Prime Video’s Reacher is a binge-worthy take on your favorite airport novel hero
Lee Child's big character Jack Reacher is a better fit for the small screen
TV Reviews Reacher
The idea of a streaming series based on the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child sounds like such a no-brainer, it’s tempting to wonder what took so long—until you remember the ill-fated attempt to turn the novels into a movie franchise starring Tom Cruise. Even those who have never read the books probably recall the casting controversy that erupted when Cruise was announced as the big screen’s Reacher. The character in the books is a 6-foot-5, 250-pound hulk of a man. Tom Cruise is… not. That might not have mattered so much if the movies had been well-received, but neither critics nor audiences were overly impressed, and the would-be franchise cratered after the thoroughly mediocre second installment, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
To the uninitiated, the size of the actor may seem like a minor concern. But Reacher is such a stripped-down, elemental character, taking away his imposing stature is akin to replacing the Batsuit with a Speedo. Reacher’s persona exemplifies the novels in which he appears, which are made of reliably sturdy but familiar building blocks. That’s not meant as a criticism; many novelists would sell their grandmothers to be able to do what Child makes look so easy. The Reacher books are ideal airport purchases precisely because you know what you’re getting and are unlikely to be disappointed when you arrive at your final destination.
In that respect, Reacher is a solid adaptation, perfectly suited to bingeing on a snow day or stormy winter’s night. It’s as if it was designed to fill the role previously played by Bosch on the Prime Video roster: enjoyable comfort viewing based on a long-running book series, plenty of action, nothing too taxing on the ol’ brain cells. Season one is a straightforward adaptation of the book that kicked off the Reacher series, Killing Floor. It doesn’t take long for the first episode to establish the character and his world: Jack Reacher (no one calls him by his first name, not even his mother) is a former special investigator for the Army’s Military Police, now a drifter who roams the country carrying nothing but a toothbrush. He loves the blues, and the opening of Reacher finds him stepping off a bus in Margrave, Georgia, just because he heard bluesman Blind Blake may have been murdered there.
As in most of the novels, Reacher isn’t looking for trouble, but it finds him anyway. When he stops at a diner for some coffee and peach pie, his snack is interrupted when he’s arrested for murder. (His efforts to get a taste of that slice of pie become a running gag through the season.) It seems a body was found near where Reacher was seen getting off his Greyhound bus; when the corpse is later identified, it turns out to be someone with a close personal connection to Reacher.
The murder is only the first of many, and when Reacher’s name is cleared, he sticks around town to find out who is responsible, much to the chagrin of the local police, including chief detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin), a transplant from Boston, and Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald), a young officer with deep family roots in Margrave. Despite initial distrust, the trio eventually unite to investigate the connection between the murders and an international counterfeiting ring being run out of a respected local business.
In developing Reacher for television, writer-showrunner Nick Santora was not about to disappoint the fans with a mental picture of the title character in their heads. Alan Ritchson, perhaps best known for playing superhero Hawk on the HBO Max series Titans, certainly fits the clothes (usually just jeans and a T-shirt). He towers over his castmates, and boasts the hulking physique familiar from the pages of Child’s books. His performance is hard to gauge at first—is he wooden, or just so deadpan it barely registers?—but eventually his innate likeability takes over.
Humanizing Reacher is essential, because the character is basically a superhero without tights. He’s got the deductive mind of Sherlock Holmes, but you count on at least one scene per episode where he beats the crap out of five guys attacking him at once. Some of the fights are more inventive than others, and the twists and turns of the plot generally arrive right on schedule, but that’s all part of what makes Reacher the television equivalent of an airport novel. It’s not going to challenge your expectations, but it will fulfill them in a mostly satisfying way.
176 Comments
I loved the first Reacher film, I don’t care what anyone says. Shame about the second.
The first one was great. Robert Duvall was awesome. I went and saw the 2nd on in theater and almost fell asleep.
The first movie hinged on Rosamund Pike being the dumbest DA alive so that everything could be explained to her very slowly by either Reacher or the villain.
Ditto, I thought that was a great action flick that took all of the best parts of the book and changed the weaker parts into better segments (such as the end battle and Reacher’s decision to off the main bad guy.)I agree about the second movie, though.
I don’t get it. The first movie is a forgettable action movie, but the second has Werner Herzog bullying people into chewing off their own fingers. It’s fucking awesome.
Werner Herzog was in the first movie.
Huh. That means I have zero recollections of the second movie, which is kind of terrifying.
The 2nd movie co-starred Cobie Smulders. If you don’t remember Cobie, its a bad movie.
Strike that, reverse it. Werner played the Zek in the first movie along side Jai Courtney.
A surprisingly good (or at least not bad) Jai Courtney!
First Reacher movie is a stone-cold great action movie. Werner Herzog is the Big Bad! And Cruise basically just murders him in the middle of a typical villain taunt. Great ending.
(PS. The sequel was an atrocity and should be scrubbed from all time.)
Could be that I was unfamiliar with the character before I saw the movies and had no preconceived notions, but I thought Cruise was great in the role. And I think the first film is a classic. The 2nd was serviceable, and it was likely best they stopped there. I get that Cruise is nowhere near the size of the character, but I never doubted for a second that he was this unstoppable badass. But I guess most people just couldn’t get past the size issue.
Cruise is perfect apart from height and he’s too good looking. Ritchson seems too friendly but I’m hoping it works out ok in the show.
Yeah, Ritchson’s such a golden retriever that it doesn’t quite track for me.
Lee Child said that. I paraphrase, but he said that Reacher’s size makes him unstoppable, and Cruise has that unstoppability factor but in a different way.The first film is fine, but the second is bad enough that the old complaints about Cruise’s physique came to the fore. If the second film had been good I don’t think most people would have minded about the height thing.
So, time for that “size doesn’t matter” talk.
Well yes, it does. Especially these days when you must get an actor that is appropriate for the role. Look at it in reverse: If a book had a ‘little person’ you better believe the movie role is filled by Peter Dinklage. So why would Tom Cruse be allowed the role of a big man?
the first was a quintessential c+ experience and the second was a quintessential c- experience.
the second film was bad AND the first time i ever thought “wow cruise is starting to look old”
Yes, I know what you mean. The constant fight scenes didn’t help.I also thought Cruise showed his age, in a good way, in the last Mission: Impossible film. In the bathroom fight he was half a second slower than his opponent, looked winded, took a moment to get up etc. It worked because he was fighting a much younger man (and his ally was the man-mountain Henry Cavill, so it would have looked daft if Cruise was able to dominate the fight). It’s the first time Ethan Hunt has looked less than superhuman but I don’t think it was to the film’s detriment.
In order to make Cruise believable, he had to have a chip on his shoulder, which luckily Cruise can play in his sleep. But its definitely a story about a little guy facing bigger opposition, and it plays in every scene in how each character approaches cruise. Noone is ever intimidated and they constantly underestimate his physical ability. But Reacher is a guy where noone underestimates his physical abilities, just his mind, so the dynamic is flipped. Like the scene in the first movie, where the guy says, “I’m going to kick your ass,” in the bar, just wouldn’t make sense in the reacher novels. The second film basically had one scene, the opening, with chip on his shoulder cruise, and the rest is just standard thriller stuff where cruise tries to channel the novel’s version of reacher, but it falls flat, since they are mostly on the run, and you really need to settle down for the silent, haunted, seen it all type to pop.
The fact that Cruise has a well-earned reputation for playing the part of unstoppable badasses certainly helps set the tone. As soon as the audience sees Cruise, they know what to expect. I guess the main difference is that other characters won’t necessarily see Cruise as unstoppable, at least not at first. They don’t look at him and think “oh shit, it’s Ethan Hunt here to fuck my whole day up.”
I also was unfamiliar with the character and enjoyed the first movie quite a bit. I thought Cruise was believably badass even though he’s not a big guy.
Cruise is a punk. The movies he made were trash, not anything at all like the novels. ANyone who likes Cruise is a punk.
You have a nice day.
O-Kay, theSacredPipe….I’m not a huge Tom Cruise fan myself, but you sure escalated quickly.
Thanks for sharing.
I’m sorry your dick is so small.
Gosh. That’s terribly hurtful. I feel quite sad for being a punk for enjoying Tom Cruise, as presumably now do millions of others. Thank you for bringing this admonishment to our attention.
If you don’t read the books, the first Reacher movie was a good mid-budget action flick. The casting (besides Cruise but he owns the rights) was spot on. If you’re a fan of the books, the character is more humble, uglier, and is more of a quiet giant type figure. One of the main character traits is being a guy who doesn’t say much. It’s not realistic, but it’s a fun popcorn read.Unfortunately the trailer for the series has even more hammy, corny type dialogue and as much as Tom Cruise was too pretty for the role, the new Reacher is even prettier. Are there not older, uglier actors with a big build?
Unfortunately I think Ron Perlman has aged out of that kind of role, although 20-30 years ago he would have been perfect.For the record, Perlman is easily one of my favorite actors and I will and have watched just about anything he’s in.
Not since Charles Bronson died and Chuck Norris pretty much retired.
Yeah I’m not sure about the comments in regards to Ritchson being uglier…
You expect an American tv show to cast an ugly actor? *Sarcasm* Unfortunately that’s par for the course with most American shows. They assume charisma means good looks.
I never saw the first one (or read any of the books), but I agree on that first film.
I think Cruise’s size, vs Reacher, only trips up that first movie at one point (I saw it about a month ago so it’s fresh) — the cops ask a motel manager “anybody staying here who looks like they could kill a person with one punch?” If Ritchson is Reacher, I buy that the manager fingers him based on that, but with Cruise it’s just “uh, if you say so, movie”.
I haven’t seen the second, never read any of the books and remember the complains on this very site about casting Cruise for the role. That was the first I’d heard of the character. The hand-to-hand fights he did get in had believable outcomes given he was a highly trained vet (a bunch of skinny drug dealers, a one-on-one) so his involvement never bothered me. The only complaint I had was thinking the ending dragged a bit, but overall it was solid entertainment.Anyway, hopefully fans of the novels will pipe down this time.
I hated the first Cruise movie not for the action, but for the characterisation (never having read the books). He treats monstrous villains exactly like he treats garden-variety arseholes, which is exactly like he treats the poor manager of the car-parts shop who’s only trying to protect his employee. In that movie, Jack Reacher is a sack of shit, and I’m kind of sad he wins.The second film wins for me mostly because I’m a sucker for “gruff warrior-dude has his stony heart thawed by assuming an unexpected father-figure role” movies. (See: Leon, True Grit, Soldier.)
Tom Cruise is a cocky bantamweight, who overcomes his foes by being faster on his feet and quicker to make a decision than almost anybody else.
He’s certainly a type of action hero, just not one who’s about as big and imposing as an oak.
Yeah, the first movie was pretty good (how could a movie with Werner Herzog as the villain not be?), but even if it wasn’t, it would still be worth it for the Days of Thunder reunion.
The height didn’t bother me. But I have read all the books and not once in any of them does Reacher smirk. If yuou haven’t read them, you’ll have to take my word for it that he comes across as a man incapable of smirking. Cruise, on the other hand, is an actor incapable of NOT smirking. His entire performance is a smirk.
The films were perfectly fine – I’m not a superfan of the books at all, so I didn’t go in with any complaint about Cruise past the fact he’s batshit crazy.The show looks like good fun too.
I wouldnt say it’s a classic, but I liked the first one. But then, I’d watch Werner Herzog read the phone book.
“Always the bullet. I don’t understand.”
I think the biggest problem with the Cruise version of the character is that his Reacher was just basically Ethan Hunt by another name, and I think everyone wisely decided that if we wanted to see more Ethan Hunt, it was better to just make more Mission: Impossible movies than to give Cruise a second franchise where Hunt is an itinerant sorta-PI.I remember reading recently that the gangster who was the real-life inspiration for Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfellas was 6’2″ and the kind of guy who very obviously looked like mafia muscle. Not the kind of guy who’d ever say “I wish I was big, just once!” Pesci’s still completely intimidating in the role, but the fact that he’s 5’4″ changes how we perceive the character completely, because a very short guy’s relationship to the world is different from a tall guy’s.
Yes, I love the first film. Still, it’s not accurate to the books as far as the character goes…but it’s still a very well done film.
Cruiseu was pretty good as Reacher, but i think i’m getting tired of him in every action movie
I’ve read alternative pulp series, for better or worse, but I’d never heard of Reacher so I was hoping for an introduction from the first movie.
What I saw was a psychotic little weasel.
I’m assuming, today from this article, psychotic was not the desired impression. I wasn’t aware there was a second attempt, now a third. I’m trying to soften this because Cruise seems so popular, but every time I watch him I’m in awe of how I’m supposed to feel intimidation from his lowered eyebrows while he’s standing on a box; I usually break out laughing. The closest he comes to believable is when he’s acting frightened/challenged, like I’ve noticed in some Mission Impossible moments.
My favorite memory of Cruise is his fat dance in Tropic Thunder, and I think it’s because the robotic stepping, control freak, ego-driven volition probably came naturally to him, close to his actual persona. The most popular actors—not necessarily good—are those who play the same character no matter what hat they’re wearing and that familiarity makes them entertaining in a positive way, like John Wayne or Sean Connery, even Meryl Streep. There are too many to list, but fame seems to defeat wearing fresh characters.
I’m unable to filter him out, and nothing about the Reacher movie engaged me or made me care about what was happening.
How often do they describe his fists as the size of poultry?
When he swings a punch is that poultry in motion?
I hate to admit I laughed but I have a weakness for an excellent pun.
My favorite descriptor of him from the books, I don’t remember the name off hand but it was the 3rd one, where he’s described as a “condom filled with walnuts”.
The Reacher books (and the Spenser universe/Bosch novels) are a little like ice cream for me. I don’t usually go out of my way to consume them, but when I do, it is obscene how much I can consume in a short period of time.
The first Cruise movie is perfectly serviceable for when you are tired of heavy shit. The second one may very well be, but I’ve not needed that particular service at this point.
It’s a shame, the second movie was based on a book that IMO was one of the best of the series. I blame the script writer, not Cruise, but it was disappointing.
That one clip of Cruise as Reacher in the parking lot just before getting into a fight is a classic of the genre. I know, because it is all over my Facebook feed.
Plus:
“I don’t mind the sight of blood.”
“When it means you’re not pregnant, anyway”
Is a burn I am going to use in my life someday.
Funny you bring up Spenser. That was the first “adult” character driven mystery series I ever read when I was an early teen (thanks Dad!!) and I absolutely binged all of them up until 1990 or so, when I moved on completely. I also forgot that Netflix tried to get the series jumpstarted again back in 2020 with Marky Mark to…negligible results. I’m surprised Robert B. Parkers’ estate hasn’t tried for a more authentic reboot with proper casting and scripts. It’s overdue for sure.
The second Cruise Reacher movie is one of those movies I know I’ve seen. But I only know this because the last three times I turned it on for some mindless background noise I realized I’d already seen it. So, aside from knowing at some point I sat through the whole thing, I still couldn’t tell you a single thing about the movie.
Colbie Smulders, who should be more of a thing, is in it. That’s all I know.
Cobie Smulders is one of those actors who should have been huge, but nobody’s figured out how to use her right so far. She works great as part of an ensemble, but can’t quite seem to click on her own….
I *would* place the better Bosch books (Concrete Blonde, Darkness More Than Night, etc) on a different level than Reacher or Spenser, just because Connelly does interrogate Bosch a bit.
I’m happy to see Alan Ritchson get work. He was the perfect Thad Castle and I enjoyed seeing a more grizzled version of him on Titans. I’m kind of surprised he never got a bigger break with how much Hollywood loves bodybuilders with good comedic timing.
As someone who loves Ritchson, it’s a bit odd to have him as a stone faced “hard man” when his defining energy, imo, is being a 9 year old trapped in the body of a Greek god.
And he can sing and dance, too!
Alan Ritchson, perhaps best known for playing…Young Scully, on Brooklyn Nine Nine.
Young Scully used to go by Thad before he graduated Blue Mountain State and joined the police force
Yeah about to say, how about best known for playing the fantastic Thad Castle on a show that was better than it had any right to be.Also the show that introduced me to Annie Murphy.
It really was so much better than it should have been. And his go-for-broke, unhinged performance was a big part of that.
Frankie Shaw was a regular in the last two seasons!
Yup, he will be Thad Castle forever and I loved him in Titans! But Thad Castle fucking ruled!
Is this show why they killed him off?
That’s the rumor.
What the fuck did I just see??
GIVE ME A HELL!
GIVE ME A YEAAAAHH
RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW
I had never heard of this show.
Alan Ritchson, perhaps best know for playimng—the original Aquaman in Smallville.
I always thought it was shitty that he played “AC” on Smallville, and formed a mini Justice League with Clark, Green Arrow, Cyborg, and Impulse… And then when they made an Aquaman TV pilot they cast… Justin Hartley, who had just been Green Arrow next to Ritchson. Granted, he couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag and there’s no way he could’ve carried a show back then. But his acting has at least gotten better that I thought he was passable and even likeable on Titans. Very few people could’ve pulled off that Hawk costume and made it look not-completely-ridiculous.
Hartley was only cast as Oliver Queen on Smallville after the Aquaman pilot didn’t go to series. I must have been awkward when he and Ritchson had to work together on the “Justice” episode afterwards, though.
Huh, I had no idea the Aquaman pilot was before he was on Smallville. I didn’t even hear about it until after the show ended.
I didn’t watch much of it, but I did see a few minutes at the time and thought it was clever that they incorporated University of Miami so that his costume colors made sense.
And now he’s as big as Jason Momoa!They grow up so fast…
BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOD DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE
THANK YOU! I will forever regret we didn’t get the prison island sequel!
I was a big fan of Blood Drive. Just stupid Grindhouse fun.
And as The Swede in Heartbreak Ridge. Man has aged very gracefully.
OMG THANK YOU FOR KNOWING THIS! also, shit he’s probably my age if not older
Also,“Swede, say something charming to the man.I’m gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck”
Alan Richardson, Best Known for Playing…….somebody you know you’ve seen before but never really registered with you.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw the Reacher trailer and went, “… Scully?”
This is literally the reason he looks familiar to me.
I never read Reacher but my dad said the trailers for this one looked really bad. That Reacher never cracks jokes or boasts like a standard Action Hero™ and had a totally different personality on Amazon.
This is based on first book, which have bit of different Reacher than what we usually see in the other books.Hopefully the whole series, we’ll see more and more of Reacher and gauge whatever the adaptation is successful on that front.
It might take a few episodes for them to settle down, but ultimately you’re right – the Reacher of the books has no sense of humor. He’s the human equivalent of a storm system that blows in and levels everything in its path. If this version of Reacher is a quipster, that will miss the heart of the character.
Well, part of the problem with adapting Jack Reacher is that the character is absurd. He’s the Lou Ferigno Incredible Hulk TV show, but he’s Banner and Hulk in one body, plus Sherlock Holmes. He’s smarter, faster, stronger, and all-around better than anyone in any room he’s ever in. It’s frequently pointed out in the novels that his absurd strength and physique is inherent, as he never actually exercises. Everywhere he goes women flock to him with zero effort on his part.
It’s an extremely specific escapist fantasy for a brand of middle-aged white guy who dreams of ditching the responsibilities of adulthood to be an effortlessly shredded wandering hobo with a healthy savings account and regular income. Reacher has no mortgage, no car payment, no monthly bills of any kind . . . hell, the guy doesn’t even do laundry. He just buys new clothes when what he’s wearing gets too dirty. I just don’t see any way to play that completely straight in a TV adaptation with a central character who has no personality beyond “super fuckin’ badass in every possible way”. It’s fine in the novels, he’s a blank slate for the reader to project on. Put that guy on the screen, though, and it’d either be DEATHLY dull or unintentionally hilarious.
I don’t know … I think maybe I’d like to see them try. There are some classic Westerns in which the hero is basically an unknowable cipher. The Reacher I know from the books is just a guy who doesn’t care about anything but coffee, a plate of eggs, his freedom, and the need to occasionally punch a bully in the mouth. Clint Eastwood in his prime could have played that character exactly as written. I agree that you’d need a performer skilled and talented enough to inject a lot into quiet moments and sidelong glances, but I do feel like it’s possible.
There are some classic Westerns in which the hero is basically an unknowable cipher.Sure, and that works for a movie. But you couldn’t (and shouldn’t) build a whole series around Eastwood’s character in High Plains Drifter, for instance. At least not without significant changes. You can do Reacher with your description (a guy who doesn’t care about anything but coffee, a plate of eggs, his freedom, and the need to occasionally punch a bully in the mouth) but you’ve also got to build some kind of a personality into that guy or you’ve got a barely vocal block of wood at the center of your show. He doesn’t need to be Marvel-movie quippy, but he’s at least gotta be somewhat charismatic and/or interesting to watch in-between the badassery.
That’s why Eastwood could have done Reacher when he was younger — he’s got a certain…something that draws people to him, even if he almost never seems to be acting.Clint Eastwood’s a meh actor at best, but he’s undoubtedly a star.
Yeah, Westerns indulged in this mysterious stranger who turns out to be “super fuckin’ badass in every possible way” protagonist a lot. And as I recall, Lee Childs specifically referred to those as one of his inspirations, although he also pointed out the type is very common, including knights-errant, ronin, and so on.And while I would not disagree with the premise that those Westerns were also an “extremely specific escapist fantasy for a brand of middle-aged white guy,” they often succeeded in being popular (perhaps not surprisingly).That said, the better versions tended to get into things like the downsides to a lack of family or community. Even if never resolved, just presenting it as a consequence can help make it not quite so much of an unalloyed fantasy life.
I think they also worked because no one in any of the towns the hero blew into gave him a second thought at first. Because the last 50 badasses ended up dead. We saw movies about the ones who didn’t.
Wrong Western actor, haha.Reacher is John Wayne, as imagined by Jesse Custer.
He’s not perfect, Reacher regularly gets his ass beat beyond recognition. He is tricked and captured and outdone all the time. Of course he always prevails in the end, he’s the hero. But his badassness is challenged all the time, and he definitely loses fights.
Lol you summed up the character to perfection. It’s a genius formula for books precisely because of the blank slate quality. I’m not a guy but I too enjoyed the fantasy of being consistently underestimated and surprising everyone with kickassery. Also, to be basically safe in any setting because so incredibly tough and resourceful. (Of course, even accepting someone could be like that, in real life Reacher would have been shot dead in book 1 or 2. Guns always win, a non-heartwarming fact.)
I watched the first few episodes over the weekend and I think the purists will be happy. Reacher isn’t “quippy”, but he is funny in a deadpan, zero-tolerance-for-bullshit kind of way. Some of his sudden, Sherlock Holmes-ian deductive dumps are a little ridiculous, but in a fun way.
Kinda sounds like a modern retelling of some kinda pulp hero like Doc Savage. I can see the appeal.
This is the best take
Reacher is not either a blank slate. Take that back.
Watched the first two episodes and not sure what your dad saw, but Reacher is almost always stoic and it doesn’t seem like humor is ever his intent. He might want to try watching the show.
The adaptation being not a note for note copy of the book does not make the adaptation bad, and may, in fact, improve on the books.I haven’t read the books, but I can tell you this is one of the better action TV shows I’ve seen in a while. Notably MUCH better than Amazon’s Jack Ryan nonsense.
Hah, I also compared this to Bosch in my comment in the last thread on Reacher.And I agree, there is nothing wrong with filling that particular niche competently, and I am looking forward to giving this a go.
“is he wooden, or just so
deadpan it barely registers?—but eventually his innate likeability takes
over”
Sounds like they’ve got the character spot on.
From the preview I saw, definitely wooden.So wooden I don’t see getting past it.Seems like they’d be better off picking one of about a dozen WWE guys.
After seeing The Big Show in Psych, I think he’d have been great.
Meanwhile, my first thought at the casting is that Ritchson is too funny and expressive to be a good fit as Reacher.He’s been doing the Trainwreck/Peacemaker Cena thing for over 10 years.
Reacher superfan and former WWE wrestler Lance Storm has been name-checked in the books.
From what I understand from reading a bit and my friend whos a fan, Jack Reacher is a humorless meat mountain. And that is his “Appeal”?
Jack Reacher just pawn in game of life.
“Candygram for Reacher!”
He’s The Man With No Name or The Mysterious Drifter, Nilus — Reacher is more of a catalyst than a character.
Yes. It’s porn for hetero red-state men that love to say things like “heh, those bank robbers were lucky I wasn’t there…” We watched two absurd, never-ending episodes before I realized Reacher is exactly how Trump sees himself. Take-no-prisoners, tough-as-shit, smartest man in the room—and boyyyyyy do the ladies love him.
He’s a laconic western hero. What’s everybody’s problem?
I am a big fan of the book series (Echo Burning, Nothing to Lose, and Worth Dying For are among the best in series) and the first movie (Tom Cruise has the right personality, but the wrong build), so I am pretty amped for the TV series to truly take advantage of the books’ unique idiosyncrasies. The lead already got the look almost as I have imagined him, though I want to see how he ACTS as Jack Reacher before I gauge him as worthy successor.His performance is hard to gauge at first—is he wooden, or just so deadpan it barely registers?—but eventually his innate likeability takes over.
Jack Reacher of the first book is quite like that. He did get much better developments and more clear set of personalities in later books that define him as extremely blunt and calculating with great moral standards, sharp wit, and combat smart that’s forged and perfected from his time with Military Police.He didn’t like nor want to get involved in other people’s problems, but he would if he either see it is morally imperative or the troubles find him. Its always a thrill to see how exactly Reacher solve these problems and walk away to live another day.
I think it was in Echo Burning he straight up tells an old woman he hopes she dies of cancer. It’s hilarious.
All right, I have watched all 8 episodes…I say the grade is spot on, B to B+. The main lead is almost as perfectly casted as I thought Jack Reacher would be with just the right kind of gravitas and pathos and traits to his character. Maybe they should have tone down some of one liners as they’re bit goofy and forced, though several are just as how I imagined Reacher would says in these moments and they’re pretty great.The story did get some changes here and there, though I thought they did good job making the changes fit to the story in whole. Especially with addition of Neagley who appeared in later book and it felt like a good fit given how well armed the enemy faction is.The actions are mixture of great, decent, and eh. They need some more editing and set up on big action pieces like the finale, though Reacher’s personal combats are gloriously done, fast and brutal just as how Reacher always fights.Performances are also mixed with range between great and hammy. The only knock is Kliner Jr, it felt like the actor is a miscast, you can easily sense his BAD GUY VIBE a mile away and he didn’t feels like a good fit in the story. Everyone else are much better though.Can’t wait for the next season, whichever book they would be doing.
I agree with the other commentators that, when taken on its own, the first Jack Reacher film is excellent for what it wants to be.I also read Killing Floor a while back and found it to be a pretty good yarn. It’s better if you don’t have all the Reacher books in your system so the elements introduced feel fresh as intended and not like worn out tropes.
I’m looking forward to this as I loved Alan Ritchson in Blue Mountain State and in Titans.Can’t wait.
For some reason I always thought the 2nd Cruise movie was called Jack Reacher: Never Reach Back.
Honestly both Tom Cruise and Jack Reacher strike me as characters who would not give anyone else a reach around
Not even the courtesy. Damn.
It took me a while to realize this was a different show than Amazon’s Jack Ryan series (which I’ve never seen). Hey, maybe the two series will have a cross over. They can call it Jack Off
“It’s as if it was designed to fill the role previously played by Bosch on the Prime Video roster”So you are saying its a perfect Saturday Dad’fternoon watch
My dad is who got me to watch Bosch and the Tom Cruise Reacher films. So this checks out.
Saw the trailer while watching football with my dad, and he exclaimed “oh! Is that out now! I’ve been waiting for it!”
It’s as if it was designed to fill the role previously played by Bosch on the Prime Video roster
I know plenty of people like Bosch, but when the first episode went into a spiral about how oversight, the press, playing by “the rules” were holding “real cops” back, I turned it off. Is Reacher similarly retrograde?
(And I don’t believe you need that kind of attitude to have a great show in this genre — Hap & Leonard is super-lefty but still happy to have folks punch, shoot and lock each other in trunks.)
I would not describe it as the MOST progressive cop show ever, but ultimately Bosch did get into police corruption, police brutality, and some other stuff like that. In fact it also showed consequences for the “good” cops when they did improper things they thought were for good reasons.
I always tell people to skip the first season of Bosch. It’s pretty rough compared to the rest of the series.
Strong same. I know my tolerance for that sort of cop has waned, and it’d been around for a while before I saw it, but I’d been interested in Titus Welliver and Jaime Hector previous.There’s definitely a strain of material that feels just older for it—like a script that’s sat for years and is now greenlit for the sake of content. Or just older creators…Goliath is an Amazon show that I watched a couple of seasons of. I thought the acting was generally good, but plotwise it had a now-lesbian ex-wife, a twenty-year-old woman/lawyer falling for the 60+ scarred firm’s boss, a hooker with a heart of gold…boy’s stuff.
David Kelley produced Goliath, so… yeah…
I don’t think that’s an accurate read on Bosch. Yes, he is angry about being accused of excessive force by the media and department and just wanting to do his job, but he is actually a good cop, and the show never shied away from actual bad cops and harmful police politics. The majority of the villains on the show were cops and ex-cops, both the bureaucratic antagonists and the killers.
Like I said, I didn’t get that far into it before I had a Blue Lives Matter flag vomited all over me and I turned it off.
People (including myself) liked Bosch because it had a good cast, structured its seasons around one big case that was usually well-written and interesting, and did a really good job nailing its LA setting. I also don’t remember the portrayal of cops being all roses either. Bosch himself is mostly portrayed in a good light because he’s the protagonist but the series features plenty of bad cops, some who are corrupt and villainous, some who are just plain assholes who abuse their power.IMO it’s a show you have to give an extended chance to because it’s telling a serialized story. You are not going to get a good sense of the show by watching one or two episodes. As for Reacher, the only similarity it has to Bosch is that it is based on a book series and tells season-long stories. Reacher isn’t a cop and the cops in S1 are a mixed bag to say the least.
Five episodes in, it is COMICALLY retrograde. This is a Schwarzenegger/Stallone/Swayze 80’s action flick stretched out to 6.5 hours. It is a slightly more serious take on “Jean Claude van Johnson.” It’s a spec script for the next “Expendables” but with only one action hero. It’s the lost project Stephen J Cannell never got to air. It is eye-rollingly cliched.I suppose it’s not bad, given all that. You just need to know what you are getting in to.
I just discovered that Jack Reacher and Jack Ryan are different things.
Literally the exact opposite White Male Power Fantasy.Reacher’s closer to Harry Dresden than Jack Ryan, haha.
I came in to say the actor cast is far too young. There’s no way I believe he had a twenty year long military career. But then I learned he was 39. Jesus. That guy looks 23 tops.
Funny, I thought the opposite when he was on Titans; there’s no way that guy’s in his early twenties. That could be because the casting on that show is weird, since his partner, Dove, is played by an actress I recently saw playing a mom.
That’s just Michael C. Hall on steroids.
I did see the first Tom Cruise one, and it was honestly… fine. But Cruise just isn’t the giant badass that Reacher is. (Not to exactly diss Lee Child, but that is pretty much Reacher’s defining trait: a giant badass.)Anyway – I saw the trailer for this and this Alan Ritchson seems exactly right for the role. And yeah – the Reacher books need to be a series, not blockbuster action movies. Basically Reacher is Bruce Banner or Kwai Chang Caine or Jim Bronson – week to week he wanders the country and gets into situations. That’s it. I think this approach will work, and I’ll definitely give it a chance.
Actually, I love the fact that Childs pretty much admits he created the character at a low point in his life, and deliberately made him a total fantasy. I doubt he’d feel insulted by your take on the character!
From the trailer I am glad to see that Neagley is in this, the best character in the series, though I don’t think she was actually in this book
I’m a sci-fi/fantasy junky when it comes to my television viewing, but Bosch is pretty much the only cop show I’ve really gotten into. Mainly because they serialized it and moved it away from the “case of the week” formula so many other shows stick to. I like the slow burn and revelations that come with an overarching case (or cases) that takes a season (or two) to be resolved. Seems much more realistic to me given the subject matter.
This show is in same way – reminds me of Bosch a lot in terms of the case of the season format and quality.
Cruise playing a 6’4 guy is the opposite of Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine who is supposed to be 5’4 and ugly (at least in the original comics).Now that we got the right size Reacher, can we get a 5’6 Wolverine in the MCU! Doesn’t have to be ugly since they would never do that but make him shorter than Tom Holland!
This guy’s Wolverine or Disney has me to deal with and I suggest they let that one marinate.
who is that, thats a good choice!
Jared Keeso, co-creator and star of Letterkenny, an amazing Canadian sitcom about a tiny rural town of Hicks (farm laborers), Skids (local druggies), and Hockey Players (self-explanatory). Neighbored by a reservation, which allows for frequent guest appearances by the ravishing Tiio Horn. The show is currently available on Hulu and is just…. It’s so good. (Skip season 1 episode “Fartbook”. The show is generally very clever but occasionally indulges in dumb shit.)Keeso, himself a former hockey player, plays a taciturn tough guy (the “toughest guy in Letterkenny”) who says “bud” a lot.He’s goddam perfect for Logan.
Man that sounds perfect! Knowing Disney they will cast him for Puck from Alpha Flight instead!
Danny DeVito’s the right age!
I enjoyed the Reacher films. After reading several of the novels casting Cruise was a very good decision.
Ritchson was eminently likeable on Titans so I’m glad to see he got this.Also explains why he didn’t get resurrected when Donna did, I guess.
Takashi Miike made a great movie called “One Missed Call.” It was intentionally derivative of all of the scary-little-girl J Horror that came before it. Then it was remade in the US, and it was a copy of a copy, Miike had intentionally used all of the standard elements so the remake was as hackneyed as possible (Ed Burns, Shannyn Sossamon). (Then, of course, in Japan, they had someone else make a sequel to Miike’s and it was just as bad as the remake.)Repeating the most hackneyed scenes from every middling action movie in book form (at about a third grade level) and then turning that back into more movies and TV shows…is like playing Ben Stiller’s character in Dodgeball straight.“He hit the bad guy with his big manly but not gay fist and then he did a roundhouse kick which was awesome”
I remember the Miike version of One Missed Call had a wildly over the top bonkers scene happen live in front of a studio and televised audience while the remake had neither – and was blandly filmed to boot, endeding with “Did you get that on tape?/Oh too bad.”Says it all, really.
Fuckin love these books, and I’m not ashamed of that, so this review tells me this show will probably be a full-on A for me.
Binged through it. It’s excellent. The mystery of the season is well-written with good twists and a satisfying ending. Ritchson is terrific and the action really utilizes his physicality. And the supporting cast is full of good actors – particularly enjoyed seeing Malcolm Goodwin again after iZombie.
I’m five episodes in, and am glad this is out. No filler episodes, no extra crap. Well done.
I hate to say it but I had a real problem with the mini-Reacher.
Can you imagine a TV show without filler episodes? (Yes, I mean, the entire Berlanti DC-verse on The CW) This one does that very well, with minor cliffhangers at the end of every episode too. Well done.
i really enjoyed it. Ritchson is perfect, rest of the cast is good, and some of the emotional stuff really lands. Season 2?
Yes Reacher has been renewed for s2
I’ve watched the first couple of episodes, but I think the thing I took out of them is poor Roscoe is going to be crushed under Reacher (assuming she ends up being the love interest). She must weigh like 90 pounds and he’s like 250 lol.
is it just me, but he looks like Pat Swayze if Swayze were a giant
I like how dramatic and shocking it’s supposed to be that Reacher doesn’t have a Facebook or Instagram account.
IT’S LIKE HE DOESN’T EXISTIS HE A GHOST
He’s not a nerd!
Lee Child, the author of the Reacher books, appears in a cameo in episode 8, in the second to last scene, in the diner, when he bumps into Reacher and says “Excuse me”. Can’t wait for the next season(s).
This review nails it. “Reacher” is the most fun I’ve had watching a show in a long time. I was aware of the character, but never have read any of the books (I may start now) or saw the Cruise films. Richton as Reacher looks like he could crush “Homelander”. He’s a thinking person’s Incredible Hulk. Fitzgerald’s & Goodwin’s characters evolve through the 8 shows to become much more than sidekicks. The action is Jason Bourne-worthy.