Sunday, October 23, 2016

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - Tom Cruise Delivers Again!

I have been eyeing to watch this movie in a Dolby Atmos theater as it was one of a rare movie with such sound effect. So I was very irritated when I reached Epicentrum 21 theater only to be informed that the theater was having some technical problem and they were trying to rectify it without knowing how long it would take to do so. I was tempted to go search different theater, but due to the lots of traffic allocation as a result of Jakarta marathon on that day, I decided to just had my lunch there first and hoping the issue would be resolved sooner rather than later. I went to this theater after I had one of my weekend staycation with my wife (who once again was invited to stay in a hotel near HI area). As she had another food tasting event on that Sunday noon, I went to the cinema by myself. After waiting till 1 hour, I called the cinema and got confirmation that the technical problem was already resolved. So I immediately bought the ticket for 2.25 PM show. Yaaaaaay. Well enough of my rambling and let's get on with the story.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene that was shown over and over again in the trailer where Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise - many many movies to his credit) was assisting the Military Police (MP) to capture some dirty sheriff. It was revealed later that he was coordinating the arrests with Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders - How I Met Your Mother TV series, The Avengers etc). Through various arrests, they seemed to build a good understanding and respected each other despite never meeting one another. Until 1 point of time, Jack was planning to go to Washington DC to meet up with Turner. However to his surprise, he was told by the temporary commanding officer of her unit named Colonel Morgan (Holt McCallany - Black Hat, Sully etc) that Turner was arrested for espionage.

After gathering some info, Jack managed to see the lawyer appointed to represent Turner and was informed that Jack was not supposed to help Turner at all. The lawyer also pointed out that Jack was someone who could not be a really dependable person. This was based on the army's data that a woman sued Jack Reacher through the army to provide child support to a 15 year old girl who she claimed to be Jack's daughter named Samantha (Danika Yarosh - Heroes Reborn TV series).

While looking for his supposed daughter, Jack realized that he was being followed by team of ex military persons working for the private military contractor Parasource led by the Hunter (Patrick Heusinger) under the command of their boss General Harkness (Robert Knepper - Transporter 3, Prison Break TV series etc).

Jack was later on being framed for murder and he had no choice but to help Turner get out of jail as she was also going to be murdered. Both of them now being hunted by the Hunter as well as the MP led by Captain Espin (Aldis Hodge - Straight Outta Compton, Leverage TV series etc). Things also got complicated when Samantha was somehow forced into the this chase and endangering her life, without her even knowing the reason.

So could Jack help Turner to clear her name? What was the reason for Hunter's frame up? What was the real intention of Parasouce? Find them all in this exciting action thriller movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Well it was quite satisfying watching this movie. I pretty much enjoyed the original movie few years ago and if you have watched that one, that you could expect a similar approach of the film, where Jack was very good in solving/deducting the case given to him plus there were hand to hand combat, fighting and gunshots. However, if you want to compare, I think the case/problem shown in the original was a lot more complicated then this sequel, despite it being adapted from the novel written by the same author Lee Child. I guess the aim in this sequel is more towards the action, which did not disappoint me.

Watching it with the Dolby Atmos sound system did give additional feel especially during the gun shooting scenes and the car chase scene as the sound effects were amazing. Apart from the action scenes, the movie main attraction is no doubt Tom Cruise as his star fame was still very powerful. Cobie Smulder's character here was totally different from her role as Robin in HIMYM, but it did give a little bit reflection of her role as agent Maria Hill of SHIELD in Marvel cinematic universe. Meanwhile, Samantha's character was actually quite fun to see.

Apart from those, as I mentioned earlier, I have the feeling that the case was not too complicated, but nevertheless it was still exciting to see the chasing of Jack, Turner & Samantha by the Hunter and Espin through Washington DC and later on in New Orleans. The final fight scene was also quite amazing and worth the wait.

So if you are looking for a cool action movie, this one has got it, but do not expect a full action movie with very frequent action scenes, as they were combined every now and then with the case solving scene and the relationship scene between Jack & Turner and Jack and Samantha. With many novels already written about the character Jack Reacher, there is possibility for more sequels to be produced later if this one isore or less as successful as the original Jack Reacher.

One thing that truly disappointed me was the trailer of this movie revealed too much scene and information. There were not too much element of surprise anymore due to the trailer. So if you have not watched the trailer at all, just try to avoid it.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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