‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’ Review Roundup: Tom Cruise Flick Panned By Critics

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the latest Tom Cruise flick based on a Lee Child thriller, and it leaves much to be desired, according to leading critics. Directed by Edward Zwick, the action sequel garnered a lowly 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 2/4 from rogerebert.com. The film follows cold-hearted ex-military hero Jack Reacher as he grapples with a nuclear family of sorts, being thrust into fatherhood when a prostitute introduces him to supposedly his 15-year-old daughter. At the same time, Reacher must go after a mercenary hitman.

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK REVIEW ROUNDUP

“It’s a pity that Jack Reacher: Never Go Back fails to support Cruise and his co-stars, all of whom are acting as if their lives depended on it. There’s a great movie buried somewhere in here—a strange but beguiling family comedy and a meditation on nature vs. nurture, with a bit of shooting and punching thrown in—but the filmmakers never figure out how to excavate it.”
–Matt Zoller Seitz, rogerebert.com

“This Reacher outing has its imperfections and its obstacles to overcome, but the strength of the character and the briskness of the action make it acceptable if you are in the mood.”
–Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times 

““TOM CRUISE is JACK REACHER,” read the ads for the 2012 film, and yet, a more accurate description might have been, “TOM CRUISE pretends to be JACK REACHER.” The character that was an awkward fit for the actor four years ago seems to be even more so now, if only because Cruise’s greatest asset is his charisma, while Reacher is a stoic, stone-cold heavy. From Bond to Bourne, such action heroes have become the cliché these days, showing an almost sociopathic lack of feeling as they go about their efficient ultraviolence. But Cruise, who always seems to be half-smiling in everything else he does, seems far too serious in the role, leaving room for the ladies, Smulders and Yarosh, to steal the show…. Cruise and company should have taken their own advice: Never go back.”
–Peter Debruge, Variety

“Zwick pulls out all the stops with shootouts and chases, especially in a climactic battle during a New Orleans Halloween parade. But it’s the character-based scenes that put meat on the bones of a popcorn movie that could have slid by on pulp escapism. Cruise finds the core of Reacher in his eyes, with a haunted gaze that says this lone wolf is still on a mission and still a long way from home. That’s the Reacher Lee Child created in his books. And Cruise does him proud.”
–Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“The first one was a dud. This one’s worse.”
–Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

 Jack Reacher 2 arrives in theaters this Friday. See the trailer below.