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This article is about the first Jack Reacher film.
You may be looking for the 2016 film Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Jack Reacher is a 2012 American action thriller film. It is an adaptation of Lee Child's 2005 novel One Shot. Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film stars Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher and Rosamund Pike as attorney Helen Rodin. Also featured are actors David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney, Werner Herzog, and Robert Duvall. The film entered production in October 2011, and concluded in January 2012. It was filmed entirely on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It received mixed to positive reviews and was successful at the box office.

Premiere[]

The film's U.S. premiere gala, scheduled for December 15, was delayed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14. It was released in North America on December 21, and in the United Kingdom on December 26, 2012. The musical score was composed by Joe Kraemer, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony and recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, California. Cruise performed all of his own driving stunts during the film's signature car chase sequence. On December 9, 2013, it was announced that the sequel would be based on the 2013 Jack Reacher novel, Never Go Back; later it was reported that Cruise will reprise his role.

Plot[]

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a man drives a van up floors of a parking garage across the Allegheny River from the PNC Park stadium and, after paying for parking, readies a sniper rifle in the open, away from his vehicle. He takes aim and appears to randomly kill five people around the stadium and on the river’s North Shore Trail before hurriedly fleeing in his van.

The police soon arrive, headed by Detective Emerson, and they discover a shell casing as well as the coin used to pay for parking. A fingerprint taken from the coin points to James Barr, a former U.S. Army sniper. When they raid his house, they find equipment for making bullets, the rifle in question and Barr himself and they arrest him.

During interrogation, Barr asks Emerson and the District Attorney, Alex Rodin to get Jack Reacher, a drifter and former Army Military Police officer, who arrives just as Rodin and Emerson are reviewing his file.

Emerson and Robin deny Reacher’s request to view the evidence, but agree to let him see Barr, who was brutally attacked by fellow inmates while being transported and was now in a coma. While there, he meets Barr’s defense attorney, counsellor Helen Rodin, the DA’s daughter, who is trying to save Barr from the death penalty.

Helen says she can arrange for Reacher to see the evidence if he will become her lead investigator. Reacher retorts that he’s not interested in clearing Barr, but wants to “bury” him, then reveals some classified information: previously, Barr had gone on a killing spree during his tour in Iraq, but got off on a technicality. Reacher then vowed that if Barr tried anything like this again, he would take him down.

Reacher agrees to investigate but gets Helen to visit the victims’ families and find out more about the people murdered that day. While she is doing this, he goes to the parking building at exactly the same time as the shooting and finds inconsistencies with this location, thinking the killings would be easier and cleaner if done from the cover of the van on the nearby Fort Duquesne Bridge and when Helen reports her findings about the victims to him, he makes some theories of his own, suggesting that not all the victims were random.

After a seemingly random bar fight, Reacher realizes that someone is attempting to strong-arm him into dropping his investigation, but this only motivates him, and further probing provides a lead – a shooting range in the neighboring state of Ohio, owned by former USMC Gunnery Sergeant Martin Cash, who will only talk if Reacher proves his sniping skills, which he does.

Reacher gets closer to the unseen enemy pulling the strings, leading him to the real perpetrators, a Russian gang masquerading as legitimate businessmen. The gang's elderly capo spent much of his life in one of the infamous Soviet Gulags and is known only as The Zec which means "prisoner". Reacher outwits the mob guards in the Russian gang's hideout, killing them with Cash's help, before confronting The Zec and forcing him to come clean on the conspiracy and then killing him as the police would believe his word over Reacher's.

Jack and Cash flee the scene, making Jack a wanted man, but with confidence that Helen will clear his name. Helen confronts a now awakened Barr, who informs her that Reacher is a man to fear. Jack is then shown headed to the back of a bus to deal with a man abusing his girlfriend.

Credits[]

Cast[]

Crew[]

Differences from Novel[]

Plot[]

Characters[]

  • In the Novel, Sgt. Cash's first name is Samuel.

Locations[]

Organizations[]

Locations[]

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Pittsburgh
    • Ohio

Character Gallery[]

Releases[]

Home Media[]

Box Art Title Format Number of Discs Release Date
Jack Reacher DVD front cover Jack Reacher DVD 1 May 7, 2013
From The New York Times bestselling author Lee Child comes one of the most compelling heroes to step from novel to screen - ex-military investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). When a gunman takes five lives with six shots, all evidence points to the suspect in custody. On interrogation, the suspect offers up a single note: “Get Jack Reacher!” So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against an unexpected enemy, with a skill for violence and a secret to keep and a target on Reacher’s back.
Jack Reacher Blu-ray front cover Jack Reacher Blu-ray 2 May 7, 2013
From The New York Times bestselling author Lee Child comes one of the most compelling heroes to step from novel to screen - ex-military investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). When a gunman takes five lives with six shots, all evidence points to the suspect in custody. On interrogation, the suspect offers up a single note: “Get Jack Reacher!” So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against an unexpected enemy, with a skill for violence and a secret to keep and a target on Reacher’s back.

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