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Jack Reacher: Never Go Backis just another movie in a sea of book-to-film adaptations with many inaccuracies from the source material. The film,starring Tom Cruise, follows an ex-military drifter named Jack Reacher, who travels to Washington in order to have a reunion with his friend Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), only to find out that she has been wrongfully prosecuted and imprisoned. From then, we follow Reacher as he strives to unravel a major government conspiracy while simultaneously fleeing (more Tom Cruise running sequences) after being falsely accused of another crime.
Even though the film had a strong narrative to work with, especially given that it isbased on a popular novel, it had inconsistencies that resulted in substantial differences from its original material. From entirely rewriting the relationships between main characters to opting to introduce a central, singular villain, the changes between the film and the novel it is based on are quite apparent, further proving that it would have been better off as an independent story.
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The Portrayal of Jack Reacher in the Film Is Not Accurate
Tom Cruise is a phenomenal actor who, despite being in his sixties, continues to risk his life by performing outrageous stunts, but this may have backfired when they decided to cast him inJack Reacher: Never Go Back. His role in the film is one of the most glaring differences sincethe source material clearly states that Jack Reacher is a robustly built, muscular man weighing 250 pounds and standing over six feet tall. While Cruise’s dashing looks and action moves can entirely captivate viewers, Lee Child’s book has written the character in a distinct manner.
Alan Ritchson has been cast as the titular characterin Prime Video’sReacher(also based on Lee Child’sJack Reachernovel series), and it is the pitch-perfect casting that fans have been hoping for since the release of Tom Cruise’sJack Reacher. Furthermore,Reacher’s personality in Lee Child’s book creates an impression that he is more of a loner than a pleasant guy who enlists all the help he can to get an advantage. In this aspect, Alan Ritchson’s Reacher is a more accurate portrayal, since he does not trust anybody easily in the popular TV series.
Reacher’s personality in Lee Child’s book creates an impression that he is more of a loner than a pleasant guy.
Even at the end of the film, we see Tom Cruise’s Reacher texting Samantha while smiling, whereas, in the book, Reacher throws away the phone and resumes his journey. These changes may have been subtle, but they serve a critical role in offering audiences an overview of the main character’s behavior and how he prefers to get things done.
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The Hunter Does Not Exist in the Novel
Lee Child’sJack Reachernovel featuresa number of interesting antagonistswho contribute to the intricate story, but the screenwriters ofJack Reacher: Never Go Backtook the villainous role in an entirely different direction. In the film,Cruise’s Reacher faces up against a single villain, The Hunter (Patrick Heusinger), an infamous mercenary who proves a formidable opponent to be reckoned with.
In Lee Child’s novel, Reacher had no adversary who could rival his intellect and physical powers, which often resulted in him being almost infallible.Perhaps this is why the film chose a different villain who proves to be a match for the protagonist. Nonetheless, The Hunter’s inclusion in the movie was another substantial change from the book, which, in some ways, worked in the movie’s favor.
Character Introductions & Storylines Vary Significantly in the Film
Although only a few characters have been pivotal to the film’s overarching story,Jack Reacher: Never Go Backmanages to alter certain character introductions and narratives towards the conclusion. For example, Samantha, who is believed to be Reacher’s long-lost daughter, has limited encounters with Cruise’s character in the novel.In contrast, she becomes the focal point of the story in the second half of the movie as the protagonist seeks to protect her from his enemies.
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Furthermore,even though Reacher spends a long time disproving her claim of him being the parent in the film, he simply uncovers a false birth certificate in the novel, demonstrating how little significance has been placed on her characterand the impact it had on the overall story. As if that wasn’t enough,Jack Reacher: Never Go Backpaints Major Susan Turner and Reacher’s relationship as longtime comrades who have worked through thick and thin. Both are portrayed as helping one another, from busting the human trafficking ring in the opening sequence tounraveling the conspiracythat turned them into suspects in multiple murders.
In the novel, however, Reacher meets Turner for the first time during the events ofNever Go Back, meaning the two have neither met previously nor worked together in the military.Having said that, the dynamic between Cruise’s Reacher and Cobie Smulders' Susan Turner benefited the film because of their established bond as coworkers and friends, as well as the potential romance that many fans expected to happen at the conclusion.
