Jack Reacher: Never Go Back Movie Review

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Buy Jack Reacher: Never Go Back on Amazon Video // Buy the book
Written by: Richard Wenk and Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz (screenplay), Lee Child (book)
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge, Holt McCallany, Robert Knepper
Rating: PG-13

My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it. Read my previous movie reviews!

Plot
When the head of Jack Reacher's old unit, Army Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), is arrested for treason, Reacher will stop at nothing to prove her innocence and uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy involving two dead soldiers.

Verdict
I have to wonder why this was named Never Go Back. Did the creators know this was going to get panned and serve a ready made pun? I liked the first Jack Reacher, but this sequel is terrible. It does everything wrong, and the only saving grace is that it eventually ends. Unfortunately that takes two hours.
Skip it.

Review 
This is a sequel to Jack Reacher (2012). The first movie was an above average action movie with some good dialog and scenes. I kept expecting it to fall flat, but it didn't.

Never Go Back stumbles from the opening. Why would you name a sequel Never Go Back? It invites ridicule.
I know I've seen a very similar scene to the opening before. I couldn't pin down where I've seen this opening, possibly the first Reacher had a similar scene. I puzzled over this scene which was more interesting than watching the movie.
The daughter story line is incredibly heavy handed. This gives Reacher a daughter just to attempt so emotional manipulation. It's apparent and poorly done. This could have been a ninety minute movie if she was cut. The arc has very little weight to it.

Cruise is paired with Cobie Smulders, because it must be a contractual obligation to pair him with a younger woman and comment on how young he is. The first movie didn't have a sidekick, and while that isn't the reason this fails, it doesn't help pacing.
The movie is frequently slowed down by saddling Reacher with a sidekick. He has three different sidekicks at various points.

If the action wasn't so uninspiring, I could look past the shortfalls of the story, but paired with the bland dialog, this movie goes out of its way to annoy.. This recycles scenes and sets we've seen before to craft a boring movie.