Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Tom Cruise’s title character returns in a thriller that follows Reacher as he attempts to clear the name of a dedicated army major (Cobie Smulders’ Susan Turner) accused of espionage, with the character’s efforts complicated by the continued presence of a bratty teenager (Danika Yarosh’s Samantha) who may or may not be his daughter. It’s in that possible-offspring subplot that ultimately cements Jack Reacher: Never Go Back‘s place as a watchable yet disappointing sequel (particularly given the effectiveness of the original), as screenwriters Richard Wenk, Marshall Herskovitz, and Edward Zwick, the latter of whom also directs, make the decision to devote much of the movie’s midsection to this middling, almost completely worthless subplot. (It’s clear, by the time the film’s edited, that everything involving Yarosh’s nails-on-a-chalkboard character could’ve seamlessly been removed from the proceedings.) There is, as a result, little doubt that Jack Reacher: Never Go Back avoids all-out mediocrity thanks to Cruise’s typically strong work and a smattering of exciting suspense-oriented sequences, with, in terms of the latter, the film’s well-paced opening stretch boasting an exciting prison break and a brutal hand-to-hand fight in a kitchen (in addition to a strong setup for the movie’s central mystery). But the viewer’s interest in Reacher’s exploits dwindle steadily as the picture marches into its fairly uninvolving second act, and although there are some interesting interludes sprinkled throughout, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back builds to a somewhat endless climax that doesn’t pack the visceral punch Zwick has presumably intended (and yet, to be fair, Reacher’s final battle with the movie’s slimy villain is quite satisfying) – thus confirming the film’s place as an underwhelming followup that could (and should) have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****