Jack Reacher has been able to shine on the big screen twice, but this time he can be admired in the form of a series. This transition is working out surprisingly well.Reacher is based on Lee Child's critically acclaimed book series. The first season is based on the book The Killing Floor. This is the first story from the book series and is known in the Netherlands under the title Jachtveld. I'm not much of a book reader myself, but I always found the Jack Reacher movies starring Tom Cruise very entertaining to watch. Reason enough to see the announced series about Jack Reacher.
The series is set in the small town of Margrave. You know it, the kind of city where there is never anything to do for years. One day Margrave is visited by a tall veteran named Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson, Blue Mountain State). The tall, muscular, and not so talkative Reacher orders a delicious piece of cake, but before he can take a bite, the ex-serviceman is arrested for murder. According to witnesses, they saw a colossal figure at the crime scene at the time of the crime. To prove his innocence, Reacher helps the police investigate, but the case quickly turns personal. With this turn of events, Reacher wants to hold the perpetrator personally accountable at all costs.
Although Reacher prefers to let his fists speak and does not have much to do with the authorities, fortunately, he is not alone. At the beginning of the series, he meets agent Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald, Dare Me). Soon these two have a soft spot for each other and share valuable and sometimes humorous moments with each other. In addition, Reacher soon meets the lead investigator, Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin, iZombie). The relationship between these two characters is complicated because Reacher can't quite fathom him and Oscar doesn't like Reacher's stoic, at times arrogant, and quiet demeanor. Yet, over the course of the series, they develop a certain way of appreciating each other.
The humor mainly plays on the fact that Alan Ritchson does fit the bill to play Jack Reacher
If you regularly watch series, you can see some plot twists coming a mile away. Still, I have to say that the thread through the series has enough to offer to keep it exciting and not all events are predictable, which makes you want to keep watching to see how it ends. In addition, the series shows sufficient variety between action-packed moments, depth of characters and there is room for humor. The humor mainly plays on the fact that Alan Ritchson does fit the bill to play Jack Reacher.
Despite the fact that I'm not a book reader, I learned that the biggest criticism of the Jack Reacher films was that Tom Cruise does not match the description of the character from the book series at all. For those who doubt whether this has succeeded in the series, I can reassure you. With the announcement of this series and the casting of Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher, I had my doubts about whether he can carry a series like this. I mainly know him from the Blue Mountain State series and he doesn't exactly play an action hero in it. In retrospect, I can say that his casting hit the mark. Of course, he always had a large and muscular body, but this given in combination with the character traits of Jack Reacher he manages to express surprisingly well.
Alan Ritchson doesn't just play Jack Reacher, he's Jack Reacher!
It was soon announced that Amazon had renewed Reacher for a second season. Three days after the season premiere was enough to warrant this decision, as Reacher is an unmitigated hit for Prime Video. The second season will be based on Lee Child's eleventh book, Bad Luck and Trouble. The advantage of having the series based on the book series can also be seen as a disadvantage. There is a chance that the introduced characters will not return in a new season as Reacher is a traveler and will not stay in one place for long. You can also look at it positively by saying that other characters will be introduced in possible new seasons, which keeps the whole feeling refreshing.
Making a good book-movie adaptation is always difficult, but Reacher shows you how. The atmosphere, tension, and humor are phenomenally designed on the small screen. But the series especially deserves a compliment for the casting, because Alan Ritchson doesn't just play Jack Reacher, he is Jack Reacher!
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
