Jenkins who is also the District Attorney those issues do tend to multiply. She's afraid of Reacher's own violent tendencies, but goes with the flow.

You can't tell about these things and certainly the Sandy Hook shooting throws a pall on this film. Still there's enough shooting, enough car chases to satisfy any action fan. And Tom Cruise's global legion of fans will have little to complain about.