Jack Reacher - Never Go Back - Now with Domestic Squabbling
- Thread starter Marter
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Love these kinds of films, just dumb action with all the cheesy bad ass one liners and car chases and fight scenes.
What I don't get is, what is the difference between John Wick and Jack Reacher? Jack at least at a kind of more interesting plot, who killed all those people and why, John's plot was they killed my dog and stole my car so I will bring down their whole enterprise, no suspense.
I like both films but don't get why this one is mediocre but all I hear is praise for John Wick.
What I don't get is, what is the difference between John Wick and Jack Reacher? Jack at least at a kind of more interesting plot, who killed all those people and why, John's plot was they killed my dog and stole my car so I will bring down their whole enterprise, no suspense.
I like both films but don't get why this one is mediocre but all I hear is praise for John Wick.
Well, I'd say it comes down to two things:omega 616 said:
1) The basic plot outline of John Wick might not be as complex, but it's got more going for it otherwise. There's a more emotionally compelling reason - we can better understand "guy's dog was murdered" than whatever nonsense comes from the Jack Reacher films. John Wick also did a fantastic job of world-building. Its hero is also more flawed and relatable, as opposed to "Mr. Perfect" Tom Cruise character.
2) On a technical level, the action scenes in John Wick are so, so much better. They're a visual delight, while the ones in Jack Reacher are mostly bleh, at best.
I was wondering how the plot would work. I've actually read all the Jack Reacher books and Jack Reacher spends an entire book just building a relationship with Susan Turner just talking with her BEFORE he even gets to meet her (giving the backstory on who she is and why she matters to Reacher). Then he still has some face time with her before the events of Never Go Back occur.
It's no wonder the movie was a convoluted mess story-wise...
It's no wonder the movie was a convoluted mess story-wise...
True, I always like the "uncovering a frame" plot though, just seeing how they did it. Dog dead rampage is just a little unbelievable to me.Marter said:
As for the action scenes, I do like the bits where he is reloading mid fight (even if the soon to be headshot victim has to do a little WWE style waiting) but in a couple of scenes Keanu looks to have taken a drunken master lesson from Jackie Chan, it is better than Jack Reacher from what I remember (especially if it has any shaky cam, fast cut action).
I do remember wanting to watch John a second time but not Jack, so there must be something to it haha
It's weird, male Mary Sue's barely get an eyelid battered at their existence, in fact it's all just silly dumb fun...but if this was a female? Feminist agendas! Seriously, just observe next time you can. It's quite interesting. Maybe it's the scientologist angle? 
I enjoyed this one, and the last one if I'm honest but the first one still had the best one liner so far "I mean to beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot". That's a cool line.omega 616 said:
Now I've seen two reviews that say the movie goes to New Orleans for "reasons" and it confuses me: they go to New Orleans initially because the man they're looking for lives there (or did) and the private airfield where a U.S. Military contractor was using its decommissioning contract to smuggle opium into the United States. That isn't a difficult concept to wrap your head around.
...or stuff like Magnolia (a veritable masterpiece), Collateral (not quite Heat, but it's boldly broodingly existential and filmed by Mann with real craft and intelligence), or even Minority Report.RJ 17 said:
I also enjoyed Oblivion, generic though it was. Gorgeous visual design and great music, in particular, provided by M83 who you'll certainly know well from Mass Effect's signature credits choon. I keep wanting to see it again just for the visuals and score.
Or maybe proof of endemic sexism and double-think scale double standards? Just throwing it out there. ;-)Xsjadoblayde said:It's weird, male Mary Sue's barely get an eyelid battered at their existence, in fact it's all just silly dumb fun...but if this was a female? Feminist agendas! Seriously, just observe next time you can. It's quite interesting. Maybe it's the scientologist angle?
Yeah, Reacher's dismissed as a harmless genre character performing to type, but swap the gender and it's suddenly propaganda, suddenly a 'threat' that needs to be attacked/exposed/opposed. It's like a recent 'discussion'/blurt-of-ill-conceived-opinion I saw t'other day regarding Dragon Age Inquisition and its apparent 'misandry'. Several notable female characters being talked up = sexism, yet swap that and it's not even worth pointing out let alone analysing.
Though funnily enough the only reason I'd ever want to watch Once You Go Jack, You Never Go Back is to see Cobie Smulders kick ass. She'd be my pick for a live-action FemShep, and I'm always mildly disappointed with how little she, as Maria Hill, gets to do in the Marvel films.
Ok were is this supposed outrage everyones talking about? I didn't see anyone complaining about the Lara Croft games and they have a female protagonist killing hordes of men. I also didn't see many people complaining about DAI because of female characters. The worst I have seen is people saying that Sera is incredibly annoying which I aggree with btw. Even when there were sexist people complaining about the game, most of it was aimed at Dorians and Iron Bulls sexuality getting "shoved in their face".Darth Rosenberg said:
Hell, people are still hyped for the new Wonder Woman movie, despite the fact that most recent dc movies were seen as dissapointing. And people absolutly love Daenerys and Aria from Game of Thrones. So claiming people just generally hate badass women is just plain false.
Well this is disappointing. I had a casual interest in this since the first one was a little enjoyable. I mostly like it because 1. I like Tom Cruise and his style (which is to say he always plays Tom Cruise as ____) and 2. All the classic muscle cars. Jack Reacher gave me a pretty decent car chase in a manual mustang that sounded mean as fuck so that was worth the price of admission.
I remember reading the first Jack Reacher book, and I only made it about 3/4 of the way through. I just couldn't handle any more cheesy dialog (Lee Child, I discovered, is not a great writer of believable dialog), and whoever told Child that 'Jack Reacher' was a good name for a main character needs a smack - it sounds like a spoof name of a 70s porn actor!
I ended up watching the first Jack Reacher movie on a plane and it was even worse than the book. It felt like the dialog had been distilled into nothing but horribly cheesy (and not very funny or clever) quips about how great he, and everyone around him, thinks he is.
I'm all for books and movies pushing the boundaries of reality to a point, but when you know with 100% certainty that Jack will never, ever lose a fight, never be out-smarted, and never be out-gunned, it just makes the entire plot dull. I have a similar issue, but to a lesser extent, with the Bourne movies, which in my opinion is what makes characters like Bond just that bit more relatable; when he encounters a situation, you're not sure how it's going to turn out for him, which adds suspense to otherwise meaningless action scenes.
And why does everybody Jack encounters, even those people who are the 'enemy' worship him non-stop? It's so cringeworthy that I find it unwatchable. I like Tom Cruise as an actor, but for some reason when he's playing this character, he just turns into an unconvincing ham trying to put on some tough-guy voice and grunt out badly written one-liners. I can't even watch the trailer for this movie without wanting to throw my computer out the window!
(I'm also horrified that Chris McQuarrie had anything to do with this movie! This is about as far away from The Usual Suspects as you can get!)
I ended up watching the first Jack Reacher movie on a plane and it was even worse than the book. It felt like the dialog had been distilled into nothing but horribly cheesy (and not very funny or clever) quips about how great he, and everyone around him, thinks he is.
I'm all for books and movies pushing the boundaries of reality to a point, but when you know with 100% certainty that Jack will never, ever lose a fight, never be out-smarted, and never be out-gunned, it just makes the entire plot dull. I have a similar issue, but to a lesser extent, with the Bourne movies, which in my opinion is what makes characters like Bond just that bit more relatable; when he encounters a situation, you're not sure how it's going to turn out for him, which adds suspense to otherwise meaningless action scenes.
And why does everybody Jack encounters, even those people who are the 'enemy' worship him non-stop? It's so cringeworthy that I find it unwatchable. I like Tom Cruise as an actor, but for some reason when he's playing this character, he just turns into an unconvincing ham trying to put on some tough-guy voice and grunt out badly written one-liners. I can't even watch the trailer for this movie without wanting to throw my computer out the window!
(I'm also horrified that Chris McQuarrie had anything to do with this movie! This is about as far away from The Usual Suspects as you can get!)
It wasn't a Mustang, it was a Chevelle SS. Still awesome mind, and a good chase.JUMBO PALACE said: