JACK REACHER - PUNTO DI NON RITORNO: TOM CRUISE SI LASCIA CONTAGIARE DAL VIRUS 'SEQUEL' E TORNA A VESTIRE I PANNI DI JACK REACHER PER UN SECONDO ADRENALINICO CAPITOLO
PREVIEW in ENGLISH by PETER DEBRUGE (www.variety.com) - Dal 20 OTTOBRE
(Jack Reacher: Never Go Back; USA 2016; Azione; 118'; Produz.: Paramount Pictures/Skydance Productions/TC Productions; Distribuz.: Universal Pictures International Italy)
Sceneggiatura:
Richard Wenk, Edward Zwick e Marshall Herskovitz
Soggetto: Il sequel del primo Jack Reacher si ispira al 18° romanzo della saga letteraria di Lee Child
Cast: Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher) Cobie Smulders (Susan Turner) Robert Knepper (Generale Harkness) Aldis Hodge (Espin) Sue-Lynn (Ragazza D.O.D.) Danika Yarosh Holt McCallany Julia Holt (Pedone) Teri Wyble (Mrs. Prudhomme) Jason Douglas (Sceriffo) Patrick Heusinger (IL cacciatore) Michael Papajohn (Poliziotto) Billy Slaughter Allyson Leigh Jordan (Passeggero del volo) Judd Lormand (Poliziotto) Cast completo
Chase Savoie (Guardia) Gordon Alexander (Sicario) Nicole BarrĂŠ (Mircovich) Abbie Gayle (Ragazza) Sabrina Gennarino (Candace Dayton)
Makeup: Leigh Ann Yandle (capo dipartimento makeup); Donita Miller e Linda Traxler (acconciature)
Scheda film aggiornata al:
02 Novembre 2016
Sinossi:
IN BREVE:
Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) fa ritorno al quartier generale della 110ª unità di polizia militare in Virginia, luogo dove ha preso servizio nel passato come maggiore (ruolo poi occupato dal maggiore Susan Turner) e che considera come casa. Sfortunatamente le cose precipitano una volta che Reacher raggiunge il posto, infatti Susan Turner sembra essere scomparsa nel nulla e la sua presenza non è affatto gradita. Inoltre viene accusato di aver commesso un omicidio risalente a 16 anni prima, che lo potrebbe costringere ad anni di galera e viene a conoscenza di una notizia sconvolgente della sua vita privata. Messo con le spalle al muro, Reacher sarà costretto a fuggire e lottare per la propria salvezza e quella di altre persone innocenti.
Commento critico (a cura di PETER DEBRUGE, www.variery.com)
Tom Cruise reteams with 'The Last Samurai' director Edward Zwick, reprising a character that unwisely forces him to suppress his natural charisma.
For those who never saw 2012âs âJack Reacher,â Tom Cruise played a former Army military police commander who, disillusioned with the job, grabbed his toothbrush and hit the road. In âJack Reacher: Never Go Back,â itâs been ages since Cruiseâs character was discharged, but military types keep trying to salute him, and every time someone in uniform calls him by his former rank, âMajor Reacher,â he stiffens a little and responds, âex-major.â
Cruise has been Hollywoodâs top gun for the better part of 30 years, taking no fewer than 17 blockbusters across the $100 million mark in that time. But strike the âMission: Impossibleâ series from the charts, and his numbers have been way down in the decade since âWar of the Worlds.â (The original âJack Reacherâ made
just $80 million, barely half of what âThe Firmâ earned in 1993.) And while Cruise himself doesnât seem to age from one film to the next, perhaps itâs time we reclassify the one-time boy wonder as an âex-majorâ star.
Yes, heâs kept us entertained as âMissionâsâ Ethan Hunt, but in his desperation to generate another franchise, the actor â whose career longevity owes to a savvy understanding of his brand â enlists director Edward Zwick to help him resuscitate the role that suits his appeal least. Zwick excels at epic pageantry; his previous Cruise collaboration, âThe Last Samurai,â matched that quality to the starâs persona. But the helmer has never made a flat-out action movie, and he turns out to be shockingly ill-suited for the sort of terse rough-and-tumble that a Jack Reacher outing demands. Christopher McQuarrie, by contrast, managed to wring an impressive car chase, a high-caliber finale, and several
other intense set pieces from his meager source material the first time around (his reward: directing Cruise in âMission: Impossible â Rogue Nationâ). Alas, Zwick barely manages to tickle our adrenaline, waiting till the climactic showdown amid a New Orleans Halloween parade to deliver a sequence that could legitimately register as memorable.
Otherwise, Reacher is handily upstaged by the other characters here, most notably his 20-years-younger replacement, Maj. Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders, terrific), who looks like a cross between âThe Matrixâsâ Trinity and Demi Moore in âA Few Good Men,â and who suffers none of the limits on her own personality wattage.
Immediately following a cold-opening reminder of how Reacher deals with corruption among those in positions of authority, the film softens its drifter protagonist ever so slightly via a series of half-flirty phone calls between him and Turner, in which Reacher promises to look her up in the event that he
ever makes it to Washington, D.C. But when he arrives in the nationâs capital, in the very next scene, he learns that Turner has been relieved of her position and court-martialed for treason three days prior. More surprising still, he discovers a surprising detail about his own past: Evidently, an ex-prostitute has filed a paternity claim against him, alleging heâs the father of her now-15-year-old daughter Samantha (Danika Yarosh). And since we know so little about Reacher, thereâs no way to assess whether or not the claim is true, except to bring her along.
Indeed, one of the things that makes the character so appealing to his fans is that he has no attachments â heâs an avenging conscience without the Achillesâ heel of socialization. Give him a child, however, and things could quickly devolve into the sort of manipulative melodrama that befell fellow tough guy Jack Bauer anytime his daughter
Kim turned up on â24.â
Letâs not forget that Zwick and longtime collaborator Marshall Herskovitz got their start writing for television, which seems to be the primary influence on this strangely uncinematic action movie. Though framed in widescreen and lensed by Oliver Wood (DP on the first three Bourne movies), âNever Go Backâ displays none of the style or audacity that lenser Caleb Deschanel brought to the earlier installment. The sequel looks almost grimy by comparison, relying overly on closeups of a star whose range of expressiveness has been limited to two signature moves: a meaningful jaw clench or a well-time narrowing of the eyes. Cruise can still be counted on to frequently sprint on-camera, but here he comes across as a shadow of the star weâve known him to be.
âTOM CRUISE is JACK REACHER,â read the ads for the 2012 film, and yet, a more accurate description might have been,
âTOM CRUISE pretends to be JACK REACHER.â The character that was an awkward fit for the actor four years ago seems to be even more so now, if only because Cruiseâs greatest asset is his charisma, while Reacher is a stoic, stone-cold heavy. From Bond to Bourne, such action heroes have become the clichĂŠ these days, showing an almost sociopathic lack of feeling as they go about their efficient ultraviolence. But Cruise, who always seems to be half-smiling in everything else he does, seems far too serious in the role, leaving room for the ladies, Smulders and Yarosh, to steal the show.
Better to leave the ruthlessness to the villain, a mercenary hit man (Patrick Heusinger) hired by a corrupt military contractor. The whole mess began with the deaths of two soldiers under Turnerâs command â deaths for which she is being held accountable â and as the mystery unfolds, we
learn that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that anyone who catches wind of the massive conspiracy, including Turner and Reacher, ends up in the hit manâs cross-hairs. The fact that the scenes are set in three of the most tired action-movie venues imaginable â a kitchen, a warehouse, and a shipping dockâ just goes to show the sequelâ lack of inspiration. Even the New Orleans finale is technically a rehash of something James Bond went through in 1973âs âLive and Let Die,â and again, as recently as the superior rooftop opening of last yearâs âSpectre.â Cruise and company should have taken their own advice: Never go back.