A more intense and touching sequel than the first installment of the former military investigator’s adventures.
Helping the military police expose corrupt officials, former military investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) strikes up a phone acquaintance with Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who holds Reacher’s former position. As the relationship evolves from friendly to romantic, Jack promises to visit Susan in Washington. However, upon his arrival, he discovers that Major Turner has been arrested for treason. Reacher refuses to believe it and discovers that the woman has fallen victim to a conspiracy, as her investigation has stepped on the toes of influential and ruthless people. To save Turner, Reacher orchestrates her escape from prison, and together they unravel the situation. To prevent Reacher from being blackmailed, the pair must take 15-year-old Samantha (Danika Yarosh) with them. According to the documents, she is listed as Reacher’s daughter, although Jack claims he has never heard of the girl or her prostitute mother.
The film was directed by Edward Zwick, director of “The Last Samurai,” as the director of the first “Jack Reacher,” Christopher McQuarrie, took on the sixth installment of the “Mission: Impossible” cycle.
The 2012 thriller “Jack Reacher” introduced viewers to the valiant hero of Lee Child’s action-packed novels but did not become a major financial event. Despite the participation of Tom Cruise, the film grossed only $218 million worldwide, although Paramount Studios hoped that the film with a budget of $60 million would collect at least $250 million. Many believed that the screen story of Jack Reacher was over, but Paramount, whose affairs are not going well now, decided to give Tom Cruise a second chance. Fortunately, there were Chinese investors who agreed to support a film about a character that the Chinese public liked very much.
Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher novels, played a security agent who lets Reacher on the plane with a stolen ID with someone else’s photo. This is a hint that in the movie, Reacher looks nothing like he is described in the books.
Sequels released after a box office failure are often filmed with a smaller budget than the previous films, but in the case of “Jack Reacher 2,” the financiers decided that an increased budget would help the film earn more. “Never Go Back” cost almost $100 million, and it shows on the screen. While the first film was a detective story with an explosive ending, the sequel is a full-fledged thriller with dynamic, aggressive action. True, this is not a sweeping blockbuster with grandiose beatings and mind-blowing stunts and effects, but the villains have quite a few minions, and Jack and Susan have to try hard to deal with everyone.
Yes, you understood correctly. If in “Jack Reacher” the title character was a lone hero, then “Jack Reacher 2” is built almost according to the rules of a buddy movie. Major Turner has the same training as Reacher, and she is not shy about using it. And although Cruise still slightly pushes his partner into the background, since this is a movie named after him, compared to how “Jack Reacher” used Rosamund Pike’s character, this is a significant step towards female equality. Samantha also provides feasible assistance to the heroes - a typical charming tearaway from a dysfunctional family who does not know how to fight, but deftly steals wallets, obtains information, and her antics make Reacher suspect that she is still his daughter.
Is it beneficial for “Reacher” to have two partners?
It depends on what you want to see in the main character of the thriller. If you prefer stern men carved from stone, then the new picture may slightly disappoint you. If you like it when a courageous hero not only beats faces (Reacher traditionally only occasionally shoots, preferring to wield his fists), but also shows paternal care and vulnerable humanity, then “Jack Reacher 2” is just what the doctor ordered. This movie is not only for male companies but also for romantic dates. Although there is practically no romance in the picture, and it cannot be said that the film sacrifices drive and action to show more “family” scenes. The film simply makes Reacher a warmer and more soulful character than he seemed in the first picture.
Humor and Villains
Having acquired soulfulness, “Jack Reacher 2” has not lost its humor. As before, Reacher dilutes the rigidity of the narrative with witty jokes, and his companions support him in this. In general, the new picture is an “upgrade” in almost all respects, except for one. It does not have the same charismatic and bizarre main villain as Werner Herzog’s character in “Jack Reacher.” However, for us in Russia, this is more of a plus, since Herzog played a rather ridiculous Russian mafioso. In the new film, the heroes arrange a “dark” one for one hundred percent American villains, and we do not have to think about who we should root for.
As in the previous picture, the sequel has both an elderly villain-puppeteer who unleashes the power of his organization on the heroes and a relatively young and well-trained killer (Patrick Heusinger from the TV series “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce”), with whom the characters can fight to their heart’s content in hand-to-hand combat. So the ending of “Jack Reacher 2” does not disappoint - unlike the ending of some other fresh action movies, whose authors tried to do without the “final boss.”
Despite all the genre advantages of “Jack Reacher 2,” this is a professional but rather banal mid-budget Hollywood thriller with a predictable plot, an obvious villain, and no interesting detective puzzles or unexpected psychological twists. So its main plus is the charisma of the leading actors. Fortunately, Tom Cruise’s charisma can be eaten with spoons, Cobie Smulders from the TV series “How I Met Your Mother” looks good both in military uniform and in civilian clothes, and Danika Yarosh from the TV series “Heroes: Reborn” with her spectacular Slavic-Scandinavian appearance clearly demonstrates why she has been filmed almost non-stop in recent years. Although on TV, not in the cinema.