Actress Cobie Smulders on new "Jack Reacher" film

Actress Cobie Smulders is taking on the bad guys with Tom Cruise in the new movie, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.”

Based on best-selling author Lee Child’s novel, the movie features the former “How I Met Your Mother” star as Maj. Susan Turner, the commander of an elite military police unit who’s been framed for espionage. Cruise’s character, Jack Reacher, breaks into jail to get Maj. Turner out, “and for the rest of the film, they’re on the run, together,” Smulders said Friday on “CBS This Morning.”

“I just was excited to jump onto this role and to play a woman within the military because I think it takes a very strong, determined type of person to not only list, but then to have that type of career,” she said.

There are a lot of stunt scenes in the crime thriller, and Smulders said she performed her own stunts.

“I was very proud and I was determined to do that. It took a lot of training,” she said.

Smulders described her experience working with Cruise as “amazing.” The film was also produced by Cruise.

“Quite honestly, for me to jump into this genre with the high-intensity that was required for all the training, I mean, he helped prepare me,” Smulders said. “He has an amazing team of stunt people that he works with constantly. And he’s an expert. And it was such a joy to learn from him in that respect, and also, it was just fun to be around him and he’s an amazing man.”

In addition to action, the movie also features some comedic moments.

“Because like life, even in dire situations, you have to laugh at your circumstances,” Smulders said.

“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” opens in theaters Oct. 21.