Home Entertainment Edward Zwick to helm JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK

Edward Zwick to helm JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK

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JACK REACHER

Jack Reacher was an entertaining action movie (we reviewed it, and liked it) that was intended from the start to launch a new action franchise with star Tom Cruise, but it took Paramount a while to green light a sequel when it didn’t quite meet their lofty box-office expectations early on. However it’s on and it’s called Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, because apparently the irony of calling a sequel Never Go Back is lost on the people who name movies; or maybe because that’s the title of the 18th “Jack Reacher” novel, and the one that the movie will be based upon.

Because I’m lazy energy efficient I’ll shamelessly copy from Kervyn when he told us what author Lee Child had to say about the sequel:

So what was it about “Never Go Back” that attracted the eyes of the producers? In the novel, Reacher returns to his former army unit’s HQ to meet with Major Susan Turner, the unit’s current unit commander and with whom he’s been flirting with on the phone, only to discover that she has been relieved of her duty under dodgy circumstances, and that he may be forced to re-enlist under even dodgier ones.

What’s more, the whole situation may have something to do with a young girl , Samantha Dayton, who just may or may not be Reacher’s daughter. And according to Child, it’s that mish-mash of elements, but most importantly the addition of the young female character, that actually drew the studios to the novel.

On thing that might upset fans of the original is the fact that Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote and directed the first movie, will not be performing those duties on this installment of the franchise. He’s currently wrapping up the latest Tom Cruise-led Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, but is on board as an executive producer. Instead, as per Cinema Blend, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz will rewrite Richard Wenk’s original script, with Zwick tapped to direct the sequel. Zwick and Cruise previously worked together on 2003’s The Last Samurai (need to watch that again).

While Zwick can definitely handle action, his is a more measured approach when compared to the high-octane levels McQuarrie is known for and were on display in the original. That might not be a bad thing though, because while I enjoyed Jack Reacher it was a touch shallow and relied heavily on it’s entertaining action sequences to paper over those cracks. It also fits my impression of the character from the novels who comes across as fairly methodical. So, are you a Jack Reacher fan looking forward to a sequel?

And in case you thought I’d forgotten short jokes are mandatory when discussing Tom Cruise and Jack Reacher, allow me to point out Nick.

Last Updated: May 20, 2015

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