Direction: Edward
Zwick; Cast: Tom Cruise, Cobi smolders,
Aldis Hodge, Danika Yarosh, Patrick Heusinger; Story: based from Lee Child`s 18th
Reacher novel “Never Go Back”; Screenplay: Richard Wenk, Edward Zwick, Marshall
Herskovitz; Cinematography: Oliver Wood;
Editing: Billy Weber; Music: Henry Jackman; Producers: Tom Cruise, Don
Granger, Christopher McQuarrie; Genre: Action -Thriller: Location: USA; Distributor: Paramount
Pictures; Running Time:130 minutes
Technical assessment: 3
Moral assessment: 2.5
CINEMA rating: V14
MTRCB rating: PG
Jack Reacher (Cruise) is back and this time he allies with
Major Susan Turner (Smulders) to help him arrest criminals across America. He develops fondness for the Major and
arranges to finally meet her and probably date her. But when he arrives in the camp quarters, he
learns the Major has been arrested for treason. Suspecting foul play, Reacher investigates and
outsmarts authorities to break Turner out of prison before henchmen murder her.
Along the way, he is told that a paternity suit has been filed against him and
that he is the father of 15-year-old street smart Samantha (Yarosh). Thinking
Sam is Reacher’s daughter, a paid assassin called “The Hunter” (Heusinger) goes after her, forcing Reacher
to take her along in their quest to uncover the truth. The trio travel to New Orleans to question
the only eyewitness to the case, clear Turner and Reacher’s name from the
murders they have been framed for and keep Samantha safe from assassins trying
to teach Reacher a lesson.
British writer Child’s Reacher novels are about the adventures of an American
military-cop-turned-vigilante who hitchhikes across his broken country seeking
justice that institutions and politicians deny him. How does Reacher in the novels compare with
Reacher in the movies? What Jack Reacher
had in the first movie that viewers fell in love with is diluted in this
sequel. For one, Reacher’s street smart
analysis and quick wittedness is overrated. The action is poorly paced and screaming for
conciseness. The rawness of his character is replaced with a glossy Hollywood
caricature. The father-son daughter is stretched so thinly it fails to deliver
any authentic connection with the viewers. We do not think the narrative would
have suffered if her subplot was removed, more so because the Samantha character
comes across as annoying. (Is that the natural
outcome for children of an obscure paternity?) The character development and
dialogue are sometimes too cliché and cheesy. Overall, the movie benefits from
good performances from Cruise and Smulders, the clean technical direction, but
falls bland and formulaic. It is not that bad but it is not any good with or
without the predecessor. The title should serve as a subtle warning.
Quest for the truth comes with a cost. You take risks and go
the extra mile just to make sure that the truth is revealed, protected, and
respected. There are many instances in Jack Reacher when the quest for truth was the
motivation of the characters: Reacher finding out if Sam was his daughter,
Turner’s men investigating the involvement of a general in arms and opium trade,
Turner herself clearing her name and giving justice to the death of the men,
Sam looking for the connection between herself and Reacher. The quest for their truths came at a very
heavy and disturbing cost….mostly violence and dead bodies. Could it have been done otherwise? Not with the chosen narrative flow of the
director; not in an amoral world of espionage and megalomania. It seems that violence was the framework of
the film that Reacher’s brand of honesty, Turner’s patriotic integrity, and
even Samantha’s street smart instincts gave way to say that was the only way to
stay alive and protect the truth.
