As a general rule, every movie franchise action hero ties back to something your average American male wishes he was. Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne use their combination of brains and billions to save the world. James Bond kills people, orders fancy drinks, and meets beautiful women in exotic locations for Queen and country. Jack Sparrow wanders in and out of consciousness, drops sick one liners, and sails away into the horizon without an apparent care. Jack Reacher? Jack Reacher updates the old Western archetype of the highly capable, good hearted drifter who saves the day and rides into the sunset, now with a modern off-the-grid twist. He’s a hero for everyone whose ever wondered what would happen if one day, they just walked away and never looked back.
In the new Jack Reacher movie, Jack (Tom Cruise) crosses the country for a date, only to find his potential date Army Major S. Turner (Cobie Smulders) falsely charged with espionage. Ever the champion of justice and a former MP himself, Jack leaps into action to exonerate her. While the last movie had Cruise playing a one man army on the hunt for justice, this time Jack is forced to deal with actual people with actual feelings. The result is a much more complex, but also slightly ham fisted story. Intentional or no, the emotional depths the story attempts to plumb feel a little too much for the story and the overall effect is a little stilted. By the time we reach the final throw down, it’s hard not to feel like maybe Reacher’s desire to work alone is entirely reasonable.
Even with Tom Cruise in the lead, the Reacher movies have always felt oddly mundane. This is not a Mission Impossible movie. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is no different, eschewing high flying action and heightened visuals for something that manages to look almost too realistic. For much of the film a thirty year old minivan serves as Reacher’s primary form of transportation. By Hollywood standards, there are very few beautiful people on the screen and even Cruise is looking older, heavier, even a little paunchy. Given the gritty source material and nature of the protagonist, that is by no means a deal breaker, provided you know what your watching.
In the end, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, feels like a throw back to action movies like the French Connection, Bullit, and other gems of the mid sixties and early seventies. If that’s your cup of tea, then your in for a treat. If not, maybe read the books. They are probably better anyway.
