Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
cop: “What the hell happened here?”
witness: “There was a fight. One guy took them all down with his bare hands.”
release year: 2016
genre: action/drama
viewing setting: home Bluray 2/8/22 and 1/19/20 and 9/29/18 and 2/4/17 and theater, 10/25/16
synopsis: Ex-military cop Reacher's wanderings take him back to his old headquarters, where the woman he intended to meet has been targeted as part of a massive cover-up.
impressions: I've been reading the Reacher novels by Lee Child since early 2006. They are outstanding and the character and author are among my all-time favorites. I had some concerns about the first movie adaptation but it turned out pretty good. This sequel (of sorts, as each of the books is pretty much a stand-alone adventure) focuses on Reacher's desire to meet the current female commanding officer of his old unit. When he gets there, she's been arrested, and people start following him. Hint for bad guys: that's not the way to get Jack Reacher off your back. This one was entertaining and a pretty good adaptation, but after one viewing, I came away thinking that it was a bit inferior to the first one. I'll have to watch it again in the future to render a final judgment. Strong points: plenty of fighting, strong female lead, evil bad guy.
people who got killed by Reacher: 6 (5 of whose asses he kicked first)
people who got their ass kicked by Reacher: 9
acting: Tom Cruise does less this time, probably because the character's already been established in the previous movie. Cobie Smulders is great as a strong female officer who can fight and doesn't back down from problems, much like Reacher himself. Danika Yarosh is a teenage girl who may or may not be Reacher's illegitimate daughter, and who ends up used as leverage when she makes some poor decisions and doesn't listen. Robert Knepper is the bad guy mastermind, while Patrick Heusinger is his lethal henchman.
final word: Pretty good; I wish they would move forward with this as a franchise.
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