Here it is: the sequel no one asked for to the movie that no one quite remembers.
The firstReacherfilm didnt set the bar very high.
He acts as if every film hes in is his first…and maybe his last.
Credit: Chiabella James
He doesnt know how to half-ass it.
Cruise is still huffing and puffing and dishing out bareknuckle justice inNever Go Back.
This is as blandly formulaic as sequels come.
Its full of yawning plot holes, sloppy narrative shortcuts, and poorly-explained relationships between characters.
It feels as if the first half hour of the movie is missing.
Hes just beat the stuffing out of them, and the cops are on the way.
But he doesnt care because hes Reacher.
His chess-like mind is already several steps ahead of the law.
Shouldnt I get to see that?
After that bait-and-switch gambit, were introduced to Maj. Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders).
Apparently, shes Reachers ally and long-distance phone pal.
You have to accept it in order for the rest of the movie to work.
I didnt, and it mostly doesnt.
(It turns out to be the usual post-9/11 boilerplate about crooked military contractors selling arms.)
It isnt all dreary, though.
Cruise, at 54, is still ageless and tireless as a movie star.
But because Reacher is a brooder.
Hes bottled up and withholding.
Smulders, on the other hand, seems totally at ease outside of comedy.
She even delivers a convincingly brutal beatdown.
Theyre two stoic, stubborn alphas not used to being the sidekick.
Its a dynamic youve seen a million times before.
But that doesnt mean it isnt fun to watch.
For a while, at least.
The problem is, aside from Cruise and Smulders, nothing else aboutNever Go Backreally works or matters.
Not every middling box-office success needs to be spun off into a franchise.
Especially when it results in sequels as aggressively mediocre as this.
Tom Cruise deserves better.
