Opening: Jack Reacher

Tom Cruise stars as Jack Reacher, a renegade private investigator of sorts who sets out to find out if his old army acquaintance really shot the innocent people he’s accused of shooting. While Reacher portends to be a Jason Bourne, what with his ability to live off-the-grid and fearlessly take on bad guys who are bigger and badder, this film just doesn’t feel like a franchise starter, though there are some 17 Jack Reacher novels. The film’s storyline quickly spirals out of control as the plot develops and evolves into a conspiracy of sorts and proceeds like some extended episode of Law and Order.