Jack Reacher – based on the Lee Child novel One Shot – was released in 2012 as one of several films that served as a comeback for Cruise after some box office disappointments like Lions for Lambs and Knight and Day. Though Reacher wasn’t nearly as profitable as another Cruise helmed actioner, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (a $690 million box office gross is tough to beat), it was enough of a success ($200 million against a $50 million budget) to warrant a sequel. So, Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions have gone right ahead and purchased the rights to the eighteenth (and latest) book in Child’s Jack Reacher series, Never Go Back.
Why are they skipping all the way to eighteenth entry? Well, keep in mind One Shot is the ninth Jack Reacher novel, and much like the James Bond book series (which was also also adapted to screen completely out of order) the novels are mostly written as standalone stories.
Other than Cruise returning to play the lead, no information has been released regarding the cast, the film’s release date, the director, or whether or not the film will retain the novel’s title (unlike its predecessor). As far as the plot goes – though the film could deviate from the book – here is the book’s synopsis according to Child’s website:
Reacher has made his way from snowbound South Dakota to his destination in northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. The old stone building is the closest thing to a home he ever had. He’s there to meet—in person—the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, so far just a warm, intriguing voice on the phone.
But it isn’t Turner behind the CO’s desk. And Reacher is hit with two pieces of shocking news, one with serious criminal consequences, and one too personal to contemplate.
When threatened, you can run or fight. Reacher fights, aiming to find Turner and clear his name, barely a step ahead of the army, and the FBI, and the D.C. Metro police, and four unidentified thugs.
Here’s hoping this next film makes a casting choice as strange as the first one’s decision to make oddball-art director Werner Herzog a villain.
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