Tom effing Cruise

Yes, this feels like an odd film to recommend, I mean, it feels so dad-ish. But we here at Please Consume love dad movies and we love Jack Reacher.

Author

Tyler Clark
May 18, 2023

Good morning Consumers. Good morning Consumers, This is Please Consume, the newsletter that loves the Godfather and Fast Five equally.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Yes, this feels like an odd film to recommend, I mean, it feels so dad-ish. But we here at Please Consume love dad movies and we love Jack Reacher.

Based on Lee Child’s 2006 pulp action crime novel “The Killing Floor”, Jack Reacher is an absolute blast of goofy, bombastic, and unapologetic fun!

On top of all that it has an incredible car chase in it, by far the most underrated chase we’ll cover this week!

Approaching Action

So we won’t talk too much about Tom Cruise and action today. We will save that for another time (so stay tuned), but we will talk just a little bit about how it differs from the traditional Cruise style.

Much like any great Cruise action scene, most of it is practical and he did the stunts himself.

But where it differs is Cruise tends to shoot all the action in a fairly straightforward manner, mostly in wides so you can see just how crazy what he’s doing.

It’s fair to say he doesn’t want the filmmaking to get in the way of his and his fellow stunt performers work (which we love to see).

But with Jack Reacher it’s incredibly stylized, with gorgeous push-in shots on Cruise to slick digital cinematography that makes the 1970 Chevelle shine brighter than Tom Cruise’s fake teeth.

Sound Design

One of the absolute craziest things about this chase is their approach to sound.

Unlike yesterday’s movie, this scene has no score behind it which is honestly kinda crazy in this era. Director Christopher McQuarrie allows the car engines to act as a soundtrack for the scene.

As ridiculous as this may sound, if you close your eyes and just listen to this scene you will still be able to have an excellent understanding of what is happening, who is winning, and who is losing.

This is done by a small but important choice: the engines all sound completely different.

The police have their sirens and Jai Courtney has his stealthy engine. But when Jack Reacher comes in roaring like a lion, disrupting the whole space, it overtakes the speakers.

Half Baked Research

When shooting the movie the production had nine 1970 Chevrolet Chevelles. And by the end of shooting they only had three in working condition.

Today’s Scene

Stream It

If you would like to watch Jack Reacher: Never Go Back at home, you can find it here.

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