Like so many big-budget action films before it, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” is tired, predictable and unoriginal. Like so many of those movies, however, it is still fun to watch.
“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” released Friday, is a sequel to the 2012 film “Jack Reacher.” “Never Go Back,” which shares its name and plot with Lee Child’s 18th Jack Reacher novel, follows the titular character in his attempt to unravel a winding tale of espionage and conspiracy.
Ex-military man Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) begins a quiet investigation upon learning that his friend, Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), has been wrongfully imprisoned on charges of espionage.
Reacher soon discovers that Turner’s life is in danger, and in order to protect her, breaks Turner out of a military prison, making them both fugitives. Reacher and Turner must then set out to clear their names and uncover the truth about the events that landed Turner in prison.
Reacher and Turner are on the run from more than just the government. A mysterious military contracting group sends an agent (Patrick Heusinger) with skills comparable to Reacher’s to hunt the pair down. Heusinger’s character is nameless and is listed in the credits only as The Hunter.
The antagonists in “Never Go Back” are frustratingly unsurprising. The characters who look like the most like “bad guys” are, in fact, the bad guys. All of the henchmen and agents are easily spotted but then forgettable.
The Hunter, who spends a significant amount of time on screen, isn’t even given a proper name. Every adversary that comes into Reacher’s sphere is essentially nameless and faceless.
Jack Reacher himself is almost as poor of a character as the anonymous goons he brawls with. Cruise, a master of the action hero, brings little to no actual personality to this role. Reacher feels empty, and it is hard to actually care about anything that happens to him. Any attempts to humanize Reacher’s character felt futile and botched.
One of these attempts comes in the form of 15-year-old Samantha (Danika Yarosh). It is revealed early in the film that Samantha might be an estranged daughter of Reacher’s. Because of this, she soon falls under his protection. Despite a spunky performance from Yarosh, the intended dynamic between Reacher and Samantha never quite clicks. Reacher simply doesn’t have the depth to come across as a believable father figure.
Smulders delivers the best performance of the film, and even she has her missteps. Major Susan Turner is a witty and resourceful character, and much of Smulders’ dialogue is delivered on a higher level than that of her costars.
Some parts of Smulders’ performance, however, are stifled and odd, particularly those that bring up ideas of sexuality and gender in the military. While it’s impressive that the film explores these themes, the dialogue lacks nuance and feels mishandled.
For a film that advertises itself as an action-packed blockbuster, there is surprisingly little action. The heart-pounding, conflict-filled sections are limited to a small number of fight scenes and chase sequences.
The sparsity of these scenes, however, works in the film’s favor. Each sequence feels needed. Instead of set-piece after explosive set-piece, “Never Go Back” leads to each action scene in a way that feels warranted.
The scenes themselves are enjoyable, yet forgettable. Almost all of the fights are close-quartered, hand-to-hand fight scenes. There is only one long-distance firefight in the whole film.
The hand-to-hand scenes feel heavy and grounded, with the characters often using everyday objects such as bannister rails as weapons. These portions are a refreshing break from the unrealistic stunts of action movies past.
However, the lack of any big, unbelievable stunt makes the action in “Never Go Back” extremely unremarkable. A month from now, friends won’t gather around and remember a scene from this film as vividly as they would one from a decades-old James Bond or Mission Impossible film.
“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” does do one thing surprisingly well: comedy. At times, the humor is even laugh-out-loud funny. The jokes hit more than they don’t, and are even self-referential at times, poking fun at the film itself and at the action genre as a whole.
This humor, alongside the easily watchable action sections, make “Never Go Back” an enjoyable movie-going experience overall. The film isn’t going to be at the top of any “Best of 2016” lists, and it won’t win any Oscars.
Not every movie has to be a cinematic masterpiece, though. Sometimes a mindless, action-filled blockbuster is enough. If it is nothing else, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” is fun to watch, and every once in a while, that’s enough.
