Tom Cruise follows up his 2012 outing as author Lee Child's freelance righter of wrongs with another round of bruising vigilante action in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. And, once again, his armour-plated confidence let’s us go along with the larger-than-life Jack Reacher’s far-fetched feats of derring-do.
Even so, despite Cruise’s indomitable bravado, Never Go Back remains a fairly routine adventure. The plot kicks off when the ex-army cop turned rootless drifter arrives for a meeting with his military police successor, Cobie Smulders’ Major Susan Turner, only to discover she has been arrested for treason.
Of course, he quickly deduces dodgy goings on. A private military contractor has framed Turner to cover up its underhand dealings in Afghanistan and has dispatched a ruthless hitman (Patrick Heusinger) to dispose of the human evidence.
"Dauntless, ever-resourceful"
Fear not. Even though he’s suddenly been saddled with a 15-year-old runaway (Danika Yarosh), who may or may not be his biological daughter, we know the dauntless, ever-resourceful Reacher will unravel the conspiracy while fending off the bad guys’ squadron of thugs.
Cruise throws himself into the action with gusto. But Reacher’s invincibility does take the edge off the suspense.
Certificate 12. Runtime 118 mins. Director Edward Zwick
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Download from Universal Pictures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoCP_JHzBUM
