All of it provides some key background to present-day events. Santora also incorporates elements of Second Son, flashing back to Reacher's childhood and relationship with his brother, and The Enemy, which offers some glimpses of him pre-retirement from the Army. There's the appeal of the rootless protagonist who only carries a folding toothbrush and simply buys new clothes instead of doing laundry, sure, but also the taciturn single-mindedness, penchant for violence, and affinity for coffee.Īmazon Studios Reacher's eight-episode first season adapts Killing Floor, the first novel, which finds Reacher arriving in the small Georgia town of Margrave thanks to its connection with a blues singer his brother once mentioned. Show runner Nick Santora understands the appeal of Child's books. But Reacher's appeal is much more than that. The title role is now played by Alan Ritchson, who's been kicking around for a while, playing the lead in Spike's Blue Mountain State, "Hawk" on Titans, and "Raphael" in the last two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies (not that you'll recognize him from those).Īnd at six feet two with matching bulk, Ritchson most definitely embodies Reacher's physicality. The problem was, both movies were action thrillers that happened to have a main character named "Jack Reacher." They never got that the character of Reacher himself, who so often borders on the farcical, is the real draw.Īmazon's new series, simply titled Reacher, gets this.
#DO YOU HAVE TO WATCH JACK REACHER MOVIES IN ORDER MOVIE#
Obvious physical disparities aside, the movie was actually not bad (the same can't be said for the sequel, unfortunately). There was quite the uproar among fans of the books when Cruise was cast in 2012's Jack Reacher. Naturally, such an imposing figure could only be portrayed on the big screen by. Oh, and he stands six feet, five inches tall and weighs 250 pounds. The ex-Army MP major is an expert in hand-to-hand combat, a master sleuth, and an Olympic class sniper.
The character of Jack Reacher, the subject of 26 (and counting) Lee Child novels and two movies (more on those later), is patently ridiculous.