Never Go Back, no really, Never Go Back

There are some things that you just don’t do. You don’t put it all on red. You don’t put ketchup on your hotdog. You don’t pee into the wind. You don’t eat pizza with a knife and fork; you don’t cross Jason the X. But most importantly, you never go back. And that is something that Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher knows. You never go back! And unfortunately, Tom Cruise never should’ve gone back.

Look I am not saying this is a terrible film; it is a decent enough middle of the road action film. Problem is, Tom Cruise, thanks to Mission Impossible, is one of the few Movie Stars and Action Stars left in the world. In this day and age the star doesn’t sell the film anymore, but for the most part you can bank on Tom Cruise. And with his production company behind this you wonder why he turned to this franchise to revitalize. Personally I would have rather seen Maverick make his sequel debut.

So Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is Set four years after the events of the first film, Jack Reacher (Cruise) is returning to the headquarters of his old military unit. He comes to meet Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders) who has been working with him on solving cases across the country. Upon his arrival, he is informed that Turner is accused of espionage. He embarks on a mission to clear her name.

It is not all bad. The main trio in the film is all good in their roles. Tom Cruise always commits to his roles, and I for one have never seen a Tom Cruise performance that is not awesome. The movie may not be good, but the performance is always top notch. And Cobie Smulders is determined to never go back herself. Aunt Robin is no more, Smulders whether it is a bad ass SHIELD operative, or an Army Major, she is awesome. Reacher’s possible daughter, played by Danika Yarosh, was pretty cool too. I don’t know much of her work but I really liked her in this film.

The few action films that took place in this film were pretty cool. Well done, well shot, and pretty brutal. But that is pretty much where the positives end. The story is very basic, and the execution is pretty damn boring. The pacing is incredibly slow, and the action scenes are few and far in between. One of which makes no sense that it’s even in the film other than the fact that they were like “hmmm we need an action scene, let’s have a random fight in a setting that makes no sense”

All in all Jack Reacher Never Go Back is a very basic paint by numbers action film. If you are hanging out at the house on a random Tuesday afternoon and doing a little cleaning or cooking, maybe it’ll be on FX, cause they have the movies, put it on, have it on in the background, it’s decent enough for that. I gave it a Jeebus score of 2.3. But what say you Jackass Nation? Did you like the first Jack Reacher? Are you going to go back? Sound off in the comments below! And remember, It Is What It Is!

The Jeebus Score explained

The Jeebus score is out of a possible 5 points with a .5 bonus. Films are giving a max of 1 point each for Entertainment Value, Story/Writing, Performance, Direction, and Production. There is also a possible bonus up to .5. Any film between 2.5 and 4 is considered a good film. 4-5 is a great film. Anything over 5 is an incredibly amazing film. To get a perfect score of 5.5 a film will pretty much have to be The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather.

Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation

After Mission Impossible 2, I said well, that franchise is done. Wrong. 3 came out. And then is said, eh, I hope its dead now. Wrong. I waited for Redbox for Ghost Protocol. Disappointed that I did cause that was awesome. And Rogue Nation is no let down either. Congratulations Cruise. You have brought Mission Impossible to the top of the game.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, and Alec Baldwin. Written by Drew Pearce and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. It tells the story of IMF getting disbanded, leaving Ethan Hunt (Cruise) on the run from the CIA. As Hunt attempts to bring to line a terrorist organization that is nearly equal to IMF and is known only as “The Syndicate”

Look, this movie is awesome. The action scenes are spot on and amazing. It is so much fun to watch. Plus knowing that 90% of these were done by Cruise himself. I used to doubt the guy. If it was a Tom Cruise film not called Top Gun, then I didn’t care. However Edge of Tomorrow and now Rogue Nation have brought me back on the train. I mean he literally was hooked onto the side of an airplane while it legit took off. That is crazy, but I digress….

The story is pretty simple, and one we’ve seen before. But the execution of said story is done so well. Some characters you honestly can’t decide whose side they are on. And that is a credit to the screen writer. The action beats hit right on, and are never took over the top. It never really drags and hits the right marker for a mix between story and action.

It is fun to really see the mixture of the crew from Mission Impossible 1 with this new Ghost Protocol team. Simon Pegg is not just great s the comic relief, but he is on his way to being a damn good action star.

My only negative, only real negative, isn’t even a real one. By the end of this film, I really wanted the Syndicate to turn out to be called Spectre. So that we would get a James Bond vs Ethan Hunt cross over. Would’ve been cool.

Look if you are not a fan of any of these films, you won’t like this one. But if you liked the original and Ghost protocol like I did, you are going to have a lot of fun with this. We are giving this one a 4.2, plus a .2 bonus for Cruise being hooked on the side of a freaking airplane! That gives us a Jeebus score of 4.4! What say you Jackass Nation? What did you think of Rogue Nation? Which is your favorite of the Mission Impossible Films? How would rank all 5? Sound off in the comments below, and as always, keep on Nerding!

The Jeebus Score explained

The Jeebus score is out of a possible 6 points. Films are giving a max of 1 point each for Acting, Entertainment, and Casting, and a max of .5 for Dialog, Cinematography, and Direction. There is also a possible bonus up to .5. Any film between 2.5 and 4 is considered a good film. 4-5 is a great film. Anything over 5 is an incredibly amazing film. To get a perfect score of 6 a film will pretty much have to be The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather.

All You Need is Kill, on the Edge of Tomorrow

All you need is kill! Er, Edge of Tomorrow. The new film from the director of greats such as Swingers, The BOurne Identity, Mr. & Mr Smith, and Jumper, Doug Liman. Now I know what you are thinking, Tom Cruise, he doesn’t have it anymore, this looks like the same as that last crappy film he did Oblivion. But trust me, this film was marketed horribly. It’s a pretty good film. It stars Cruise Emily Blunt, and Bill Paxton. Edge of Tomorrow is based on the Japanese novel All You Need Is Kill, which originally was the title, and actually a much better title if you ask me.

Cruise stars as Major William Cage, a loser spokesperson for the army, who is a the voice of the resistance against the aliens that have attacked earth. When he is forced into combat against his will, he is exposed to the aliens and develops a case of groundhogs day. Every time he dies he wakes up the day before the big battle. He meets Rita(Blunt) who once was stuck in the same situation. Together they train to fight the alien race and become the only hope for humanity.

The marketing for this film was awful. The trailers all looked terrible, there was little to no buzz around from critics or anyone who had screened the film. I went in thinking it would probably be a disappointment, but came out very entertained. Cruise has seemed to be phoning it in the last couple of films. I felt he was pretty much done as the action star. But this film shows that Cruise still has a few good action flicks in him. I am not particularly a big fan of Emily Blunt. I find her to be kind of dull. But she worked for me in this film. The chemistry between her and Cruise was phenomenal.

The story is a mix of Groundhogs Day, Aliens, and Starship Troopers. You could think it would have the possibility of getting stale and repeating itself could get boring. However, Edge of Tomorrow does a good job at changing things up and making each “reset” unique and continue the over all story. You see Cruise grow as a character and a soldier. The fact that his character knows his memories from every repeat, but Blunt’s must trust him right off the bat and she never knows how many days they have gone through certain situations.

The only issue I found with the film was the final act. After all the resets, all the work they do to set up, the battle can be kind of weak. Not enough to really hurt the film, but enough to make you think about it a little bit. Another big thing that will hurt the film is the lack of marketing like I said earlier. First off the film’s title is weak, All You Need Is Kill was interesting and exciting. Plus the negative perception of Cruise’s last outings in film will hold audiences back. Which is a shame, because this film is truly a fun time.

When it comes down to it, I gave the film a Jeebus score of 4.1, A Good Time at the theater. SO please, disregard your first perception of the film. Don’t let Oblivion, or Jack Ryan keep you away. Give Cruise another shot, and check out Edge of Tomorrow.