Unstoppable Bad Guy (Patrick Heusinger, referred to as “The Hunter” in the credits) is in dogged pursuit, except sometimes when he just sort of isn’t.I'm a conscientious objector when it comes to Tom Cruise pictures. They of course have to snatch Samantha (Danika Yarosh), the would-be daughter, to protect her, and the next thing you know our little makeshift family is on its way to New Orleans, searching for a junkie who holds the key that will unlock the mystery of what is going on. Soon he and Turner are on the run together, bantering about who should kick whose butt when confronted, etc. Of course, the first scene excepted, handcuffs and military prisons barely slow Reacher down, much less contain him. Oh, and by the way, Reacher is also the subject of a paternity suit by a woman who claims he’s the father of the daughter he’s never seen. Her replacement (Holt McCallany) activates a clause in Reacher’s exit contract that drums him back into the Army, so that he can be arrested and charged with a murder that it seems pretty clear Reacher didn’t commit. He shows up in person to take her to dinner, but their first date gets sidetracked by the fact that she has been relieved of command, arrested and charged with espionage. Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who has his old job in Washington. The military police show up and arrest the guy for human trafficking. RELATED: Director Edward Zwick changes gears with 'Jack Reacher' What kind of Houdini-meets-James-Bond- type wizardry will Reacher use to extricate himself? Indeed, there sits Reacher, and he tells the smug sheriff that two things will happen - the pay phone will ring, and the sheriff will be wearing the handcuffs he’s put on Reacher. One man did this, they’re told - and he’s still inside. But in this story Cruise is trapped somewhere in the middle - and in the middle of a pretty rote mystery that can only be solved, of course, by epic fight scenes.Īctually, that’s a problem, too - they aren’t so epic.Ībout that first scene: The lawn outside a diner is littered with beat-up people, and a good-ol’-boy sheriff and deputy show up to investigate. Edward Zwick, who co-created the shows “Thirtysomething,” “Once and Again” and “My So-Called Life,” directs he can do the family bit. It’s an attempt to show the warm-and-fuzzy side of Reacher, the joke being he doesn’t have one. Things To Do app: Get the best in events, dining and travel right on your device
Instead, Reacher is a stone-cold killing mach… Yes, we look for the trademark grin, but it’s not coming. In his second Reacher movie, a sequel to the 2012 film, he once again plays the stoic, bruising, nomadic former military cop who takes matters into his own hands, as one does in this type of film. Tom Cruise - in spite of whatever baggage he brings to your own personal-enjoyment monitoring system - is an underrated actor. The first scene in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back”promises something interesting but delivers something considerably less.