Review of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) by Filipe C — 21 Oct 2016

An unlikely franchise for Cruise, especially since the original was criminally underated. Now, that sounds a little like the Taken franchise, which means the quality will only dip from the original. Luckily, that isn't the case here as director Edward Zwick has opted to give audiences a different side of Reacher.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back finds Reacher in D.C. as he stumbles upon a conspiracy to frame a major for espionage. Now, I won't go much further into detail, because the trailers actually managed to keep a good bit of the story hidden, which works well for the film.

While some of the plot beats may feel familiar and previously tread by many films before, the energy that both Cruise and Smulders bring more than keeps things elevated, and Edward Zwick opts for a more old school filmmaking approach, which really works well for the action.

The shootouts and the fisticuffs are captured and choreographed well, keeping that slow intensity from the original. And that intensity also carries over in Cruise's performance, who plays Reacher a little lighter at times here than he did previously, except in the second half where he cranks it up due to progression in the story.

But much like before, Cruise never misses a beat. Neither does Smulder, who certainly holds her own next to the megastar. The film is paced well, never really slowing down except when it needs to, and the two hour runtime feels like a breeze.

I'm not sure if Paramount will find it in their hearts again to grace us with another sequel to this, but I sure hope they do.