Never Go Back Killed the Franchise

The biggest difference between Jack Reacher What's striking about the series of novels and their film adaptations is the casting of Tom Cruise as the controversial Jack Reacher, a former police officer turned homeless man who is portrayed in the novels as a giant, muscular man, the complete opposite of Cruise, whose extreme good looks also represent a stark departure from author Lee Child's original vision of the tough character.

However, Cruise's star power propelled the first film, which grossed nearly $220 million at the worldwide box office, to modest box office success. However, since it failed to even come close to the massive success of Cruise's film, Mission Impossible The series received muted acclaim from audiences and critics, and it was somewhat surprising that a second season was produced in 2013. Jack Reacher: Never Go Backhas been put into development.

This turned out to be a mistake..boring, conventional, and drowned in artificial sentimentality, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back It's a functional, emotionless sequel that resembles a lavish CBS procedural pilot in its lack of ambition and uninspired direction rather than a sequel that aims to bolster the franchise and launch the film series to impressive new heights.

Released in 2016, The commercial and critical failure of the second part led to the film series being brought to an abrupt halt.The only positive aspect of the sequel's failure was that it inspired a rebirth of the franchise in 2022, with the Prime Video TV series debuting. The callerwhich later overshadowed the film series to the point where it seemed irrelevant.

Never Go Back was the wrong choice for a Jack Reacher sequel.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back Based on the 2013 novel never come backThe eighteenth installment in the novel series, Reacher runs off with an Army major who has been framed for espionage while also grappling with a teenage girl who claims to be her biological father. While the parent subplot works quite apart in the novel, in relation to the novel's main thriller plot, the film places a lot of importance on whether or not the girl, Samantha, is Reacher's daughter. This relationship, coupled with Reacher's pairing in the film with Major Susan Turner, undermines his core lone wolf persona, which has yet to be established strongly enough for the film audience to be undermined in a sequel.

Related to

Jack Reacher 2 Director Blames Himself for Tom Cruise's Failure

Tom Cruise's second outing as Jack Reacher was not the success he expected, and director Edward Zwick bears full responsibility.

Combining family drama and thrills into a road trip plot doesn't work. As a sequel idea. In terms of exploring his personal life, it would have been better as the third or fourth film in the series. This miscalculation is particularly puzzling given that Jack Reacher The franchise currently includes 28 novels, many of which could have been better sequel adaptations than never come back.

Christopher McQuarrie needed a sequel to Jack Reacher.

Because Christopher McQuarrie, director Jack ReacherTom Cruise was unable to direct the sequel due to other commitments, so he handed it over to Edward Zwick. Zwick had previously directed Cruise in the 2003 epic historical drama. The Last Samuraiwhich was a critical and commercial success. However, Zwick's fundamental misunderstanding of the franchise and its core audience. This created an uncertain tone that left the audience unsatisfied.

Rather than focusing primarily on the action and thriller elements of the source material, Zwick focused heavily on the family drama in the sequel as it relates to a teenage girl who may or may not be his daughter. Zwick was influenced by the 1973 comedy-drama film Paper moonin which Ryan O'Neal and his daughter Tatum O'Neal play two people who experience a similar relationship dynamic against the backdrop of the Great Depression. In his 2024 memoir Successes, Failures, and Other DelusionsZwick took responsibility for the failure of the second part. Zwick wrote:

”
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
My 2016 film failed at the box office. I blame myself for thinking audiences might enjoy a mix of Jack Reacher and
Paper moon
“When in reality they just wanted more red meat.”

While the sequel was undoubtedly hurt by the flawed source material, McQuarrie's deep understanding of the action thriller genre and character, as evidenced by McQuarrie's clear direction of the film, had a positive impact on the film. Jack ReacherThis movie could have been a great help to the second part, which Zwick directed competently but without much enthusiasm, as if Zwick had not been a fan of the series from the beginning.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is one of Tom Cruise's biggest flops.

while Jack Reacher: Never Go BackThe film grossed approximately $162.1 million against a production cost of $60 million, and was not a financial disaster per se, The sequel's disappointing box office performance, coupled with dismal audience and critical response to the film, killed the franchise.For Tom Cruise, the film was the lowest-grossing since the 1999 psychological drama. eyes wide closed It currently ranks as Cruise's second-lowest-grossing film of the past 20 years, behind the 2017 action comedy Made in USA.

Related to

Two Critically Acclaimed Action Movies Starring Tom Cruise Are Dominating Netflix, But Only in the US

Tom Cruise made all the wrong moves as Jack Reacher for many fans, and international audiences chose a completely different global hero.

While the sequel's renewed popularity on Netflix, where it recently became the most-watched film on the platform, is certainly a testament to Cruise's star power, it also reflects the influence of the popular TV series on Prime Video. The callerAlan Ritchson's powerful performance in the film clearly showed that he was born to play this character, while Cruise clearly was not. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back It is streaming on Netflix.