Jack Reacher: Never Go Back–By the Book

By Sandra Olmsted

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, the second installment in the franchise based on Lee Child’s books, hits all the marks for an action flick, like a color-by-numbers picture. Directed by Edward Zwick, who last worked with Tom Cruise on The Last Samurai (2003), the movie delivers all evil bad guys, the narrow escapes, thrill-ride chases, and against-the-odds battles buying a ticket to an action thriller promises. However, this movie leaves an unsatisfying B-film taste in the mouth.

Although ex-military, Reacher (Cruise) gravitates to and ferrets out illegal activity related to military personnel seemingly by instinct and works closely with Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who took over his old job as commanding officer of a unit of Military Police in Washington D.C. They also seem to be developing something of a promising relationship and make plans for a date.

When Reacher turns up for a little romance, he learns Susan has been imprisoned for espionage; of course, Reacher does not believe Susan is a traitor. Meanwhile, he also learns that a paternity claim been made against his pension for a now 15-year-old girl, Samantha (Danika Yarosh). Reacher starts investigating Susan’s case and soon runs a foul of the bad guys, who send “The Hunter” (Patrick Heusinger) to assassinate Reacher and Susan.

Reacher breaks Susan out of a federal military prison with the ease of a kid sneaking out to skip school, and they begin running and investigating the mysterious deaths of two of Susan’s soldiers who were investigating missing arms in Iraq. Then, The Hunter threatens Samantha, and even though Reacher isn’t sure she’s his daughter, he and Susan rescue the girl and bring her with them on their cross country race to expose the truth about a Blackwater-style firm’s employees and military officers who are in cahoots in a shady, but lucrative, deal.

While there are lots of bone crushing fights along the way, most of them pushing the limits of suspended belief, the big finale happens in New Orleans during the costumed Halloween parade. This merely provides a backdrop and not exploited for its potential, although the roofs of the French Quarter are well used and look marvelous thanks to cinematographer Oliver Wood.

Reacher and The Hunter’s final fight scene, which is cringe worthy brutal, is also completely unbelievable –one or both of them should have been dead several times over. The acting isn’t especially bad; however, while the women are tough and able to fight and compete with men, the characters of Susan and Samantha written one dimensionally, as pawns for Reacher to talk at and Susan, especially, lacks spark and humor.

Perhaps seeing Reacher, the perpetual loner, hit the road again satisfies some audiences, but the promise of a perfectly-matched girlfriend and a kid who ought to be his that strings other audiences along is hollow trickery. This paint-by-numbers film, which would look better from a distance, is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some bloody images, language and thematic elements and runs a quick-paced, thankfully, 118 minutes.

Based on the 18th Reacher novel, meaning perhaps the public won’t be subjected to as many of this ilk, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, a Paramount Pictures release, is in theaters now.

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