Latest ‘Jack Reacher’ makes very few demands on its audience

More evidence that there truly are two Americas. No, I’m not talking about this year’s presidential contest between the Clintonistas and the Trumpists. I’m talking about America’s wildly divergent movie audiences — those who prefer bombastic, adrenaline-pumping mainstream action flicks and those who prefer the quiet, reflective murmurs of indie films.

The extreme versions of both are on stunning display in two movies opening Friday: “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” and “Certain Women.” (The titles alone tip off which is which, I suspect.)

“Jack Reacher” stars Tom Cruise as an ex-military tough guy who’s become something of a legend for his tough guy loner exploits. He chafed under the rules and regulations of military life, so he bolted in order to fulfill his tough guy nature.

And make no mistake, he’s one tough guy.

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The movie opens with Cruise/Reacher having already single-handedly beat to a pulp four or five guys outside a bar. He’s been arrested and handcuffed by the small-town local sheriff and his deputy when he calmly informs the officers.

“Two things are going to happen in the next 90 seconds … first, that phone is going to ring. Second, you’re going to be wearing those cuffs on your way to prison…”

True to his word, Reacher, 90 seconds later, is walking out of the bar a free man and the two officers are indeed being led away in handcuffs.

The movie thus enters into a contract with its audience. Whenever tough guy Jack Reacher says something threatening, and being a tough guy he’s often saying threatening things, you can damn well expect to see it happen, sooner rather than later.

For instance, he announces at one point that he’s going to break one particular baddie’s arms, then his legs, and eventually his neck. And after a long chase, and even longer gunfight and fistfight, he systematically carries out his promise.

Everything that happens in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” is more or less predictable. You just know that when he’s surrounded by five big bad guys, they don’t stand a chance against him. And the few things that are not predictable are reassuringly telegraphed not long before they happen.

Genre pictures like “Jack Reacher” depend on satisfying audience’s expectations. Charismatic hero? Check. Car chases? Check. Gunfights? Check. Fiery explosions? Check. Good triumphs over evil? Check. It’s a pretty low bar, but the film at least clears it.

“Jack Reacher” makes very few demands on its audiences.

In contrast, “Certain Women” makes so many demands that it can be very trying if one’s not ready for them.

Director Kelly Reichardt makes movies that are so lacking in incident that it often feels like you’re still waiting for the story to begin when it suddenly ends. She forces you to change your expectations about what a film is meant to do.

In “Certain Women,” which just won the top prize at the prestigious London Film Festival, Reichart gives us a glimpse into the disparate lives of a handful of women living in Livingston, Montana.

Laura Dern plays a lawyer who can’t seem to shake a needy client, Michelle Williams is a vaguely unhappy wife and mother who covets a neighbor’s scrap heap of sandstone, and Kristen Stewart is a young woman fresh out of law school who makes ends meet by commuting for hours in order to teach a dispiriting community college class.

Nothing much happens to any of these unrelated women, at least on the surface. Think “slices of life,” set in the desolate but gorgeous landscapes of Montana. There’s a certain poetry in their seemingly mundane lives, and Reichart captures that. These women are not living lives full of plot and intrigue but that doesn’t mean their lives are not noteworthy. Their psychologies may be muted but they resonate.

“Certain Women” is as complex and profound as “Jack Reacher” is simplistic and escapist. What do you want in a movie?