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Jack Reacher | 2012 | PG-13 | - 4.7.5

A man is arrested for the murder of five innocent people in what appears to be a random act of violence. The accused asks for help from a former military cop (Tom Cruise) who arrives intent on confirming the findings of the police. But as he digs, he realizes there's more to the case than he initially thought. Also Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, David Oyelowo, Werner Herzog, Jai Courtney, Vladimir Sizov, Joseph Sikora, Michael Raymond-James, Alexia Fast, Josh Helman and Robert Duvall. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. [2:10]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - A woman dresses while a man lies in bed and it is implied that they have had sex; we see her bare back as she puts on her bra, and her bare buttocks, and we see the man's bare back when he sits up in the bed. A young woman is shown wearing a short top that reveals her bare abdomen; a man approaches her and he asks her to go out for a drink, she declines and is about to leave when she is attacked (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A bare-chested man moves close to a woman and she mistakenly thinks that he is making a pass at her (he is not and she is embarrassed).
 A man is shown bare-chested in a hotel room and a woman sitting on a bed asks him to please put on a shirt. We see a poster of a woman wearing short-shorts that reveal her bare legs to the hip in a suggestive pose. A woman is shown wearing a low-cut tank top that reveals cleavage and a man looks at her suggestively (she walks away). A man is handcuffed by police on his bed and we see that he is wearing jockey-style underwear and a T-shirt. A young woman wears a short top that reveals her bare abdomen. A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage in several scenes.
 A young woman approaches a man in a bar and appears to be trying to seduce him, asking him to go to her car; he does not accept her offer and makes an offensive comment (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
 A man talks about a "raper rally" and talks about men having sex with 28 girls and women ranging in age from 11-54. A man tells a young woman, "You don't have to let these guys use you" and she replies, "It's what girls like me do."

VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - A man with a high-powered rifle prepares to shoot at people across a river in a park: he takes aim, begins shooting and we see five people fall dead (the first victim is shown with blood on his shirt and several others are later shown with pools of blood around their heads); we see the shooting played from a different vantage point a few more times and we see the victims being struck and falling to the ground (no blood is evident). A man with a high-powered gun takes aim at a man in a street and shoots; he then shoots three other men (we see them fall to the ground but no blood is evident).
 A young woman is punched hard in the face by a man, she falls to the ground and another man puts his hand over her nose and mouth to smother her; we later see her dead with a large bruise on her face and lying on a garbage pile.
 A man shoots another man in the head and we see blood splatter on the wall behind him. A man asks another man, "What would you do to survive?" and the man puts his thumb in his mouth and seems to be biting it, he then falls to his knees and yells saying he can't do it (bite off his own fingers), and another man shoots him in the head (he falls dead and we do not see blood); the shooter then takes out a saw to dismember the body. A man is shot at as he runs from his car, and another man shoots at three gunmen who are shooting at the first man; one man is struck and falls to the ground (we see blood glisten), the man running strikes another gunman in the head twice with a large rock (we see blood on his head), more gunfire is exchanged and one man's gun is shot. Two men are shot by another man (they fall to the ground and no blood is evident). A man holds a gun to a woman's head and points another gun toward a doorway; another man comes through the door and shoots the man with the guns (he is squatting behind the woman and is shot through her hair; she appears to be in shock and no blood is shown on the victim).
 A car speeds through streets toward a house where a man is snooping, two men with a crow bar and a bat come from behind him and start swinging, he is struck in the head with the bat (we see some blood on his head, neck and shirt), he stumbles and falls into a bathtub, the two men try to hit him again but they hit each other (one is knocked unconscious by the other) and the walls and mirror shatter; the man in the tub digs his thumb into the eye of one attacker, they fight, he pushes one attacker on top of the other and slams their heads together until they are unconscious (we see blood on their faces).
 A man puts a gun to another man's head then throws his gun aside and they fight with many punches and kicks: one man pulls a knife and slashes toward the other man, he drops the knife and is struck hard, he falls to the ground and the other man breaks his fingers or hand (we hear a crunch) and puts his boot on his head; the camera cuts away but we hear the man scream and we understand that he has been killed. After making a crude sexual remark to a young woman in a bar, a man is confronted by five other men who fight with him: he hits one man in the face with his elbow and kicks him in the crotch, then punches and kicks two other men who yell when they are struck in the crotch and the leg and they fall to the ground incapacitated (one man spits on the ground and it is dark so there is no blood visible). A man holds a gun to another man's head until the other man twists the gun in his hand hurting the man's hand (we see his fingers bent out of shape and the man yells).
 A woman appears frightened when walking through a building late at night; a man stops her elevator and gets on with her, he tasers her and she yells and falls to the floor and two other men drag her out of the elevator.
 A police detective pulls a gun on a man in a car who then speeds away chased by police cars: the speeding car chases another car, they speed through crowded streets, crash into construction barricades, and people scream and try to get out of the way; one car rams into the other car and they slam into each other side-by-side while on a bridge, they separate and go into tunnels (one is going the wrong way and dodges oncoming vehicles), a police helicopter joins the chase and a driver gets out of his car and lets it roll into several police cars parked on a street as a barricade (no one is harmed). A man speeds a car in reverse along a dirt road while several men shoot at him (we see glass shatter and the car is riddled with bullet holes before getting stuck on a large rock).
 We see crime scene photos of bodies with bloody pools under their heads on the ground. A man is shown in a police transport vehicle with several other men who beat him repeatedly (we see his face bloody after several blows); we see him in a hospital bed with cuts and bruises on his face and we hear that he is in a coma. A dead man is shown with his head on a desk (no blood). A man is held at gunpoint by several police and is handcuffed on the ground. Armed police break the door of an apartment and handcuff a man. Armed police officers move through a parking garage after several people have been shot and look for clues. A man is shown in a hospital bed and we see that he has healing cuts and bruises on his face and nose.
 A man with a discolored eye talks about having chewed his own fingers off to keep frostbite from turning to gangrene and the fingers on the other hand to keep from being made to work in sulfur mines (we see the finger nubs). A woman appears to be in a stupor and we see a drug pipe on a table next to her.
 A man places a paper target at a shooting range and another man watches him from a distance (it is suggested that one man considers shooting the other man). A man is shown making his own ammunition.
 A man yells at a woman on a bus and acts in an abusive manner (he seems to grab her or shove her) until another man gets up and makes his way toward him (presumably to make him stop). A woman becomes nervous while speaking to a murder victim's father when she sees a handgun on the table and he becomes agitated telling her to "stay where you are" as she tries to leave (she runs out the door and is unharmed).
 A man and his adult daughter argue in several scenes about his being convinced that she is making mistakes. A husband and his wife argue and yell at each other. A man threatens a woman and tells her that she will watch the way a man dies. A man threatens another man over the telephone and tells him "I will beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot." A man threatens another man and a young woman pleads for the man not to hurt her (no one gets hurt). A man talks about a "raper rally" and talks about men having sex with 28 girls and women ranging in age from 11-54. A man talks about killing someone and "distributing the body." A man talks to another man about going to the "death house" and being sexually assaulted and beaten and the man talking tells him, "I want you to live a long time." A man is shown with a badly bruised thumbnail and he picks at flaking skin around the nail. A woman talks about a DA forcing people to "confess or face death." A man says, "I came here to bury him." A man says that joining the military gives people the legal means of killing other people. A man talks about the "sweet spot" that snipers aim for in the target's brain. A man talks about being a military police officer and that "every suspect is a trained killer." A young woman says, "I don't mind the sight of blood" and a man replies, "Well, it means you are not pregnant." A man says, "Cops never vote Democrat or drive their personal vehicles." A young woman tells a man that she was told he was a "predator" and that he was "supposed to grope" her. A man cries and says, "I did something bad and got away with it."
 We see several mounted animal heads and a taxidermied animal in a shooting range shop.

LANGUAGE 5 - About 2 F-words, 2 mouthed F-words, 7 sexual references, 11 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 15 mild obscenities, exclamations (shut up, shut your mouth), name-calling (crazy, loner, hooker, creep, predator, pervert, delusional, absurd), 1 religious profanity, 8 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - We see a prescription drug vial on a man's bed side table and the man in bed seems to be asleep as he is handcuffed by police, a woman appears to be in a stupor and we see a drug pipe on a table next to her, and a young woman says of a man, "He cooks crystal." People in a bar are shown drinking alcohol in a few scenes, a bottle of scotch is shown on a table next to a man sitting in a chair (it is implied that he has been drinking but we do not see him drink), a woman drinks a beer, and we see several beer bottles scattered in a house. The atmosphere in a couple of bar scenes is smoky although we do not see anyone smoking.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Mass murder, random acts of violence, greed, military service, heroes, military training, addiction, pacifism, getting away with murder, freedom, imperfection, debt, anxiety, fear, living in complete anonymity, failure, evidence, shame, criminal justice system, habitual behavior, tactical awareness, defiance, corruption.

MESSAGE - The truth may be difficult to find but is worth pursuing.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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