One of the biggest problems with Tom Cruise’s 2012 Jack Reacher film was that, well, Tom Cruise was in it. Reacher is big: a six-foot-five wall of strength with hands the size of dinner plates and supermarket chickens, who attracts attention in every room he enters, and is the favourite in the many, many, exceedingly many fights he gets into. Technically speaking, Reacher should be well over 274 cm/9 feet tall, but only nitpickers give a shit, which we most certainly are not, in this case. Moving on…
Now, while Cruise has the manic energy to contribute something unique to the part, he does not come ANYWHERE near physically resembling the broad-shouldered behemoth from Child’s novels, a fact Reacher fans will never forget. This caused quite a stir, and Reacher, the most recent Prime Video adaptation, aims to right that wrong.
This adaptation of Reacher casts the absolutely massive Alan Ritchson (Titans, Blue Mountain State, the TMNT reboot) as the titular character, and spends a lot of time showing off how big and ripped he is. You’ll be blown away by the man’s sheer size, which is frequently captured at low angles with small humans surrounding him. So, this one’s for you, Reacher fans. Enjoy your ginormous crime-fighting lad.
For those of you who don’t already know, Reacher is the TV adaptation of author Lee Child’s acclaimed thriller novel series about a soft-spoken, hard-hitting, former military police major, who travels the United States and frequently finds trouble along the way.
The first Reacher series is based on, as it should be, ‘Killing Floor’, the first of more than two dozen Reacher novels. If you’ve read Killing Floor, you’ll know exactly what happens in it – and this is a promise of delight, not disappointment. The plot of the book differs slightly from that of the show, but many of the main narrative points remain, and both introduce the audience to Reacher.
But, once again, for the uninitiated, our massive hero gets off a bus (on a whim – this, and drinking black coffee, is what he does) in the tiny town of Margrave, Georgia, and is promptly arrested on suspicion of murder. He must now remain in Margrave and prove he did not commit the crime. Reacher begins to learn the intricate ways in which this murder is linked to a larger conspiracy, in ways that are much closer to home than he could have imagined. The pilot also features a fantastic, visceral fight in a prison bathroom, as well as a slew of other bone-breaking fights.
The show was adapted by Nick Santora (creator of CBS’ Scorpion), and Thomas Vincent (who helmed the 2018 UK hit The Bodyguard) directed the premiere. The series best utilizes Ritchson’s size in the brutal fight scenes, which frequently take place in close quarters and demonstrate why attacking this guy is stupid. (However, crowbars seem to be Reacher’s Kryptonite throughout the series.) There’s one fight near the end of the sixth episode that makes such effective use of Ritchson’s sheer size that even the fictional Reacher would probably approve.
Santora clearly loves and respects the books, and the series is a fairly faithful adaptation of Killing Floor. The most significant change to the show is the addition of Maria Sten as Frances Neagley, who served in the Army with Reacher and appears in several other stories, but not this one.
It’s worth mentioning the cast here because it was such a focal point in the previous adaptation. Ritchson absolutely nails the novel’s vibe; his physique goes a long way, both in action scenes and just walking around town. But he can also strike the ‘quiet guy who commands attention when he speaks’ note.
Willa Fitzgerald (Scream: The TV Series) and Malcolm Goodwin (iZombie) are both up to the task of playing the show’s main cops, who aren’t always on the same page as Reacher when it comes to his penchant for violence. As some of the series’ antagonists, veteran actors Bruce McGill and Currie Graham are absolutely sinister, as is Chris Webster as the stomach-churning KJ. Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) did a great job as an overwhelmed local medical examiner who isn’t used to all this murder.
Amazon’s version of Reacher is as well-made as the man himself, and Ritchson delivers rousing dialogue as quickly as Reacher could dispatch a Glock-wielding gangster. It’s a lot of fun, and it’ll come as a huge relief to Reacher fans, who will undoubtedly make up the majority of viewers, at least at first. It will never cease to please them, but it is still drawn broadly enough as a crime drama to appeal to others.
The bottom line is, if you’re a fan of the Lee Child books, you’re probably going to be much happier with this adaptation than the feature-length one. So pour yourself a cup of black coffee, sit back, and relax.
