Christopher McQuarrie’s Jack Reacher needs, nay, demands a sequel. We all loved it in our tag-team review, but North America was apparently too busy traipsing with hobbits and taking in close-ups of a pained Russel Crowe to notice that, despite Tom Cruise’s baggage, dude still delivered an incredibly kick-ass performance of a character he was in no way fit to play. A refined callback to 90s action, Reacher is the sort of awesomeness that visits our theatres all-too-rarely.
And now comes word that Paramount’s looking to keep it that way, as The Hollywood Reporter reveals the film’s not meeting the studio’s $250 million gross goal. But all’s not bleak, as the onus now falls to Asian territories to get more Jack Reacher’round.
Strong runs in Japan, China and Korea would boost what is right now projected to be a $185 million take. So this is me on my soapbox, politely asking our Asian friends to come through and give this excellent actioner a shot. Because any movie where Tom Cruise threaten’s to drink Jai Courtney’s blood from a boot, or Werner Herzog goes on monologue about the joys of eating one’s own fingers, can hardly be a bad thing. In fact, I’d say such wondrous tidings are worthy of reward.