"Jack Reacher"

"Jack Reacher" is a new action adventure movie starring Tom Cruise. It's pretty good, about a fictional mass shooting incident in the city of Pittsburgh. The protagonist Jack Reacher becomes involved when the suspected shooter, an old Army acquaintance, asked for his assistance. What interests me are the many parallels with the current mass shooting phenomenon. To wit:

--The opening scenes of the movie include a camera shot of the view of the victims through the rifle scope of the killer's weapon. The very first person seen through the scope is a young, blond haired girl, about the same age as the child victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.

--The man accused is a military veteran, just as almost all of the alleged perpetrators in recent mass shootings have connections to the military.

--When the police sweep through the apartment of the alleged perp, the camera stops to focus on a prescription pill bottle. Of course almost all of the mass shooters have been taking prescription drugs, usually of the SSRI variety.

--After being beaten into a coma, the accused suspect can't remember anything, just like many of the mass shooters claim they cannot remember anything of the acts they are accused of.

--It turns out the accused has been setup, he is not the shooter, and another person has actually done the deed. Just like I suspect many of the current mass shooters are actually only patsies, with others committing the murders.


Interestingly, the movie was supposed to have premiered in Pittsburgh on December 15, the day after Sandy Hook. Needless to say, it was canceled. Is all this just coincidence, or is it another curious 'synchronicity' that we see so often in these cases?

Life imitates art and art imitates life so a few producers in Hollywood have seen that people are interested in psycho nutters with guns and as such you get a glut of them, remember when Hollywood got interested in natural disasters and it seemed like half of America was growing super volcano's

and as for the date being so close films are usually scheduled months in advance so if you see a link it should be easy to map the two together

I'm fairly desensitized to depictions of violence, but the opening scene was a little disturbing.

I thought there would be way more action in the movie judging by the commercials, but it was much more of a who-dun-it type detective thriller. Overall I'd say it was quite enjoyable the way it played out.

Tom cruise is a decent actor in my book, but an insane person, and you can tell he had input in the writing because he is an ultra-badass with snappy lines all movie.
Rosamund pike plays helen rodin who is the defendants attorney. I think she did a good job, but I don't know if it's because of her acting or her wonderful rack...

Anyway, the movie has some interesting commentary on defense attorneys, death row, confessions, innocent victims, and their families. There are some parallels with the recent mass shootings, but nothing that really blows my mind. Especially when you consider the motives in the movie and the suspected motives of the mass shooters. The only thing that really stood out was the way everyone presumed the patsy to be guilty, the way the authorities used the evidence to fit that narrative regardless of loose ends, and how the accused shooter was treated in custody that resulted in him not remembering.

Originally posted by Maxatoria
Life imitates art and art imitates life so a few producers in Hollywood have seen that people are interested in psycho nutters with guns...

But 'life'(as defined by the official version) is telling us that 'psycho nutters with guns' are doing this, and 'art' as defined by this movie, is telling us that it's no lone gunman but rather the result of an organized conspiracy. So in this case maybe it's art that is telling us what really happened.

Interestingly, another movie made on the subject of mass shootings--Uwe Boll's "Rampage" of 2006--also had a patsy take the fall for the real perpetrator.

reply to post by MeesterB


In the Reacher series the snappy dialogue is written in. The character really is badass. Love the books and can't wait to see the movie. Though the book that the movie is based on isn't the beginning of the series. I think it is based on the book "One Shot".

reply to post by blivey


i didn't know it was a book first. Well, Tom Cruise definitely delivers the snappy lines.
It felt like I was watching a gilmore girls episode...

Originally posted by MeesterB
reply to post by blivey

 

It felt like I was watching a gilmore girls episode...

Is that a good thing or bad? I've seen GG and I have to say, other than being male, I hated it.

Talk talk talk, talk talk talk, then talk talk talk. It's like they try to cram so much into so little.

Though my favorite character from Saw was in it, (i think) Strahm with the arms.

reply to post by MeesterB


The books aren't anything like GG, the snappiness blends in well in the books