“I didn't kill anybody. At least not recently, and not in this town.” — Jack Reacher in “Reacher”
Now this is more like it...
A little over a decade ago, Bridget and I were eating at our favorite local Omaha Mexican eatery Señor Matias (since closed) when we learned that Tom Cruise would be playing Jack Reacher in a filmed version of Lee Child’s novel “One Shot.”
We didn’t discover that piece of news while looking at our iPhones. Rather, Bridget and I were munching on some flour tortillas and salsa when a guy at the table behind us exclaimed, “Tom Cruise is not Jack Reacher!”
Tom Cruise doesn’t imbue the physical characteristics — or personality traits — that have made Child’s literary protagonist popular through 26 novels.
Like many stars of the 1980s, Tom Cruise basically plays himself in most of his movies.
That said, I really enjoyed 2012’s “Jack Reacher.”
The movie is imminently watchable and crafted to perfection. Much of that success has to do with the partnership between Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie — a partnership that has yielded “best in class” action movies like the three most recent “Mission: Impossible” films (read my review of “Mission: Impossible - Fallout”).
Unfortunately, 2016’s “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” missed the mark (likely due to the fact that McQuarrie wasn’t at the helm). As a result of the film’s lackluster response, the future of the franchise was in doubt.
Then, a few years ago, Lee Child teased that he wanted to bring the titular character to a “binge series” for streaming. Fans were excited at the prospect. I am one of those fans.
The first series of Amazon’s Prime Video’s new series “Reacher” is here at last.
In this production, Jack Reacher is played by relative unknown Alan Ritchson.
First things first. Ritchson looks like he could eat Tom Cruise as a mid-afternoon snack. He is a physical specimen whose size, stature, and look fit the way the character is described in Child’s novels.
The 8-episode season is built around Child’s first novel, 1997’s “The Killing Floor.” Well-versed fans of the novels will also note that some of the flashback elements are pulled from the 2004 novel “The Enemy” (read my review) and the short story collection “No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories” (read my review).
While the adaptation paints outside the lines a little bit, it stays pretty faithful to the novel.
The setup finds our hero — a former military police officer who roams the Earth like Caine in “Kung Fu” — arriving in the small town of Margrave, Georgia. The “Reacher pastiche” in the novels is that he goes wherever the spirit moves him (or wherever a friendly driver is willing to take him).
Reacher is sitting down in a Margrave diner — ready to eat a piece of peach pie — when authorities arrest him for a murder that took place the night before.
He is sent to prison with a local banker named Paul Hubble (Marc Bendavid) — a man who is scared of something and falsely confesses to the murder.
It is such a deceptively simple way to start a story. That’s the genius of Child’s novels. His protagonist — inspired by fictional knight errants of yore — has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time more times than he probably cares to remember.
“Reacher” was created by screenwriter/producer Nick Santora. Santora serves as the showrunner and has worked on a number of popular shows like “The Sopranos,” “Prison Break,” “Law & Order,” and “Scorpion.” I recently reviewed Santora’s 2007 legal thriller “Slip & Fall” (read my review).
Santora does a credible job crafting a series that is loyal to a fault. As the eight episodes rolled along, you could tell that every effort was put into capturing the magic that makes a Reacher novel so special.
One interesting tidbit: This season of “Reacher” was filmed in Ontario. I Googled to see where it was filmed when I noticed a rack with hockey sticks in a garage during an episode — not a common sight in eastern Georgia.
In addition to Ritchson, the show is well cast. I particularly liked the interplay between Reacher, police officer Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald), and Chief Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) as they worked to uncover the bigger conspiracy at play in Margrave.
The entire dynamic could have been nothing more than a series of heavy-handed, character-archetype clichés and tropes. The show’s writers instead chose to employ a “lighter touch” when it came to characterizations. For that, I am thankful.
A lot has been made of the fact that Cruise didn’t fit the physical profile of Reacher in the novels. Those who haven’t read the books oftentimes think the criticism is overblown.
The issue is that Reacher’s physical nature is part of the reason people underestimate his intellect in the novels. His foes assume he is a simpleton — solely based on his appearance.
That was a key ingredient lacking in the Tom Cruise movies. I mean, Cruise looks like an Ivy League educated attorney in most everything he stars in.
Alan Ritchson does a good job balancing both attributes of Reacher. I’ll admit, he was a little stiff at times, but that will ease with time.
More often than not, filmed adaptations of books stray significantly from their source material. We’ve seen it happen time and again in recent years.
So there was something refreshing about watching an adaptation that tried to hit all the notes. If you look at various reactions to “Reacher” online, viewers seem very pleased with the final product.
I know I was happy with the first season. I think you will be too.
Whether or not you are a fan of the novels, I encourage you to check out Amazon Prime Video's “Reacher.” It is a fun action thriller that offers a compelling mystery and interesting characters.
I’m excited to see where “Reacher” goes from here. The series has already been picked up for a second season. I’m curious to see what book they use as the basis (I’d like to see “Persuader” used — read my review).
Additional blog posts on author Lee Child and Jack Reacher:
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