Saturday, October 22, 2016

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016): Review

Image result for jack reacher never go back

This weekend I was excited for the new Jack Reacher movie because I like the original one, but alas I was extremely disappointed in this movie. I was really bad, and in short it is not worth paying the money to see in the theatres. I opted to go to the 2D version of this movie and am glad that I made this decisions because I didn't spend more money on it.  What was really disappointing was this movie could have been a lot better but it just was too predictable and bland and it didn't seem to care if there was any chemistry between any of the characters.

Image result for jack reacher never go back

In this second Jack Reacher, you have Tom Cruise as the title character, a ex Army Major who has become a drifter who find himself getting involved in situations that he doesn't like and where he thinks things "don't add up."  He becomes involved via phone with Major Turner, played by Cobie Smulders, and as he is planning to visit her in Washington DC, he discovers that she has been arrested for Espionage. He gets pulled into this plot of her being set up and the main antagonist for Reacher is another ex military called The Hunter, played by Patrick Heusinger, who decides that even though he is being hired to take care of Hunter and Reacher he really wants to best Reacher. Also involved are Espin, played by Aldris Hodge; Samantha, played by Danika Yarosh; and Sgt. Leach, played by Madalyn Horcher.

Image result for jack reacher never go back

As I stated this movie was bad, the plot was pretty straight forward and the things that were suppose to be surprises are drawn out like they should be suspenseful, were pretty basic, and were nothing special and I didn't experience any suspense during them. This doesn't make a movie bad or unenjoyable for me, per say, but this movie had no chemistry between the main characters. The movies is set up to have this intense flirtation between Reacher and Turner (that is why he is coming to DC) but she doesn't really emote anything at all and there is no zing or underlying tension between them. This is what was required to make a bland or generic movie enjoyable for me, good chemistry between the character or charisma of individual characters. It was also very forced between Reacher and The Hunter but they seemed to just be going through the motions then having this true competition between them. I don't think there was any need to add the Samantha plotline. I understand that the filmmakers were trying to give some intrigue into his past and give Reacher something else to care about but for me it doesn't work.  Saying all that, there were some enjoyable actors. I did think there was chemistry and potential with supporting characters like Espin, there was a little (and I mean just a little) question about which way he would go, and especially Sgt. Leach. She was the best part of the whole movie for me and I liked the development of her character, even thought she was only on screen for a few minutes in total.

Image result for jack reacher never go back

I started out this movie being disappointed because the scene in the trailer in the diner was the very beginning of the movie and there was no explanation of how this occurred. I think that more about this story would have been more interesting. I wanted to see this and definitely would have liked more development of the situations where Reacher and Turner were involved before they finally come together in Washington DC.

Image result for jack reacher never go back

The cinematography was similar as with the original Jack Reacher (2012), so no surprises there. The movie continues to have the fight sequences that I hate, where it is tight up fights where it is difficult to see what is going on. There is also a lot of running, I mean actually running in this movie. I would have liked a change up of the type of action sequences but in this movie we really only get running.

Image result for jack reacher never go back

So overall, I was extremely underwhelmed with this movie. I didn't hate it but it was just unremarkable in anyway. It is fine and I would probably watch it on television but isn't worth paying money to see.

My Rating: 1

Image result for jack reacher never go back

No comments:

Post a Comment