JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK – Review

Left to right: Tom Cruise plays Jack Reacher and Cobie Smulders plays Turner in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. Photo by David James. © 2016 PARAMOUNT PICTURES.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Tom Cruise brings back his military action character Jack Reacher in JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK. With Edward Zwick directing, Cruise delivers his signature brand of action with little touches of humor and romance, in this second movie in what appears to be a franchise based on Lee Child’s action thriller books. Cruise’s return as Reacher should please his loyal fans, although other moviegoers will find little that stands out in this standard action film.

One thing that does offer a bit of fun is the movie’s setting, which is in New Orleans during Halloween instead of Mardi Gras and, in earlier scenes, in the little-seen side streets of Washington, D.C. away from the iconic Capitol buildings. It gives a little visual interest and even a touch of realism to a film that is about as realistic as the average Bond movie and where many plot details make little sense. While realism is not its strong point, the film largely avoids the usual views and instead uses unexpected, and authentic looking, locations in these iconic cities. Setting the New Orleans scenes during Halloween rather than Mardi Gras makes the movie more seasonal while still providing costumed revelers and parades as a crowded, colorful backdrop through which do-gooder Reacher can chase the bad guys, which boosts the entertainment value of the action.

Ex-major Jack Reacher (Cruise) may have left his command with the military police but is still working with them as an undercover agent, under the supervision of Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who holds his old job. Major Turner keeps track of Reacher by phone as he roams the country exposing bad guys. Returning to home base in D.C., Reacher looks forward to finally meet his supervisor face-to-face and taking her out to dinner (this is a Tom Cruise film, after all). Instead, he discovers Turner has been arrested and replaced with new officer. Reacher determines to clear Turner of charges of espionage and responsibility of the deaths of two military investigators under her command operating in Afghanistan. Of course, the best way to do that is to spring her from jail so they can hunt down the real bad guys, who are employing some ruthless private military contractors led by a nameless hit man (Patrick Heusinger), and solve the mystery. Along the way, the pair pick up a teen-aged girl, 15-year-old Samantha (Danika Yarosh), whose mother has claimed is Reacher’s daughter.

I warned you about the realism but that’s not really the point of this film anyway. The point is to have Tom Cruise show off his superhuman action skills battling these villains, with plenty of chases and gun-play, while trading little romantic back-and-forth quips with Smulders and showing his vulnerable side with the clever, streetwise teenager. There is a kind of running joke in which the military types constantly salute or call Reacher “Major,” to which he tartly responds “ex-Major” to no avail.

Oddly, Zwick gets the action off to a slow start, and things don’t really get cooking until the characters reach New Orleans for the big showdown. Cruise plays a sensitive but stoic character with little touches of self-deprecating humor and romance, a character that dampens down Cruise’s usual smiles and charisma. Smulders nearly steals the show, as does young Yarosh as Sam. Smulders does a nice job as Major Turner, a woman who is both independent and flirty, who delivers some entertaining verbal sparring with Cruise. While the character talks a lot about equality and verbally challenges Reacher’s macho persona, in fact most of the action still features Cruise, which is what his fans are looking for here anyway. Yarosh is sassy and defiant as Sam,and a bit clueless in the manner of teens, and the scenes with her and Cruise are a rather fun.

There is not much that is fresh in this film, and even its best sequence, the showdown in New Orleans, looks a bit too much like a scene from the Bond film SPECTRE. Too many plot holes pop up, inconsistencies abound and the two-dimensional villain doesn’t help.

The movie is based on the 18th book in author Lee Child’s thriller series (and the author gets a cameo in a supporting role) so there are plenty more stories if Cruise wants to turn this into a franchise. The question is how long Cruise can play these kinds of action hero roles and maintain his fan base. Like it or not, Cruise is aging-out of the action hero type, and will have to make some changes to the character if he wants to play Reacher long-term. Those changes need to let the star use more of his natural appeal and express a wider range of human feelings. Right now, the stoic Jack Reacher doesn’t offer that and Cruise needs to find a film franchise that is a good fit for his strengths in the long run.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars