Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – Movie Review

Let’s talk about Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.  Where do I begin?  This movie is a movie that was very underwhelming.  Which upsets me.

The first Jack Reacher movie was awesome.  I enjoyed every minute of that movie because it had awesome action sequences in it and it didn’t take itself too seriously.  Never Go Back took itself way too seriously, and, although some action sequences had moments where they showed promise, not a single scene sticks out as “this is the scene that makes the price of admission worth it.”

The first Jack Reacher had scenes like the car chase, the apartment fight scene, or the final shootout, just to name a few.  Never Go Back has nothing.  It doesn’t have a single stick out scene that just “wowed” me.  You maybe make an argument for the last fight, but it’s a bit of a stretch.

The best thing about this movie was the performance of Cobie Smulders.  She had heart and really seemed like the only who wanted to be there.  Tom Cruise acted like he was phoning it in.  Danika Yarosh, who plays a character who may or may not be Jack Reacher’s daughter, was annoying at multiple points in the movie.  It was as though her role was literally just to do something stupid to let the bad guys know where they were at any given moment.  That being said, I don’t think her performance was entirely her fault and I would like to see her in some more movies before judging if she’s a poor actor or not.  The main villain was just whatever the plot needed him to be, which is Jack Reacher’s equal, without giving any reason as to why he was as good as he was.  And then there was a character who was the true head villain of the story, and he was lame.  He was in the movie for maybe ten minutes, without really having an impact.

To go back to some poor acting or phoning it in moments, there was a part in the movie that was supposed to be an emotional payoff to make you cry a little, and the whole time Tom Cruise and Danika were literally bobbing their heads like bobble heads the whole time.  Tom Cruise was especially doing this.  The camera would cut to the back of his head and he would stop bobbing it, then realize he stopped, the start doing it again.  It was very distracting.  Another scene like this is one where the head villain gets some information from an underling and then tells the main villain to go get them, them being Jack Reacher and his comrades.  That’s it.  That is literally the whole scene.

Never go see Jack Reacher: Never Go back in theaters.  It’s a movie that I would watch if it were on TNT or FX or something, but never back in theaters.  I give it a 6.7 out of 10.

Review by Austin Clemen