Review of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) by Pramitheus R — 25 Jan 2017

Let me start off by saying that I am a fan of Tom Cruise from his Mission: Impossible days. I love the guy and he knows that he has a huge fan following but I think he should be a bit more sensitive about it. If you're gonna milk the fandom too hard, you will end up destroying the love that you have and also end up stereotyping yourself. He is good as Ethan Hunt and that's it. He should do that and make other movies that will suit his age. Sorry, I have to admit that Tom Cruise is getting old.

SCREENPLAY - I have just started to understand the craft of film-making and as I always say, it's hard. Assigning an aspect of the movie with an adjective is very insulting, but when the writers do not respect the audience by presenting something coherent and interesting, I think an adjective is necessary. So in order to define the narrative, horrendous will do. The dialogue is just juvenile at best. I vaguely remember the 1st Jack Reacher movie. It wasn't any masterpiece, but it wasn't as slow-paced as this one. I understand that they are dealing with more sub-plots and that needs some slowing down, but at what cost? It just becomes plain boring.

DIRECTION - Just remember what I said about my respect for film-making and then judge me. That said, the direction was like walking 100 kilometres through mud. Just dragging on and on. The camera-work was so monotonous. The pacing was completely off. There was no tension. There was literally nothing to help me get invested. Just glaring plot-holes staring right at me. I almost became CinemaSins. I actually found a new sense of respect for CinemaSins because what he does needs a lot of patience. Wait a second, Edward Zwick has directed The Last Samurai, Love and other Drugs and Pawn Sacrifice. I love all three of them and now this? Well, miracles do happen, be it good or bad. Bad in this case surely. There was also that awful CGI. It was pretty distinguishable all the time.

ACTING - Well, when the screenplay and direction has failed you, what can the actors do? Tom Cruise ( and I say this with a heavy heart) gave a very wooden performance. I think he was trying to be serious and not be Ethan Hunt. It wasn't working. That is because there are no character arcs. Nothing about the character was established from the previous movie that could have been worked into this movie. So he just ended up as an impression of Hunt. Cobie Smulders was okay at best. She looked tired for some reason. Again, no character arcs and that didn't allow me to connect with her character traits. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, were just cliched characters that you see in movies like Taken.

FINAL VERDICT - I haven't read the book, but if it's good then stick to it. Give a pass on this movie. It's certainly not worth the effort and if you know or are in contact with Tom Cruise, just tell him to choose wisely from next time.