An action-packed sequel its creator was thrilled to see kill the franchise unravels a major streaming conspiracy

Tom Cruise doesn’t taste box office defeat all that often, but when he did in the case of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, nobody was happier about it than creator Lee Child.

There had been plenty of controversy when the diminutive action icon was first cast in the role to begin with seeing as he’s roughly a foot shorter than the title hero is on the page, and it’s mind-blowing to think that Cruise secured the part over Dwayne Johnson given the sheer size discrepancy between the two.

Nonetheless, Christopher McQuarrie’s opening chapter was solid throwback thriller that drew strong reviews and turned a decent-sized profit, only for Never Go Back to immediately suffer from the law of diminishing returns. A $162 million take at the box office was poor by Cruise’s standards, while a 37 percent Rotten Tomatoes score was even worse.

Ultimately, any plans for a threequel were scrapped – much to the delight of author Child – with Prime Video stepping in to reboot the property and cast the much more accurate Alan Ritchson as the lead, which culminated in Reacher scoring a rapid-fire second season renewal.

That doesn’t mean Cruise isn’t still a draw, though, and the fact Never Go Back has returned to prominence yet again after FlixPatrol outed it as one of the most-watched titles on Paramount Plus in countless countries across the globe is only the latest in a long line of reminders that even in his 60s, he remains must-watch when he’s getting his hands dirty in an actioner.