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I’ll come straight out and admit it: Tom Cruise is my cinematic guilty pleasure.
I honestly can’t put a finger on why I enjoy his movies so much; but whether it’s because of his tough, heroic persona belying his small stature, his funny way of running, or his determination to perform his own stunts, they’re always worth a watch.
Therefore, I bounded down to my local multiplex with much enthusiasm to catch his latest offering, a sequel to the 2012 adaption of the popular Lee Child novels. I emerged with mixed emotions; Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is an enjoyable affair and Cruise is as watchable as ever, but it felt all too generic.
The film once again finds the exMajor-turned-nomadic-vigilante taking justice into his own hands when Major Susan Turner (Smulders), a female military leader who he’s taken a fondness to, is arrested under mysterious circumstances that hint at a conspiracy or cover-up going on within the armed forces.
At the same time, Reacher also learns that he may be a father to a daughter he never met, a 15-year-old named Samantha living on her own out of foster care, and searches for the girl in the hopes of finding out the truth behind their relationship.
Those are the basic plot components of Never Go Back and from there, Cruise and Smulders both go on a journey that takes them from internet cafes in Washington D.C. to parades in New Orleans.
This is a very different film compared to the first. Whereas Jack Reacher was directed with a quirky and brutal hand by Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise is instead reuniting here with his Last Samurai filmmaker, Edward Zwick, who takes the more intense and unique parts about the Jack Reacher character and bumps them all the way up to some seriously ridiculous levels here.
To its credit though, the film seems well aware of this. From the opening scene which sees Reacher being arrested by an arrogant country sheriff, only for Reacher to then turn the tables and say that soon enough a phone’s going to ring and he’s going to be the one in the cuffs, Zwick lays out the tone of the sequel well.
The film doesn’t hide what it is in the slightest in those opening moments, and fully prepares you for what’s to come, which is even more absurd scenarios involving Cruise in dangerous situations, almost always throwing out cheesy one-liners.
However, the problem with this is that with all of the iconic characters that he’s portrayed onscreen, it’s inevitable that some of Cruise’s many movie action heroes might not land or become quite as memorable as some of the others.
For every Ethan Hunt, there’s a Reacher who just feels like a knock-off version of his Mission: Impossible counterpart. Cruise and McQuarrie teamed up for that franchise’s Rogue Nation last year which was fantastic, and nailed the exact type of character Cruise should play in action movies.
The other characters aren’t much better either. While Cruise is sometimes able to make the absurdity of his dialogue and the character’s intense arrogance work, Smulders doesn’t fare so well. A majority of the lines that she’s forced to say in the film just feel forced and awkwardly placed, and the romantic connection between the two characters doesn’t work very well either.
In short, Never Go Back is an action sequel with some strong components and moments throughout, but that are pieced together by convoluted situations involving a character that doesn’t ever feel like he’s in much danger at all and whose bravado often escalates into some dangerously laughable territory.
It’s perhaps a shame for this film’s sake that Rogue Nation came out just last year, as arguably one of Cruise’s most impressive films to date. This is nowhere near as memorable and entertaining, but features enough of Cruise’s natural charisma and likeability to be worth a watch.
Showing in: Cineco, Seef I & II, Wadi Al Sail, Saar, Al Jazeera, Dana Cineplex, Novo, Mukta A2
