Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

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. He readies a Springfield Armory M1A and assassinates five people on the river’s North Shore Trail from long range before driving off. The police, headed by Detective Calvin Emerson, find a shell casing as well as the quarter used to pay for parking. A fingerprint on the coin belongs to James Barr, a former U.S. Army sniper. 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.

During 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. They are bewildered when Barr instead takes a notepad and writes “Get Jack Reacher”. Reacher is a drifter and former Army Military Police officer. He arrives in Pittsburgh after seeing a news report about Barr and the shooting. 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. 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.