ON THE RUN AGAIN
New ‘Jack Reacher’ has left Pittsburgh, and we miss the old one
When last we saw the cinematic version of legendary ex-military police officer Jack Reacher, he was on a bus headed out of Pittsburgh — leaving behind an impressive count of dead gangsters, beaten thugs and snappy rejoinders.
In our photogenic hamlet, he had solved the case of five people slain by a sniper along the North Shore Trail and rooted out corruption we didn’t even know existed here tied to Russian mobsters. You’d think appreciative yinzers would have rallied to get Reacher a City Council proclamation or at very least a photo in this publication’s Seen column, but no, he just slipped quietly out of the Steel City for the next sleuthing, knuckle-bruising adventure, as is his wont.
Fans of that 2012 “Jack Reacher” film or of star Tom Cruise or of the popular Reacher series of novels by author Lee Childs might come to the follow-up, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” wondering: a) Why does Reacher, seemingly forced to eat every meal in a bland diner, leave Pittsburgh just when our foodie scene is winning raves? b) Are the years catching up with him, or can he still butt-whip five guys at a time? c) Does Mr. Cruise take off his shirt again and look just as buff?
He turns up this time in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, and not for some lobbying or jambalaya. He’s leaving only four brutes at a time prone on the ground now, so, yeah, he might be losing a step — or a martial arts kick. As for the bare chest, we hate to give too much away in a review.
This version of Reacher remains a mysterious, impassive drifter, wandering around with little in the way of cash or possessions other than a toothbrush. He keeps somehow ending up on military-related missions (while reminding everyone, “I’m an EX-major”) in which he solves things better than anyone wearing a uniform.
He still fights and runs a lot, hops on handy local buses for getaways and knows everyone’s cell phone number, even though he has no mobile of his own in which to list them as “contacts.” Even more impressive than that, he hitchhikes from time to time — and gets picked up! In 2016!
But there also are differences from Pittsburgh Jack Reacher in “Never Go Back,” most notably romantic and paternalistic sides we didn’t see in the prior film. Yes, Jack Reacher has been humanized in the film directed by Edward Zwick, who successfully teamed with Mr. Cruise in 2003’s epic drama “The Last Samurai.”
This sign of a heart may serve as a distraction more than benefit for action fans looking to focus on Reacher’s more remarkable abilities. Along the way, he’s also lost a capacity for verbal zingers that gave the earlier film some humor. Our impassive hero no longer produces one-liners of the kind mere mortals come up with in bed at night instead of when needed in the presence of a peer, rival or villain.
The villains also could be better in this one, being made mostly of cardboard — sometimes wearing a uniform, sometimes not. They’re largely connected to a conspiratorial military contractor that is suspected of screwing things up big time in Afghanistan, even more perhaps than the American government can do on its own. A pair of Army investigators are killed while trying to suss out what’s gone wrong with some weapons shipments.
Reacher’s main rival chasing him down, listed in credits only as The Hunter (Patrick Heusinger), is in personality and physical gifts a lot like Reacher, with whom he trades many threats as well as blows. If not for the fact that one is played by Tom Cruise and the other by a fellow known best for appearances on “Gossip Girl,” we might not even know whom to root for.
Also jumping from small to big screen is Canadian actress Cobie Smulders, late of “How I Met Your Mother.” She performs capably as Maj. Susan Turner, a military police commander accused of espionage. Playing the tough-woman-in-the-military-who-none-the-less-looks-lovely role, she joins Reacher in flirtations, arguments over who’s calling the shots and beatdowns of bad guys.
They also share unofficial custody for much of the film of sassy 15-year-old Samantha (Danika Yarosh), who may or may not be Reacher’s daughter from a onetime fling and whom the adults need to help protect from the bad guys. Samantha certainly shares a lot of Reacher’s traits, for better or worse, including the ability to scramble along the French Quarter’s rooftops.
These females soften Reacher just enough to give him a trace of a smile at times. Heartless though it may seem to say, we’re not sure that’s an improvement.