On Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

An 80s throwback in more than one way, it’s never quite clear if Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is taking itself seriously or not. There’s certainly little humour in it, but star and director are both learned in 80s cinema and Never Go Back may be a well-honed homage to the decade’s action output. Slightly bizarre it feels less contemporary than the first of these films, Jack Reacher (2012), which had a much more knowing tone to it. The self-awareness feels missing in Never Go Back, but saying that it has a solid, mostly captivating story and everyone here is so practiced in what they do that it could never be truly bad, or boring. It’s just slightly odd!