People has today premiered our first look at Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, the action sequel that welcomes Tom Cruise back in the title role.
He’s in a spot of bother with the law, too, with one of two images showcasing Cruise’s enigmatic ex-army man in cuffs. Franchise newcomer Cobie Smulders features in the second still, who was welcomed aboard late last year to portray a disgraced Army officer fighting to clear her name following accusations of spying.
Retaining his famous razor-sharp focus and commitment to the part, director Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai) revealed to People that Tom Cruise performed all of his own stuntwork during filming on Never Go Back: “It’s a pretty boring job to be Tom’s stunt double. He did all of his own stunts. It’s almost a hallmark of what he does. He does every bit of it himself.”
Impressive though that may be, Cruise seems to have met his match in Cobie Smulders, given that the former How I Met Your Mother star also went through the entire production without the need for a stunt double.
As for the story underpinning Jack Reacher’s return to theaters, Never Go Back is lifted from Lee Child’s 2013 novel of the same name, following our war hero’s journey “back to his old military base in Virginia to take a woman to dinner who is now the commanding officer. By the time he gets there, she has been arrested, and Reacher finds himself being charged with pummeling one guy and fathering a child with a woman.”
Robert Catrini, Danika Yarosh, Aldis Hodge, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany and Austin Hebert round out the ensemble for Paramount’s action sequel.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is one of two Tom Cruise-fronted blockbusters currently in the works, given that the actor is also headlining Universal’s much-touted do-over of The Mummy. Long before battling with ancient evil though, expect the former to punch its way into theaters on October 21, indicating that the movie’s first trailer ought to be right around the corner.
