Tom Cruiseis back in ass-kicking renegade mode forJack Reacher: Never Go Back. The follow-up toChristopher McQuarrie’s lean-mean action machine finds Cruise re-teaming with hisThe Last Samuraidirector,Ed Zwick, who stepped in when McQuarrie was busy on that other little Tom Cruise vehicle,Mission Impossible. With Zwick behind the camera,Never Go Backtakes a turn toward character drama, adapting from one of series authorLee Child’s later books in which the titular lone-wolf finds himself bonding with a surrogate family.
On the run from corrupt military forces and hit with a paternity suit, Reacher teams up with Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), the respected officer commanding his former unit, after she is framed for espionage, and the 15-year-old, street-smart foster kid, Samantha Dayton (Danika Yarosh), who might just be his daughter. On the run from the law and much more sinister forces, the trio sets out on a cross-country mission to find the truth.
Last weekend, I joined Zwick and Child in New Orleans, Louisianna, where they shot the film’s climactic French Quarter showdown. We talked about why they choseNever Go Backout of Child’s 19 novels, the challenge of balancing character drama with high-speed action, and how the character of Jack Reacher has changed in the years since we saw him. Watch what they had to say in the video above and find a breakdown of what we discussed below.
Ed Zwick and Lee Child:
Here’s the official synopsis forJack Reacher: Never Go Back:
Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) returns with his particular brand of justice in the highly anticipated sequel JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK. When Army Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who heads Reacher’s old investigative unit, is arrested for Treason, Reacher will stop at nothing to prove her innocence and to uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy involving soldiers who are being killed. Based upon JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK, author Lee Child’s 18th novel in the best-selling Jack Reacher series, that has seen 100 million books sold worldwide.
