Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is a 2016 American action-thriller film directed by Edward Zwick, written by Richard Wenk, Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz, and based on the 2013 novel by Lee Child. A sequel to the 2012 film, the film stars Tom Cruise, reprising his role as Jack Reacher, and Cobie Smulders. The plot follows Reacher going on the run with an Army major who has been framed for espionage, as the two reveal a dark conspiracy.

Principal photography began on October 20, 2015, in New Orleans, and the film was released on October 21, 2016. It grossed $162 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Cruise's performance and the film's action sequences, but criticized the plot.

Jack Reacher, a drifter and former Major who commanded the US Army's 110th CID Military Police (MP), helps the current commander, Major Susan Turner, bust a corrupt Oklahoma Sheriff who is running a human trafficking ring on Army land. Returning to his old military headquarters in Washington, D.C. to finally meet Turner, Reacher learns from Colonel Sam Morgan that Turner has been accused of espionage and arrested. Believing she's being framed for the murder of two US Army MP soldiers in Afghanistan, he meets with Turner's lawyer, Army J.A.G. Colonel Moorcroft. He informs Reacher that a supposed acquaintance, prostitute and drug addict Candice Dutton, has filed a paternity suit claiming Reacher is the biological father of her 15-year-old daughter Samantha. Reacher reaches out to Samantha, who is living in foster care, but she rebuffs him.

When Moorcroft is beaten to death by The Hunter, an ex-SOCOM operator-turned mercenary, Reacher is arrested and transported to the prison where Turner is being detained. They neutralize two hitmen and escape to Morgan's residence, having deduced he is involved in the conspiracy. The Hunter kills Morgan and again frames Reacher. When surveillance pictures of Samantha suggest she is in danger, Reacher and Turner discover her foster parents dead and her in hiding. The trio seek refuge in Turner's old private school but realize Samantha's mobile phone is probably being tracked and they depart for New Orleans in search of Daniel Prudhomme, the only eyewitness to the murders for which Turner has been framed. En route, Sam reveals she filed the paternity suit, to gain financial support for her mother.

Reacher and Turner find Prudhomme in a derelict warehouse filled with drug addicts. Prudhomme is connected to Parasource, a private military company trying to cover up the murders. Reacher contacts Turner's friend, Captain Anthony Espin, to move him into custody, but they are ambushed by Parasource operatives and Prudhomme is killed, while Reacher rescues a wounded Espin. Parasource's CEO, General James Harkness, sends The Hunter to capture Samantha.

Reacher, Turner, Espin and a team of MPs, acting on information from Prudhomme, intercept a shipment of weapons and confront Harkness and his men. Espin finds opium smuggled in the shipment and learn that Harkness framed Turner for the murders of the two soldiers. Turner had been investigating Harkness' sale of weapons to insurgents and smuggling of opium into the US. The Hunter, the actual murderer, chases Sam with his team through New Orleans, hoping to lure Reacher into a confrontation. Reacher and Turner kill his henchmen and when The Hunter corners Sam on a rooftop she manages to escape. Reacher breaks The Hunter's arm, leg, and neck, in a fight before Reacher drops him off the rooftop.

Following Harkness' arrest, Turner is reinstated to her command. Reacher meets Sam at a diner and she reveals the waitress who serves them is in fact her mother. Reacher cannot be her father, as neither had recognized the other. They reluctantly part and as he walks away he receives a text message from Sam asking, "Miss me yet?". He smiles as he sticks out his thumb to hitch a ride.

In addition, Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novel series, makes a brief appearance as a TSA agent.