Jack Reacher

A nanny – Chrissy – who stayed back for a week more because one of the most important person in the world – the six year old she takes care of – wanted her to stay back for her seventh birthday.

A middle aged cleaner at a hyper market –Vida – who is struggling to make ends meet but wants her son to watch a basketball game as a birthday present and was on her way to the stadium to buy tickets.

A stoic owner of a construction company – Oline – who hates her business but takes over the reins of a dying enterprise when her husband kicks the bucket – deep in debt.

A husband – Darren – who leaves home in the morning after a fight with his wife but apparently wanted to make it up to her and bought flowers on the way to work (funnily).

A woman – Nancy – who is about to celebrate her 10th wedding anniversary and has just picked up an expensive watch as a present for her husband and is walking down the pier without any care in the world.

What is common to all of the above? James Barr. A twenty something Iraq return sniper. Who has probably lost his bonkers and one fine morning decides to drive down to a desolate building facing the pier, pay for his parking and take all 5 of them out over a couple of minutes tops.

In the bargain, he leaves enough evidence at the scene of the crime that points towards him. And in a matter of 16 hours gets caught by the cops. When asked to confess, he simply writes on a piece of paper – CALL JACK REACHER (Tom Cruise).

Based on a book titled – One Shot – by Lee Child, Jack Reacher is the story of the protagonist of the same name who is an army investigator. He sees something amiss where everyone else sees an open and shut case. He doesn’t care much for the law but only about what is right and wrong. And goes to great lengths to protect the right. Much like a super hero but only human.

Written for the screen by Christopher McQuarrie (Known more for writing – Usual Suspects / Valkyrie), JR is definitely not McQuarrie’s best to date. He builds up the suspense extremely well for certain and leaves you waiting for the story to move to the next angle. The first few minutes have no dialogues and yet a lot spoken – very well done. But somehow, it doesn’t come upto the level of excitement that a Valkyrie or Usual Suspects generates.

A tough act to follow for certain but it could have been – with some right casting. Rosamund Pike seems over anxious to prove a point and looks very unconvincing throughout the movie. Tom Cruise is surprisingly composed but average – which is the best he can get to. And the support cast doesn’t contribute too much either.

In short, well written, reasonably directed, good story line but falls short primarily due to performances. Despite that, definitely worth a watch. 7 on 10. Make it a part of your weekend.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1158194201/

Safe

When you have Jason Statham in the lead in any movie even if it were the most serious of Shakespearean tragedies, you would walk in expecting a series of edge of the seat action sequences that leave you in a tizzy over a 3 minute segment. You would then get a 30 second break and then another 5 minute chase followed by a couple of minutes of a jog and a 4 minute breath taking action sequence that would blow your pants off in the literal sense of the word.

So if and when you would walk into watch Safe, why would you think anything otherwise I say. And with your due permission I would like to put your doubts to rest immediately and declare that Safe is all of the above and more. If you are a Statham fan or not, you are bound to enjoy the action sequences in this Boaz Yakin (director of Remember the Titans) movie. Before I go any further, I would say, grab yourself a popcorn, fasten your seat belts and enjoy the bleddy ride!!!

Mei (Catherine Chan) is a less than 10 year old Chinese girl who has her way with numbers. Numbers talk to her. She hates mathematics but is sadly really good at it. When her principal realizes this, he sets her up with Uncle Han (James Hong) who actually gets her kidnapped and sent off to the Big Apple to “help” with the family business. Now this aspect of the movie I really didn’t get.

But it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that her next assignment is to remember a code. A series of numbers on an A5 paper that to her mean nothing but mean a lot to the local Russian Gangs who are perennially at war against the local Chinese Gangs. But all of this is without the involvement of prize fighter Luke Wright (Statham). Not till he gets into trouble with the Russians for winning a fight that he was supposed to lose in the 2nd round. The result – The Russians kill his wife and leave him in the lurch. It takes a few minutes of screen time before Mei and Wright cross paths. The rest as they say is A grade testosterone.

A complete “Man Movie” from about 15 minutes in for the next 75 odd minutes with slick direction and some ice cold looking performances from the one and only Jason Statham. I have seen only 2 expressions from Statham to date. One which is what everyone is familiar with – the pug faced one which really can be described only as expressionless. And the smile that he gives @ the end of The Italian Job. Don’t expect anything more this time either. But Safe is a safe bet to watch. Not for kids mind you because there is some mind numbing violence to put it mildly. 6.5 on 10.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2055184665/