Bad Dude Status: "Jack Reacher"

Beyond that internet meme from Duke Nukem, the title of Bad Dude is something reserved for the most awesome of heroes. Not boy scouts and not anyone with any respect for our “code of law”. These guys are willing to make a boy scout cry if necessary. They have their own law. And if you fall within their jurisdiction...

I plan on, through a series of blog entries, explaining why some characters are bad dudes, why some are not. Maybe doing this will reveal something wonderful and/or sickening about us as an audience. To help me out will be fellow critic and purveyor of the exploitative, The Cine-Masochist! Enjoy:

My first RedBox rental - something I had been putting off for a long while - was the Tom Cruise production of the Tom Cruise starring Jack Reacher. The poster spoke to a very primal side of me: a serious looking man in front of a cityscape with the American flag superimposed over it. The ad team could’ve easily put some explosions on it, or a gun in Tom’s hand, but no need. He IS the weapon. He IS the danger. He is so much these things, that the title needs to only be his name. Damn. 

Is Jack Reacher a Bad Dude?

First off, who is he? In the movie, Jack has a ghost like mystique about him. He’s a drifter, only appearing when he’s been called upon. He wears only one set of clothes per mission (that he gets at Goodwill) and “borrows” cars when he needs them. I don’t think he has an I.D. in his wallet, or a wallet at all (please correct me if I’m wrong). All he needs are his abilities. He is THAT confident, and you should be THAT scared.

The kind of villains he’s up against are quite villainous. We have a military sniper and a man known only as “Prisoner Human Being”, played by the one and only Werner Herzog. When someone fails him, he offers a choice of either being shot or proving to have the will to survive. How? By chewing off your own finger. Normally, they just prefer to be shot. “Always the bullet. I don’t understand” he says. It’s been said that you can judge your hero by the nature of the villain. In this case, our hero better have his stuff together.

Beyond being a loner and up against a stone cold baddie, Jack can walk the walk and, almost more importantly, talk the talk. When needing to interrogate a witness, a desk clerk asks to be shown some I.D. Jack has a counter offer to “show” him the back of an ambulance. When backed into a corner, Jack says, over the phone, “I mean to beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot.” And not in an angry manner, but an “as a matter of fact” way.

When he drives a car, he makes sure the engine purrs like a kitten. When he fights, he makes sure to leave a mark and an impression. When he shoots, he rarely misses. And when he misses, he’ll make you suffer.

Jack Reacher can be seen as nothing but a vanity project; an effort by an A-list actor to claim dominance and pound his chest. Yes, this is that. Everything in this is only meant to supplement Tom and his bad assery. It might be the most blatant example of it in his whole catalog, and should probably be disliked because of that. Only if it didn’t work. Watching a character whose only development is that he can wreck anyone and anything is just so entertaining. There really isn’t anything being said about the act of vengeance, the concept of justice or anything that could illuminate an audience. It’s got atmosphere, tension, danger and moxy without bothering to worry about pathos. Ironically, that one thing that could’ve put this movie over the top would’ve held it back some. And nobody holds Jack back.

So, does Jack Reacher in Jack Reacher achieve Bad Dude status? Here's CM:

First off, thank you for having me in mind, Bill!

And in regards to Jack Reacher? Yeah! HELL YEAH! definitely a Bad Dude.

This is a character that reflects on the days of old, the action heroes of the 80's and early 90's that were brutal, cunning and got the job done. This no nonsense approach has really been making a resurgence lately, with films like Dredd, Jack Reacher and of course, The Expendables. I think audiences are craving this in the action films they go see, proving that characters like Jason Bourne, just...don't quite cut it as bad ass action heroes.

I mean hell, look at the Daniel Craig Bond films! Even James Bond has been pumped with a dose of Bad Dude status. He's big and strong, and absolutely wrecks people's shit. Action fans want that escapism, they want to root for this larger than life Bad Dude, and Jack Reacher gives them that.

I hope that makes sense, and again, thanks for having me!

Status - ACHIEVED 

Review: "Oblivion"

I have great affection for David Lynch’s Dune. It’s a movie that barely explains itself, but keeps throwing stuff at you anyways. Sure, The Original Star Wars Trilogy didn’t feel the need to spell everything out either, but it would at least establish and ground things to make the audience comfortable. Dune, on the other hand, expects you to have done some reading beforehand. Despite that problem, I really dig the flick. It’s a classic sci fi adventure with a weirdo modern (at the time) edge. It has a real “you just had to be there to understand” feel to it, and, knowing that I can never go back and “understand”, makes me love it even more.

The latest Tom Cruise movie Oblivion works well as a classic sci fi adventure, but without the special “you had to be there” feel. Actually, it’s really up to you if you want to go at all.

By no means is Oblivion bad; it’s a sleek looking and slickly told tale, constructed in a satisfying and easy to digest manner. At no time did I feel confused or out of place. It’s the kind of movie that makes you slurp an icee with glee and look forward to playing with your Wii when you get home (in fact, the ship Tom uses looks to be controlled by a Wii remote).

I just can’t say that it’s memorable. Is a cult following for this movie possible? Eh.

Tom Cruise plays yet another character named Jack, a technician assigned to maintaining the drones that protect mining machines on what is left of Earth. He must do this while fighting off the occasional Scav, the last of the aliens that invaded the planet years prior. Nearing the end of his mission, an old ship crash lands, revealing a woman Jack knows from his dreams. This leads him to a discovery that will determine the fate of humanity.

After the screening, I remarked to a friend that the story felt like the first in a franchise series, meant perhaps for a trilogy or something. Being a single film just feels off, as there are just lots of interesting things happening that deserve to be explored further. It really should’ve been an hour longer at least (seriously), giving us more to chew on. Morgan Freeman ends up expositing everything in a two minute sequence, clarifying for me that the producers just want you to shovel popcorn in your face while Tom Cruise shoots his gun.

To be fair, that isn’t too bad of a thing, as it actually works here. The visuals are top notch, Tom Cruise is at his most Tom Cruise and the action is fun. As a sci fi movie, it could’ve gone into philosophical territory regarding free will and blissful ignorance vs. knowing the truth, but opts instead for being adventurous on a superficial level. Disappointing, but hey - it works.

Dune, for all of its perceived faults, aimed for being something more than just space drama. It didn’t quite hit the mark, but the ambition was there. Oblivion is more than happy just sticking to what has worked before. It’s like the film equivalent of that guy who spends most of his life just chillin’, playing music and not making waves. Bless his heart, but please don’t follow in his footsteps.

3/5 *s