The real perpetrators are a gang masquerading as a legitimate construction firm, led by a former Soviet political prisoner known only as Zec Chelovek ("prisoner human being").
Reacher eventually follows up a lead at a shooting range in the neighboring state of Ohio, owned by former Marine Gunnery Sergeant Martin Cash, who will talk only if Reacher demonstrates his shooting skills. Reacher is later framed for the murder of the young woman who was paid to instigate the brawl, but this only motivates him further. After Helen reports her findings about the victims to Reacher, he suggests that the owner of a local construction company was the intended victim, while the other victims served as a cover-up. Reacher goes to the crime scene and finds inconsistencies about the location, thinking that a trained shooter would have done the killings from the cover of the van on the nearby Fort Duquesne Bridge.Īfter an apparently spurious bar fight, Reacher realizes that someone is attempting to strong-arm him into dropping his investigation. Reacher agrees to investigate if Helen visits the victims' families to learn about the people murdered that day. Reacher vowed that if Barr tried anything like this again, he would take him down. He reveals that Barr had gone on a killing spree during his tour in Iraq but was not prosecuted because, unbeknownst to Barr, his victims were under investigation for numerous assaults and the U.S. Helen tells Reacher he can see the evidence if he will be her investigator, but Reacher retorts that he is not interested in clearing Barr's name. Reacher meets Barr's defense attorney, Helen Rodin, the District Attorney's daughter, who has been saddled with the apparently hopeless task of saving Barr from the death penalty. Emerson and Rodin deny Reacher's request to view the evidence but agree to let him see Barr, who was attacked by fellow inmates and is now in a coma. He arrives in Pittsburgh after seeing a news report about Barr and the shooting. Reacher is a drifter and former Army Military Police officer. They are bewildered when Barr instead takes a notepad and writes "Get Jack Reacher".
When the police raid his house, they find the van, equipment for reloading rifle cartridges, the rifle in question, and Barr asleep in his bed.ĭuring an interrogation by Emerson and District Attorney Alex Rodin, Barr is offered a choice between life in prison in exchange for a full confession or guaranteed death row, as Rodin has never lost a conviction. A fingerprint on the coin belongs to James Barr, a former U.S. The police, headed by Detective Calvin Emerson, find a shell casing as well as the quarter used to pay for parking. He readies a Springfield Armory M1A and assassinates five people on the river's North Shore Trail from long range before driving off. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a man drives a van into a parking garage across the Allegheny River from PNC Park, dropping a quarter into the meter. Cruise reprised his role in the 2016 sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, based on the 2013 novel Never Go Back. Cruise performed all of his own driving stunts during the film's car chase sequence. The musical score was composed by Joe Kraemer, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony and recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, California. The film was postponed following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, but was eventually released in North America on December 21, 2012. It received mixed reviews but was successful at the box office. It was filmed entirely on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The film entered production in October 2011, and was completed in January 2012. The film stars Tom Cruise as the title character, with Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney, Werner Herzog, and Robert Duvall also starring. Jack Reacher is a 2012 American action thriller film written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, based on Lee Child's 2005 novel One Shot.