Jack Reacher: Never Go Back sees Tom Cruise reprise his role in the follow-up that no-one asked for
Despite the film’s title, fans should be told to 'go back' and see Tom Cruise playing this kind of action hero role in a million other similarly pitched movies that are much more enjoyable
JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK
(12A) 118mins
THE god of sequels he taketh and he gives.
In the same week news broke that there would be a second instalment to the fabulous Enchanted, this unnecessary follow-up that nobody asked for (except a studio head looking to remodel his kitchen) arrives.
Despite the film’s title, audiences would be better off to be told: Do Go Back. Go back and see Tom Cruise playing this kind of action hero role in a million other similarly pitched movies that are much more enjoyable and far less formulaic. The plot has Reacher looking into why Major Susan Turner (played by How I Met Your Mother actress Cobie Smulders) has been arrested.
Meanwhile, he becomes concerned for the safety of a teenage girl who may be his daughter (played by newcomer Danika Yarosh).
Ultimately, as an action movie starring Cruise, it’s all as expected.
Things go boom, people get punched and Tom gets his pecs out.
Obviously. But it’s all a bit too earnest and humourless. And this is all trying to compete in an oversaturated hero movie market. We have suave James Bond, brooding Batman and zingy one-liner machines such as the Marvel superheroes.
Amid all that it is hard for Cruise’s bland Reacher to make much of an impact.
There’s also zero sexual chemistry between the star and his leading lady despite Smulders being a wisecracking delight in real life.
He and Smulders spend the whole film acting like a weary, harassed couple ten years too long into their marriage and annoyed by everything each other does.
It feels like Tom as a bruiser with the boy next-door smile is a bit redundant now.
Whoever decided to present the characters this way made a huge misjudgment. It feels like Tom as a bruiser with the boy next-door smile (he still hasn’t aged by the way, five stars to his Botox provider, er, alleged Botox provider) is a bit redundant now.
I’d love to see him in a juicy dramatic or comedy role where he isn’t spending his whole time in purposeful face and pumping arms while fast running through the street mode.
But a glimpse at his upcoming films — another Mission Impossible and a Mummy reboot — suggests that he won’t stop with the butt kicking til he’s signed up for The Expendables 16.
★★☆☆☆
TROLLS
(U) 92mins
THE dark humour in Trolls will either have your kids laughing their heads off or suffering nightmares for days.
These lovable tiny characters, with the biggest and most colourful hair around, are unbelievably tasty too – so they must spend their time dodging all manner of creatures hoping to have them for supper.
It is all a bit traumatic by the hundredth time you watch heroine Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and pals dodge razor-sharp knives and fearsome predators. But maybe six-year-olds are made of sterner stuff.
It is not all doom and gloom. A gloriously psychedelic colour palette fills the screen as the trolls handle the life-or-death peril with lively abandon.
Trolls love singing, dancing and hugging, so we are treated to lots of frothy musical numbers.
The movie then shifts to a wacky “odd couple” mode as Poppy and grumpy Branch (Justin Timberlake) go off to save their friends from being eaten by a miserable tribe of creatures called Bergens.
It deserves to be successful, which will surely mean more instalments. Let’s hope the sequel has a more vegetarian vibe.
★★★☆☆
FILM OF THE WEEK: I, DANIEL BLAKE
(15) 100mins
I, DANIEL BLAKE is not subtle with its message – the red tape of the benefits system is a bad thing – but the end result is surprisingly engaging and emotionally charged.
The title character is a 59-year-old carpenter with a heart of gold, only it is not working so well.
After a heart attack, Daniel is advised by his doctors to stop working.
But jobsworth “healthcare professionals” think otherwise and take away his benefits, leaving him in limbo, with his dignity – and his money – slowly ebbing away.
The bluntly black-and-white approach to characterisation is all that jolts you from an otherwise absorbing narrative.
People in this Ken Loach-directed production are either moustache-twirling villains or Geordie versions of Mother Teresa.
However, with stand-up comic Dave Johns in the lead role, there are also plenty of gentler comic moments. So it is not all misery.
★★★★★
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