Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is an American action-thriller from 2016. Edward Zwick directed it, and the screenplay was co-written by Zwick, Richard Wenk, and Marshall Herskovitz. The story comes from Lee Child’s 2013 novel. As a follow-up to the 2012 film, it brings back Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, with Cobie Smulders joining the cast. The plot centers on Reacher and an Army major who has been set up for espionage, forcing them to flee together while exposing a hidden conspiracy. Principal photography kicked off on October 20, 2015, in New Orleans. The movie hit theaters on October 21, 2016. It earned $162 million worldwide. Critics gave it mixed reviews, praising Cruise’s performance and the action scenes but finding the plot lacking. Four years after the earlier film, Jack Reacher—a former Major who once led the Army’s 110th CID Military Police—helps the unit’s current commander, Major Susan Turner, shut down a corrupt Oklahoma sheriff running a human trafficking ring on military land. When Reacher returns to his old D.C. headquarters to finally meet Turner, Colonel Sam Morgan tells him she’s been arrested for espionage. Convinced she’s being framed for the murder of two Army MPs in Afghanistan, Reacher speaks with Turner’s lawyer, Colonel Moorcroft. The lawyer reveals that a woman named Candice Dutton has filed a paternity suit, claiming Reacher is the father of her 15-year-old daughter, Samantha. Reacher tracks down Samantha, who is in foster care, but she brushes him off. After Moorcroft is beaten to death by a mercenary called The Hunter, Reacher gets arrested and taken to the same prison holding Turner. They fight off two hitmen and escape to Morgan’s home, suspecting he’s part of the conspiracy. The Hunter kills Morgan and frames Reacher again. Surveillance photos suggest Samantha is in danger, so Reacher and Turner find her foster parents dead and the girl hiding. The three take refuge at Turner’s old private school, but they realize Samantha’s phone might be tracked and head to New Orleans to find Daniel Prudhomme, the only witness to the murders Turner was framed for. On the way, Samantha admits she filed the paternity suit to get money for her mother. Reacher and Turner locate Prudhomme in a drug-filled warehouse. He’s tied to Parasource, a private military company trying to cover up the killings.