Kraemer was announced as the composer for the film in July 2012, having already started work on it.[3] After spending eight weeks working with McQuarrie on materials to present to producers, Kraemer's hiring was approved and he directly began working on the film's opening eight minutes.[4]
The film is noted for its balance between music and silence, with music primarily absent or reserved during a majority of the film's action sequences.[5][6]
Music critic Jonathan Broxton wrote "Although Jack Reacher is not a flashy score that will garner legions of fans, the score does what it does very well, and that blockbuster main theme will be a favorite of many."[7] James Southall of Movie Wave commented "This is an impressive score, intelligently-written and while it lacks crash-bang-wallop thrills, that’s perhaps what makes it even more entertaining."[5]
Daniel Schweiger of Assignment X wrote "More than adding the remaining 10 inches and 90 pounds to comfortably fill Tom Cruise’s physique into Jack Reacher's literary frame, Joe Kraemer proves himself as this year’s best bad-ass musical makeup artist, one who will hopefully be committing far more major Hollywood crimes to come after this."[8]
Brent Simon of Screen International wrote "while Joe Kraemer contributes a serviceable score, the director also makes notable use of music’s frequent utter absence — particularly in a solid car chase scene and shootout in a gravel quarry, in which grinding gears and gunshot echoes, respectively, are artfully elevated to tense emotional markers."[9] Richard Corliss of Time wrote "Joe Kraemer’s thumping score, which, during helicopter shots of the crime scene, explodes like God’s farts over Pittsburgh."[10] In contrast, Jason Pirodsky of The Prague Reporter criticised the score as an "unmemorable dud".[11]
Kraemer's score has been longlisted as one among the 104 contenders for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 85th ceremony for films released in 2012.[12]
