AS Media - Research

1. Jack Reacher
AS Media- Research

2. Main Characters
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Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise): Involved after the 5 deaths, Barr after recovering from his coma asks for Reacher. At
first it seems like a hopeless task however with the help of Helen they both unravel certain situations and come to
conclusion that it wasn’t Barr.
Helen (Rosamund Pike): District attorney’s daughter who is defending Barr who's been saddled with the
apparently hopeless task of saving him from the death penalty.
Rodin (Richard Jenkins): District attorney who is the father of Helen’s, who gets involved in later events of the film.
Emerson (David Oyelowo): A detective in Pittsburgh who is featured several times with certain attacks throughout
the investigation carried out by Reacher himself. In the end we notice that Emerson is working for the man
himself the Zec.
The Zec (Werner Herzog): Is the mastermind behind the whole attack of the killing of the 5 innocent citizens.
However there was a reason for such an attack, to make it look like there were just there to kill how Barr did
previously before the film in military. They only wanted one person dead who owned a building site company.
Charlie (Jai Courtney): He in fact is the killer of all 5 innocent murders, however he frames Barr. Works for the Zec
and goes by all of his orders.
Barr (Joseph Sikora): Gets framed for shooting 5 people. Asks for Jack Reacher, which leads to Reacher
investigating the situation and eventually leading to Barr being innocent.

3. Plot
• When a sniper shoots randomly five victims, Detective Emerson finds
evidence to incriminate the former paranoid marine James Barr. It is an
easy case for the prosecutor Rodin, but Barr refuses to sign the confession
and he calls Jack Reacher. When he is transported to prison in a bus, the
other prisoners beat him and Barr goes to the hospital in coma.
• The pacifist attorney Helen Rodin, who is the daughter of the
prosecutor, decides to defend him but Jack Reacher is a former marine
investigator that left the army and has become an unknown drifter. Out of
the blue, Jack appears in the city and Helen invites him to work for her
investigating the case. Soon he finds that the culprit is innocent and there
is a conspiracy behind the murders.

4. Mise en Scene
• Examples of Mise en Scene:
• An example of when mise en scene is used is in the opening sequence
with the props as bullets. The use of these bullets gives us an
understanding of how there might be an involvement of these bullets
within the film and demonstrates the importance to the storyline.
• Another example of mise en scene used is another prop with the machine
gun being attached to the main character. It gives us the feeling that this
character is a important but dangerous man. Reacher clothing gives off
certain signals such as, his type of clothes being like soldier/assassin type
of costume to show us that he is a form of authority and may have a
hidden mystery behind it due to the assassin look.

5. Iconography
• Iconography is used with the main character Jack
Reacher. Reacher is a fictional and protagonist of
a series of books from Jim Grant.
• A former Major in the United States
Army Military Police Corps, Reacher was laid off
at age 36, and roams the United States taking odd
jobs and investigating suspicious and frequently
dangerous situations. For example in the film Jack
Reacher comes across as this with particular
clothing and characteristics.

6. Ideology
• An example of ideology:
• The ideological soft-core of the movie occurs somewhere in
the middle while Jack Reacher and Rosamund Pike sit comfy in
her office and watch helplessly while other people in the next
building are slaves and enslaved by debt. “Oh look at the poor
clerks! What sh**ty lives they are living!”

7. Genre Features
• With another typical feature of thrillers being an exciting
start, this delivered even more than that.
• With a typical type of music suiting to a thriller before the
villian snipers 5 innocent people. While shooting to add effect
to the situation, they have added his breathing to add even
more tension to the situation.