My father is a big book reader. He loves any book by James Patterson and Lee Child. The Jack Reacher book series, by Child; is one my father is incredibly fond of. In the book series, Child goes to great lengths to emphasize that the titular character is 6’5″. This height fact is very much a part of the Jack Reacher character. So, when Tom Cruise was cast in the 2012 adaptation of Child’s beloved series, fans were upset. Including my father. Yea, Cruise is a great actor, but for fans of the Jack Reacher series, this wasn’t enough to make up for the fact that Cruise looked nothing like the big guy Child described in the books.
The Makings of a Good Adaptation
Which, makes Alan Ritchson – who stands at 6’2″ (according to Google) – a much better candidate [physically] for the role of Jack Reacher. As a fan of the DC Titans (where Ritchson plays the character Hawk), I was excited to see a show that starred Ritchson. Plus, Reacher also stars Malcolm Goodwin – who starred in iZombie, another show I’m a fan of. Reacher is on Amazon Prime, a network that did a great job in adapting the Jack Ryan series that stars John Krasinski. So, this is all to say that I was really looking forward to the Reacher series.
Now, the Reacher series isn’t bad. It just reminds you of a long-form crime novel that your parents (most often fathers) would read. Again, it’s not a bad show – I really enjoyed Ritchson as Jack Reacher and it was quite true to the feel of the book. The Reacher series – season one – follows along with the first book, Killing Floor. It was also developed by Nick Santora, who has been responsible for such projects as Prison Break, The Sopranos, The Fugitive, and more. So, you got the right guy for the job.
The Season Hits and Misses At Times
Reacher is just a bit slow-moving and at times, concentrates a little too much on how big Jack Reacher is. I think Ritchson and Goodwin do good jobs in their respective acting roles, but there are other characters who just felt as if they weren’t really selling it for me. I feel as if the show didn’t have as big of a budget as Jack Ryan did and didn’t flow as smoothly as I would have liked it to. There were times when everyone was acting a little too wooden and other times it seemed as if I was watching a lower-budgeted show on the SYFY network or something akin to that.
Rating: 3.5/5
Regardless, it was still an enjoyable show to watch. There were some great fight scenes to watch and generally, it did do well to maintain an air of mystery in regards to the crime that was needing to be solved in this season. I think that the first season had some growing pains, but if Amazon Prime gives it a second season, I think it has all of the potential of improving on the things that it did right and fine-tuning the things that could use improvement. Ritchson is certainly the right man for the job and I think with more time with the character he’ll do even better in a potential second season.
Reacher’s eight-episode season is now available on Amazon Prime.
Before we let you go, we have officially launched our merch store! Check out all of our amazing apparel when you click here and type in GVN15 at checkout for a 15% discount!
Make sure to check out our podcasts each week including Geek Vibes Live, Top 10 with Tia, Wrestling Geeks Alliance and more! For major deals and money off on Amazon, make sure to use our affiliate link!
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
