Jack Reacher Never Go Back

Jack Reacher Never Go Back is directed by Edward Zwick and stars Tom Cruise and Cobbie Smulders,and relives the story of Jack Reacher once again, who this time around is trying to uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. 

A film based of a Lee Child book with Cruise staring as the lead, this film has no excuse to be a dry and lack laster as it was. With many negatives and few positives, Jack Reacher Never Go Back was uncomfortably painful for me to watch. One of the only good things about this film is the acting from Cruise and Smulders. They both worked well and performed as well as they could however there was absolutely no chemistry between these two characters whatsoever. They were stiff and awkward with each other and the next seen Reachers trying to flirt with her, it was ridiculous that not one character in the film had any relationship with another character. Whilst they both performed well individually, Cruise gave of this really moody attitude, different to all his other roles, the whole way through the film and it felt like even he didn't want to be there. The rest of the acting in the film was really not good, the generals were so wooden and the teenage girl, who supposedly is Reacher's Daughter, is the most irritating person I have watch in a film. She was moaning and sarcastic, and all she did was ask questions but none about who Reacher was, she also did stupid things she was specifically told not to do. I'm sure this actress has a lot to offer in the but her character was not well written. 

The only other thing I liked about the film was the opening scene which was very mysterious and I thought that's good bit of film making however we saw the whole thing in the trailer, so the one good thing about the film I had already seen. Much like with the action scenes, although there is barely any action in this action film; all the ones we do get are shown in all the trailers, it's completely absurd. There was major problems with the script, soldiers throwing around phrases like 'dickhead' is ridiculous because under there circumstances they wouldn't be saying that. But what has to be the stupidest line in the film was a solider whilst in front of a general, uttering the words 'his ass is mine!'... For once in my life I have no words to describe how dumb this line was. All around the dialog is just dry and hard to listen to, however a few scenes between Smulers and the little girl weren't too bad. Honestly my biggest problem with the film is the logic, I can't begin to explain how dumb this film is. For example: There is a scene where Smulders and Cruise are being chased, one ask the other "Are we being followed" and the other replies the "Brown hair, back coat" and there is literally a man standing next to the hitman with brown hair and a black coat. There is a scene where Cruise steals the passport of someone who is supposed to look like him but clearly doesn't and the man checking the passports glares at it and let's him through anyway! Are you serious, it's nonsense. Lastly there is scene where Cruise takes the uniform off a guard, who looks literally nothing like him, and walks around the prison willy nilly and not one person notices until he attracts attention. It's actually the stupidest part to the film and it marvels me how mistakes this obvious were made into the final cut. The only other little problems I have with the film, are the shaky camera scenes especially when characters were running, a really underdeveloped storyline that was really not clear and finally a sub plot that was thrown in ten minutes before the end of the film that just blew me away. 

In the end, Jack Reacher Never Go Back had the potential to be a fun popcorn action film much like 'London Has Fallen' did superbly earlier this year. But in the end was a incredibly dull film that dragged on and on and on with no real outcome.

I am going to give Jack Reacher Never Go Back:

3.5/10