That’s my favorite TC movie. I loved Collateral.
I freaking loved Collateral. It’s amazing what some realistic gun handling does for a movie.
The fact that they had TC as the star is more than enough reason for me to wait until this movie is released for TV.
I have read all 17 and “One Shot” I believe was # 9. When they 1st announced TC, I said what the frig is wrong with them.
Went to see the movie and really enjoyed TC, in the role of Jack Reacher.
Though he’s too old for the part now, David Morse would have been a perfect fit.
Rented it last night. I didn’t read the book, so can’t compare. I’d give the movie a B. Thought Cruise did a decent job, but many times casting is the wrong choice even when the actor cast is decent.
Perfect example:
Worst casting EVER of what could have been a great movie from one of the all time best action thriller books, was Mark Walhlberg as Swagger from Point of Impact. That broke my heart. Walhlberg is a decent actor when cast right, but Walhlberg as Swagger was tragedy.
Someone like Tommy Lee Jones should have been cast and the book plot stuck to.
Anyway, I thought Reacher was well done, had some great supporting actors, dialogue, and action scenes, but had some major plot holes.
For me, biggest disapointment was really the upshot of the whole movie: Professional crew, shadow figures, snipers, set ups, making people chew their own fingers off, and all manner of espionage, and it’s just a large land developer??? Seriously?
Should been a front for some government agency at the very least, either a three letter group of ours with members gone rogue, or another country, etc. I kept waiting for the “I don’t think these guys are just land developers” conversation to happen, but it never did. Fail.
Is that what it turned out to be in the book? A large land developer run by evil ex prisoner?
That ruined it for me. That, and the “lets drop our guns and fight like real men” in the rain thing (visions Lethal Weapon I there…) which took it from fun and quasi believable to :rolleyes:
So, B from me. Good rental, wouldn’t see it in the theaters.
They obviously had some real gun guys as advisers on the set. I liked Collateral, but to me, it was Heat light. Heat A+, Collateral A- for me.
Heat sets the standard for me and it felt like Mann was trying to recreate Heat with Collateral.
I am fairly underwhelmed with what I know of TC as a private citizen, given his particularly odd views, but I’ve long since stopped trying to take anything away from him as an actor. We may consistently lament the news whenever he is cast in a new film of whatever sort, but in the end, he always seems to carry off the role well. Goofball or not, the guy has a habit of making decent, watchable films.
I was actually living in Germany when there was a significant uproar over his casting for Valkyrie, and at one point, the German government wasn’t even going to allow him into the country for filming. In the end, concessions were made, and although Valkyrie was never intended to be the next blockbuster action thriller, I still found it a worthy contribution to his body of work – and a respectable recounting of a fairly remarkable series of events.
No argument there. An enduring, even moving, classic.
AC
Yes, Collateral was an excellent film and Cruise did do that character justice.
Most of the time in movies, you have no idea that an actor is short or tall. Stallone, Gibson and other action role actors are all well under 6 foot but don’t seem short in the films they do…do they?
-brickboy240
That’s funny. My wife and I were talking about the miscast - she came up with Chris H. and I came up with Eric B. as people we thought would have worked well.
I didn’t think Cruise did a bad job, but his look was all wrong (I didn’t read the book). It should have been someone less clean cut. More beard, etc.
Stallone is taller than people realize. I’d guess 5’10 or 5’11 ish. I looked for heals and such when I met him, and he had on average shoes. Have not met Cruise or Gibson, so cant say there. I think Cruise is 5’7-5’8 if I recall.
I generally don’t let actors’ political and religious views influence what I watch with the exception of Stallone.
I liked Cruise in The Color of Money, Risky Business, Collateral, The Last Samurai, Minority Report, The Firm, A Few Good Men…
I’ll give this one a shot.
Hey, Yo Homie!!! Is that my breifcase? :dirol:
Truth. Let us bask in the movie that sets the standard for the genre:
I agree with you on Shooter, had potential to be great but Marky Mark casted as Swagger was a fail of epic proportions.
I did not read the book but I ass-u-me the following . . .
The bad guys in the film where The Bratva, aka Russian mob not just some run of the mill crooked land developer. The old man was the Pakhan (aka don, godfather, Boss) while the younger actor who did the sniper work was the Boyevik (aka enforcer, soldier). This explains the high order violence of the group and the whole Siberian prison tie in as this is where the Russian mob originates from and recruits its prospects.
My favorite film director to date is Michael Mann, he directed both Heat and Collateral, he is a gun guy and it shows in his films.
Is he a gun guy or just a director smart enough to hire gun guys for his films because he wants realism in his films? I never heard he was into guns, and Miami Vice was full of gun handling fail which was his show.
Can you imagine how good a movie that could be with the right screen play, director, and lead actor playing Swagger? Boggles the mind.
I was going to list Russian mob as another possible and obvious part of the plot that would have worked well to explain it all. Why they totally dropped the ball there I don’t know. Would have only added to the movie, and killed the deal for me when they didn’t, and I never read the book.
Land developers, crooked and otherwise doing that? Didn’t pass the smell tests at all for me. Just a few changes to that movie, and it could been top quality. Oh well…
It started with that one movie starring James Caan, “Thief”? He sent Caan to a proper shooting school to learn how to handle the hardware. So yes, he wants his actors to look proficient when handling firearms.
Tapatapatapatalk
So he’s not a gun guy per se, but a director who want realism in his movies, if I translate the above correctly.