‘Reacher’ plays to Cruise’s strengths
‘Never Go Back’ has Jack contending with the usual corruption— and possible fatherhood
Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) will use a gun if the situation calls for it, but he prefers using his fists. His punches in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” don’t so much land as explode like cannon shots, decimating car windows, cement walls and the faces of his enemies — soldiers turned mercenaries with grown-out buzz cuts. Reacher is former military himself, an ex-major (emphasis on the “ex”) in the Military Police Corps.
Now he roams the land solving crimes, delivering justice and phoning the current commanding officer of the 110th, Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), to commiserate about the job. After Turner is arrested for espionage, Jack goes into full-blown Reacher mode to spring Susan from the clink and uncover a shady military arms deal. He’s like a violent, nearly psycho MacGyver.
“Jack Reacher” (2012) was the first big-screen adaptation from the best-selling Lee Child novels. Cruise made the character a vehicle for his strengths — efficient physicality and laconic, twitchy charm.
His Reacher was and is anti-establishment and anti-authority. He absolutely hates being followed. His distaste for hierarchical power has made him virulently anti-military. “The uniform no longer fits,” he tells Turner.
In “Never Go Back,” Reacher’s solitary loner life on the road is tested when it’s revealed that a paternity suit has been filed against him for child support. The child is now a sassy, sarcastic, eye-rolling teenage girl, Samantha (Danika Yarosh), and DNA test or not, Reacher feels obligated to protect her when the bad guys target her to reach him.
Going on the run from murderous ex-military mercenaries, they make quite a trio. Reacher’s used to working alone; Susan shares his background; Sam has Reacher’s selfpreservation instinct and distaste for authoritarian types.
Fear not for the cardiovascular health of the Reacher clan. They traverse distances with the up- right, arm-pumping sprint that has become Cruise’s signature move. Smulders paces him step for step and rains hell on bad guys with sticks, garden hoses and any other tools available. Reacher might be wondering whether or not he’s fathered a daughter, but it’s clear that Susan is a true heir apparent to the Reacher legacy.
Directed by Edward Zwick, from a screenplay by Zwick, Richard Wenk and Marshall Herskovitz, “Never Go Back” is the kind of action film where the simple moral story rides atop a larger, twistier but essentially unimportant plot.
There are New Orleans junkies, security contractors, opium smugglers. You may often question the story’s plausibility and apparent ability to suspend the laws of physics, but none of that matters. What matters is the opening and softening of Reacher’s heart.
Zwick’s direction is clean, clear and workmanlike, but the auteur is Cruise himself. This guy is an ideal vessel for his gifts, and the actor shapes Reacher into one of his iconic characters.