Reacher

I read Lee Child every now and then when I need to switch my brain off. It's not meant to be great literature or true to real life policing so there isn't a lot of point in the "not as good as.." comparisons. It's more like a televisual John Wick if a comparison is necessary - where Reacher is the guy who is always right and who always gets the girl - however improbable. This is a great adaptation which reflects the staccato dialogue and fast pace of the books and is visually pleasing and great fun.

The only downside is Ritchson is a little too gym honed for the book Reacher and has a very odd walk for a guy that is supposed to walk miles each day. But overall as close as we will get and I hope the follow up seasons are this good.

I am surprised by people who gave the low ratings. I found it very watchable without the filler minutes that many of these series have now. Perhaps the villains weren't as good as some other shows, but they sure did evil things. Some pretty strong supporting characters for the cast, and some a bit lackluster.

I am sure there will be a season 2 and I hope it will be stronger than many of other Prime season 2 series.

New TV series streaming from Amazon, my wife and I watched two episodes on each of four successive nights. Sort of like movie nights. This is not high art, the writing has lots of humor, in real life Reacher couldn't get away with everything depicted. BUT ... it is a very entertaining series. Especially for those of us who enjoy seeing a smart, mild-mannered, well-spoken, well-trained, big tough guy put the bad guys in their places. Some simple thugs, some unruly prison inmates, some dirty cops. Ritchson is a real good pick for the role. (In an interview he said he gained 30 pounds for the role.)

My only disappointment, after watching the opening scenes at least a dozen times now, is that bite of peach pie never reaches Reacher's mouth when the local cops enter the cafe. However, they eventually rectified that!

Reacher is an ex-military man, he takes a bus to the small Georgia town, walks to town to look up an old blues singer's home, immediately gets arrested for murder, but eventually works with local law enforcement to help solve the mysteries, and there are several.

Most episodes are roughly 45 to 50 minutes long, set in a fictional Georgia town not far from Atlanta but filmed in Canada. Cast and characters are interesting. The story is not too deep but surprisingly interesting, just good entertainment. Streaming on Amazon.

Season 2: As we would expect with a different book as the source, with a different set of supporting characters, season 2 has a much different look and feel to it. As it starts we see a helicopter dropping a man, maybe already dead, into a snowy area of the mountains, north of Manhattan. Then it abruptly switches to Arkansas where Reacher is at a thrift shop and at the ATM notices a woman bruised and in tears, he promptly thwarts a carjacking.

After the first three episodes my wife and I are enjoying it but the content has more violence, shootings and killings. I suppose to appease some cross-section of viewers but I don't find it as interesting or as entertaining. While season one is "superb" season two, so far, is just "decent entertainment."

Season 3: As we expected, was totally different. It starts with Reacher in a used vinyl store in Maine when he notices something strange outside, it turns out to be an attempted kidnapping which he foils. The target was the son of a wealthy man played by Anthony Michael Hall, former teen star. Then there is the Belgian giant playing a guard named Pauli. Overall an interesting set of episodes, to us more enjoyable than season 2.

APR 2023 update: Over about 2 days I rewatched all of season 1, it was fresh enough after three years that I enjoyed it as much, knowing what the overall storyline was had me look at many scenes from a different angle. Season 1 is super, the others just OK.

Firstly, they cast Reacher much better than the movies but while Tom Cruise was not in any way a physical representation of Reacher he nailed reachers temprement and Reachers nasty side. Ritchsons " just out of the gym using roids", physique is a bit ott, reacher walked miles most days so while he would be big and super fit he would not be built like a body builder, imo. The storyline and supporting cast are excellant so if you have read the book, Killing Floor you will not be disappointed and even if you did not read the book it is well produced and worth your time. I would have liked Reacher to be a tad more gritty and the story is a bit convoluted and as they introduce Hubble so early in the book and he knows exactly what is going on it is a tad unbelieveable, we dont get the full picture until so late in the book but that is me nit picking. Very enjoyable series and well worth a look.

Dear Hollywood, This is how it should work. People read a book. People like that book. You then just film the book directly. No messing about, no rewrites, no major edits, no nonsense, no casting someone 5'9" to play a 6'5" monster.

I read the book last year and the biggest change I could spot was that it was a slightly less ridiculous sports car that he borrows from the bankers wife.