I was not a very big fan of 2012’s Jack Reacher, referring to it in my review as “a tonal hodgepodge of genre films from the murder-mysteries of the ’40s, the whodunnits of the ’70s and thrillers of the ’90s.” The character development was “on-the-nose, with little subtlety and very little is hidden from the audience as most of the pieces come together rather easily and we’re left waiting for the characters on screen — primarily Rosamund Pike — to give their wide-eyed, open-mouth look of astonishment once they catch up with the audience.” That said, a lot of people seemed to like it. Good for them, I’m sure they’re just as excited a sequel has been greenlit as Tom Cruise will return in the title role, re-teaming with his The Last Samurai director in the process.
[amz asin=”0440246326″ size=”small”]The sequel is said to be based on Lee Child‘s eighteenth novel in the Reacher series, “Never Go Back” which sports the following storyline:
Former military cop Jack Reacher makes it all the way from snowbound South Dakota to his destination in northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. The old stone building is the closest thing to a home he ever had. Reacher is there to meet–in person–the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, so far just a warm, intriguing voice on the phone. But it isn’t Turner behind the CO’s desk. And Reacher is hit with two pieces of shocking news, one with serious criminal consequences, and one too personal to even think about.
When threatened, you can run or fight. Reacher fights, aiming to find Turner and clear his name, barely a step ahead of the army, and the FBI, and the D.C. Metro police, and four unidentified thugs. Combining an intricate puzzle of a plot and an exciting chase for truth and justice, Lee Child puts Reacher through his paces–and makes him question who he is, what he’s done, and the very future of his untethered life on the open road.
Richard Wenk (The Expendables 2, The Equalizer) wrote the first draft of the screenplay and now frequent Zwick collaborator Marshall Herskovitz (The Last Samurai, Love and Other Drugs) is doing a rewrite, neither of which give me a ton of confidence, not to mention Zwick hasn’t really been knocking it out of the park as of late with Defiance, Love and Other Drugs and Pawn Sacrifice. Granted, only Love & Other Drugs is a total mess out of that bunch, and I’m up for anything Cruise does, but this one doesn’t exactly get me too excited. [Deadline]
