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Adapted from the pages of Lee Child’s eighteenth novel in the Jack Reacher franchise, Never Go Back comes four years after Christopher McQuarrie’s relatively well received Jack Reacher; a movie, regardless of its somewhat predictable and flawed premise, was largely considered an entertaining and above-average crime-thriller.  Unfortunately, its 2016 sequel, an action-packed but terribly derivative story of the we-must-uncover-the-truth-and-break-a-load-of-bones-in-the-process variety, doesn’t for make for as good viewing.

Set four years after the events of the first film, the story is once again centred on the ex-military police officer, Jack Reacher (Cruise); a perpetual loner and a man of few words who hitchhikes from town to town, stumbling on corruption and crime which he usually resolves with one smouldering look and a pair of deadly fists.

After doing so in the movie’s opening sequence, Jack soon makes contact with Susan Turner (How I Met Your Mother’s Cobbie Smulders); a woman who has taken over his former position at the Virginia-based military unit and with whom he has, over time, formed a close – and relatively flirtatious – relationship with.

However, when Reacher decides to surprise her with a visit, he soon learns that Turner has been arrested on what appears to be, fake espionage charges. With the case naturally falling right in his field of expertise, Jack soon sets out to uncover the truth and, oh yeah, break a few bones in the process.

While many fans of Lee Child’s series of paperback thrillers – it seems that the British author has been churning them out once a year ever since its beginning in 1997 – are still a little stuck-up about the fact that Tom Cruise – a man of five-foot-and-seven-inches – has been cast to play a man who is his physical opposite. But you have to hand it to Cruise; regardless of his now aging physique, he once again proves why he’s paid the big bucks.

However, while the presence of Tom Cruise – who embraces his character with enough stoic bravado and fighting skills to give Jason Bourne a run for his money – elevates the film, the same cannot be said for the flimsy and often uneven storyline that surrounds him. Attempting to offer a profounder insight into Jack Reacher’s history and life – hinting that he is in fact a desperately lonely man who is looking for a deep and soulful connection to another human being – Zwick’s ill-conceived script, along with a combination of cheap one-liners, and awkward comedic tone and weak action set pieces, is not strong enough to carry its own weight.

Lacking momentum and a presence of an intimidating villain – Heusinger’s cold-blooded killer who refuses to take his gloves off is as exciting as watching paint dry – Never Go Back doesn’t know what it wants to be and even though, fans of the series won’t be too disappointed with the end-result, those with little patience might not want to stick around whilst it figure it out.