MOVIE REVIEW: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Sequel to the Tom Cruise vehicle where he plays the over six-foot tall muscle-bound former Military Police Commander who travels around helping the Army.

I’ll be honest here and let you know that I enjoyed the first Jack Reacher film. It was a fun, passable, actioner with Tiny Tom doing what he does best in the action realm. There was a fun complex story about a former sniper being framed for murders he may not remember. When Reacher comes back to investigate that crime he uncovers a conspiracy of builders. Evil, evil, evil contractors.

Here he’s back in America and we join him as he is uncovering Human Trafficking on Army land of Mexicans coming into the country. The Military Police Commander he is helping out, Colby Smulders, is then framed for being a traitor by a private security company who are importing something illegal or selling weapons to the enemies of America. Add to that a new wrinkle in the life of Jack Reacher, someone is claiming that 15 years ago he Fathered a Daughter. He has to save Colby, and protect his Daughter as the private security company has threatened her safety.

The problem here is that they’ve lost the fun aspect of the first Jack Reacher film, which was just passable to begin with, has been taken away. I honestly thought that if they were going back to the well on this character then they should be looking to bring up something stronger than the last effort. It’s usual to make a lesser film from the first film, once the first film is at least highly enjoyable, but when the first film is just passable don’t come back to the table with a watered down piece of dribble. A lot of people will like this. Cruise has a certain magic about him when he’s on-screen, but that usual likable character is so diluted down that you don’t like Reacher this time around. Colby is fine, but spends most of her time with a grimace on her face and her constant need to remind Reacher that she’s capable of anything that he can do is just annoying. There is no sexual chemistry between them even though it is scripted into the film.

Never Go Back offers nothing new, it’s like The Bourne Legacy, the lesser of the Bourne movies. Even this years Jason Bourne was nothing compared to the original. The only thing there is that the first three Bourne films were good even outstanding. The first Jack Reacher film was just okay.

Danika Yarosh plays the possible Daughter of Jack Reacher and you don’t care about her straight away. The thing is that you should feel something for her but the way that this role is played you want to pick up one of the guns and shoot her for the bad guys. The constant moaning doesn’t convey the hard life that the character is going through, this film is really poorly written, and that character of the Daughter is one of the prime examples of that failure in the writing department.

I really wanted to give this a higher score, I honestly hate trashing movies, but you have to be honest about things. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back fails to make you want more in the series of films. Tom should concentrate on the Mission Impossible series of films, at least those are fun and entertaining. I think we’ll put this one down to a contract obligation and walk away. If you liked the first film them you’ll probably be disappointed here. Although a lot of mind numbing rubbish brings in a lot of money in the box office. Who knows?

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Director: Edward Zwick
Writers:Â Richard Wenk, Edward Zwick,Â Marshall Herskovitz, Lee Child
Stars:Â Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge

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Garth Cremona (RIP)

Comic book creator and movie reviewer. You can find out more at www.dublinwriter.com

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Tags: action, Aldis Hodge, Cobie Smulders, Edward Zwick, Lee Child, Marshall Herskovitz, Richard Wenk, Tom Cruise