Jack Reacher

[sanjuro_ronin]

Thoughts on the movie Jack Reacher?
Tom Cruise uses the Keysi method by the way, like Bale in the Batman Trilogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK7y8Ou0VvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6Z5KUja4k

[MightyB]

I liked the movie a lot. Say what you want about the crazy SOB, but he makes darn cool movies.

The KFM / fight sequences were very enjoyable. The movie itself had a good mix of action, intrigue, and humor. Plot wise it was pretty straightforward, but all-in-all it's a good movie if you're looking for some good ol' escapism fun at the theater.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Sweet.
Tom may indeed by a crazy SOB, but as you said, he sells his action acting.

[GeneChing]

Jack Reacher is coming to theatres October 21, 2016.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Sweetness.

[mickey]

Greetings,

They only needed the first three seconds to sell the movie. Nothing else needed to be shown. To repeat that scene later in the trailer sucked cabbage.

mickey

[GeneChing]

China’s Huahua Media, Shanghai Film Group Invest in ‘Jack Reacher’ Sequel
The Huahua/SFG venture will serve as the lead China marketing partner on the Tom Cruise film
Beatrice Verhoeven | September 30, 2016 @ 9:11 AM


Paramount Pictures

China’s Huahua Media and Shanghai Film Group have made a significant investment in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” Paramount Pictures announced Friday.

Additionally, the companies will partner to serve as the lead marketing partner on the Tom Cruise action movie’s China release.

Huahua has been very helpful to Paramount recently. The company released studio tentpole “Star Trek Beyond” in China earlier this month, where the film generated $62 million at the box office since its Sept. 2 debut. Huahua was also one of Paramount’s Chinese marketing partners for Michael Bay‘s “Transformers: Age of Extinction” — the first film to ever cross the $300 million box office mark in China.

“Huahua’s marketing acumen was instrumental in the global success of ‘Star Trek Beyond’ and ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction,” said Paramount Pictures chairman & CEO Brad Grey. “We are excited that its team – and that of Shanghai Film Group – has come aboard as we release ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’ around the world.”

Megan Colligan, president of worldwide distribution & marketing, added, “Huahua is a valuable collaborator with extensive marketing resources that have allowed us to deliver our biggest franchise films to audiences all over the world. We are thrilled to be working with them again, and to partner with Shanghai Film Group, on ‘Jack Reacher.'”

SFG oversees more than 2,000 cinema screens, and develops, produces, distributes and exhibits both films and TV series in China.

“Both Tom Cruise and his Jack Reacher character are universally loved in China, so we are excited to be able to bring this new film to fans there,” said Ren Zhonglun, president of Shanghai Film Group. “We look forward to working closely with Huahua and Paramount Pictures and to the release of another successful Jack Reacher film.”

“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” will see Cruise reprise his role as the ex-military investigator. Cobie Smulders and Aldis Hodge star in the action flick, which is set to hit U.S. and Chinese theaters on Oct. 21.

October 21. Looking forward to this.

[mickey]

Greetings,

wolfen,

I was going to answer that the hollywood omission to terrorism was/is probably because there may be terrorists behind the terrorists; but, you answered that yourself.

[I]
Curiously enough although Islamic Terrorism is all over the world and the number one major threat to Western Civilization and the USA , it simply doesn't exist in Hollywood. --Not allowed--Doesn't fit the narrative --
...
I'd like to see something more realistic like Jack Reacher go after the FBI guys who are collaborating with and taking advice from the Muslim Brotherhood. The film could preface with "Based on a true story"....

Attachment 10032

Run, hide the children!

mickey

[Jimbo]

The reason Islamic terrorists are not being depicted is because it's not considered PC nowadays. Go back to the action movies of the '80s and '90s (Delta Force, True Lies, etc.) and you'll find them depicted. I feel there should be more honest depictions in movies that reflect current events, but it's probably not gonna happen in this regard.

And white men are certainly NOT the only race without grievance politics. East Asian males are not only still depicted as villains, but as generally submissive, or usually gay, which is even more insidious. Now I've got nothing at all against people who are gay, but the high percentage of Asian male characters depicted as such in movies/TV is way out of proportion and is purposeful emasculation in the media. That is, when they're even depicted at all. It's the only non-white racial group that is considered OK to belittle and stereotype in Hollywood. So be happy, because whites have it WAAAY better.

Only one case in point is the last Star Trek movie. They depicted Sulu as gay to "pay tribute" to George Takei as a real-life gay man and activist, even though he himself did NOT feel the Sulu character should be depicted as gay. Takei is more aware than most of what's really going on.

BTW, Islam is a religion, not a race. There are Muslims worldwide of every color, including plenty of whites.

As far as Jack Reacher, it looks like it's gonna be good. Even though I sometimes have trouble watching Tom Cruise movies. He's a good actor and very good in action movies, but I can't get the whole Scientology thing out of my mind whenever I see one of his films. Most of the time, the less you know about celebs, the better.

[Cataphract]

The reason Islamic terrorists are not being depicted is because it's not considered PC nowadays.

I'm not convinced. They are not depicted because they are lame and nobody understands one bit of what's going on in the middle east anyway. Up to and including screenwriters.

Which prominent terrorist would you model a deep and sinister villain on? (Of course there are fringe cases like the Chechen black widows that actually have a dramatic backstory. But they are a bit too tragic for good villains.)

Some shows have tried to tackle the situation intelligently e.g. Syriana and Homeland, but simply setting up a Muslim whipping boy may even be below Hollywood's standards.

[Jimbo]

I'm not convinced. They are not depicted because they are lame and nobody understands one bit of what's going on in the middle east anyway. Up to and including screenwriters.

Which prominent terrorist would you model a deep and sinister villain on? (Of course there are fringe cases like the Chechen black widows that actually have a dramatic backstory. But they are a bit too tragic for good villains.)

Some shows have tried to tackle the situation intelligently e.g. Syriana and Homeland, but simply setting up a Muslim whipping boy may even be below Hollywood's standards.

Believe me, if they wanted to, the screenwriters could create a Muslim villain. I'm sure they have advisors for these types of movies and shows. After 9/11, the U.S. military approached Hollywood with recommendations (or was it orders?) to create more American military-themed TV shows and movies. Thus the creation and popularity of NCIS and its spinoffs, as only one example of many. Never mind that NCIS itself is a spinoff from JAG, which debuted years prior to 9/11; NCIS's ratings have far exceeded what JAG's ever were. These types of shows are popular for a reason.

In general, people in Hollywood don't want to be seen as stereotyping Muslims as terrorists. This is a fact. Unlike what happened to the Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. media, and most people, seem very careful to differentiate Islamic terrorists from those law-abiding Muslims they don't want to marginalize or offend. Celebrities are also very prone to this walking-on-eggshells behavior when discussing such matters onstage, in interviews, or as 'good guy' characters in scripted shows.

Anyway, I think I've pushed this thread further OT than it should have been.

[GeneChing]

Surprising that Reacher didn't do so well in PRC. It under-performed in the U.S. too (beaten by Medea of all characters ). It was produced with China - Huahua Film & Media Culture specifically. You'd think they'd know better on how to market it, but perhaps it was just timing.

China Box Office: ‘Mechanic’ Muscular as ‘Jack Reacher’ Flops
Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief


COURTESY OF LIONSGATE
OCTOBER 23, 2016 | 04:18PM PT

Jason Statham-starring action film “Mechanic: Resurrection” comfortably opened in top position at the Chinese box office. Its score was three times greater than Tom Cruise-starring “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.”

“Mechanic 2” took $24.3 million in three days, ahead of Hong Kong-made Nicholas Tse-starring crime drama “Heartfall Arises,” which opened a day earlier on Thursday. According to data from Ent Group, “Heartfall” scored $12.0 million in four days, and $8.86 million over the Friday to Sunday period.

The strength for “Mechanic” can be written down to the action star power of Statham, who has enjoyed past success in China with “Fast & Furious,” “The Expendables” and “The Transporter.”

“Operation Mekong” Bona Film Group’s actioner, which topped the charts for the past two weeks, added a further $8.26 million. That took its cumulative after 24 days to a handsome $159 million.

“Jack Reacher 2” tagged along in fourth place on each day of release and scored just $5.91 million in three days. That is a particularly weak outcome given the recent in-person appearances by Cruise in three mainland Chinese cities and the boost it gets from having a day-and-date release simultaneous with its North American outing. The film’s per screening averages were weaker still and point to a further fall in the number of play dates in the coming days. The first “Jack Reacher” film earned $15.1 million with a release delayed until early 2013.

Steven Spielberg’s “The BFG” earned just $2.08 million in its second weekend. That is an 85% drop on its opening weekend performance and nudges the film’s 10-day total to just $20.1 million.

Lower places were taken by Japanese animation “Dragon Ball Z Resurrection F” with $1.51 million in its opening weekend, previous chart-topper “I Belonged to You” with $1.62 million in its fourth weekend and China Film Group-backed war film “The Warriors” with $1.51 million in its second weekend.

“Belonged” now has a cumulative of $118 million after 25 days. “Warriors” has $3.86 million after 10 days.

I'll have a review up for JR: NGB likely later today, but I'll leave this here as a gauntlet for now, in case anyone can beat me to that First Forum Review.

[GeneChing]

This is one of those rare cases where the sequel bests the original. Good characters, especially Cobie Smulders, who plays a refreshingly strong female not a damsel in distress, and Danika Yarosh, who does get in some distress but is smarter about dealing with it than say Kim Bauer in 24. It's a fairly predictable film, but the pacing is tight for the most part. The bulk of the stuff in the trailer is pretty early in the film, so the trailer spoilers are minimal. The fights were choppier than the original, one punch = one cut, but acceptable, even funny in their ultravi, akin to the original. I must hand it to the Reacher franchise for the concept of hitting one opponent's head with another opponent's head (this probably wasn't the first instance of said tactic, but it's the most memorable - I'm always amused when heroes block attacks with another attackers body.) There is some spy-ish ridiculousness but it's all in good fun. My wife actually thought there was too much Tom, which made me wonder if she had been replaced by aliens for a moment because she's a fan of his, but she had a point. But still, I find Tom amusing in these sort of action roles, even if he plays them all the same, mostly because he's my age (good thing they don't test actors for steroids).

Oh, and yes, I claim first forum review here.

[Jimbo]

I never saw the first Reacher film, but I saw this one, and it was entertaining. I didn't go in expecting anything other than to simply check out for a couple hours.

I would claim second forum review, but I'm feeling a bit lazy today to try writing one.

[boxerbilly]

2 thumbs up. Worth the dollars. Not the greatest film ever made obviously but again, worth the dollars.