How the heck did I become a fan of Jack Reacher?

Jack Reacher (the movie) appeared on Netflix not long ago. It was late at night on the weekend when I decided I was kind of in the mood for a probably mediocre action movie – and possibly fall asleep while watching it.

I was mistaken. The opposite happened: I really enjoyed the movie.

That was particularly due to the fact that Tom Cruise seemed to be just the right cast to pull it off: not too much of a stereotype action movie character he embodied the mix of this hardass, no-bullshit and smart guy (even though I guess most novel reader probably thought their Jack Reacher isn’t as short as Cruise).

I’m sure others have done a better job elsewhere explaining who this Jack Reacher character is. At this point I didn’t even know that he is the main character of a series of novels by Lee Child.

One great sentence is all it takes #

Here’s the scene / dialogue / sentence that won me over.

Reacher, who in a previous scene had been shown to purchase an outfit of second hand clothes (including his cool leather jacket), is just washing a shirt in the sink of his motel room. He is talking to a female counselor (Helen). She “hired” him as her lead investigator to which he reluctantly agreed. They are both still fairly unfamiliar with each other. While discussing the murder of five innocent people, Reacher is half undressed, bare-chested.

Helen: “I am sorry could please put a shirt on.”
Reacher (referring to the wet shirt): “This is my shirt.”
Helen: “You lose your luggage?”
Reacher: “I don’t have any luggage.”

Brilliant.

What else Jack Reacher doesn’t have #

So Jack Reacher doesn’t have any luggage. What he also doesn’t have is a cell phone, a car, a credit card, …, basically most things you’d consider almost anyone would have.

“So… how do we find this Reacher?”
“Obviously, you don’t find this guy unless he wants to be found.”

And then who wouldn’t ask:

Helen: “So why are you so hard to find?”
Reacher: “I am impossible to find.”
Helen: “Why is that?”
Reacher: “Well, you could say what started as an exercise, became an addiction.”

Jack Reacher is a wise man #

I started digging around (yep, already using the detective jargon) and found some more awesome Jack Reacher quotes.

A selection of my favorites (these are not from the movie, but from various novels).

Continuing on the topic of one shirt versus more than one shirt:

”Slippery slope. I carry a spare shirt, pretty soon I’m carrying spare pants. Then I’d need a suitcase. Next thing I know, I’ve got a house and a car and a savings plan and I’m filling out all kinds of forms.”

Why Jack Reacher won’t even consider owning a small bag:

“To fill a small bag means selecting,and choosing, and evaluating. There’s no logicial end to that process. Pretty soon I would have a big bag, and then two or three. A month later I’d be like the rest of you.”

Being a hoboCEO myself, I can certainly relate to that one:

“I’m not a vagrant. I’m a hobo. Big difference.”

And here’s Jack’s reasoning for why you feel rich having less:

“I’m a rich man. To have everything you need is the definition of affluence.”