Reacher season 1
With streaming services jostling for new shows in today's market, adapting an existing IP with its own audience is a no-brainer and, with the untapped potential left behind from Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher films, Amazon Prime have gone ahead with making their own show based on Lee Child's popular series with Reacher. Focusing on the first book in the series and starring Alan Ritchson, who bears a much stronger resemblance to Child's literary giant of a character, Amazon set out to do justice to the series which holds many more books to adapt if this is a success so how does season one perform?
Adapted from the only Jack Reacher book I have read so far, Killing Floor which released in 1997, the story follows former major in the US army military police, Reacher, who arrives in a picture-perfect town in Georgia but it's not long before he quickly finds himself embroiled in the town's darker side.
The book is a very straight-forward, easy and enjoyable read as the muscle-bound protagonist goes from place to place righting wrongs and taking on the bad guys as seen in many old fashioned westerns. The Amazon series follows the book very closely, with only a few minor changes here and there, all the while directed in a nicely compacted eight episode structure to produce a show that will easily please fans of the books.
Cruise did his best in the two films he able to make but Ritchson feels better suited as the leading man with his intimidating stature, and the supporting cast are also great with Malcolm Goodwin as Oscar Finlay and Willa Fitzgerald as Roscoe. The series also doesn't pull its punches when it comes to the action, which is swift and brutal, and the story maintains a steady pace throughout, if you can overlook some cheesy flashbacks to Reacher's childhood. Combining those scenes with the show's simplistic style, some newcomers will come away feeling underwhelmed just as some might from the books expecting a more complex story but this season delivers on all fronts set by the source material no more no less.
Reacher season one is a very good start for the series and should have all the right pieces for future seasons, which have been announced. The only question now is whether Amazon will choose to adapt all of the books as there a great number to choose from but hopefully, if Ritchson is willing, Reacher can enjoy a healthy number of seasons to follow. As for season one, it's perfect easy entertainment just like the book itself which doesn't outstay its welcome making this a solid one to recommend.
Cruise did his best in the two films he able to make but Ritchson feels better suited as the leading man with his intimidating stature, and the supporting cast are also great with Malcolm Goodwin as Oscar Finlay and Willa Fitzgerald as Roscoe. The series also doesn't pull its punches when it comes to the action, which is swift and brutal, and the story maintains a steady pace throughout, if you can overlook some cheesy flashbacks to Reacher's childhood. Combining those scenes with the show's simplistic style, some newcomers will come away feeling underwhelmed just as some might from the books expecting a more complex story but this season delivers on all fronts set by the source material no more no less.
Reacher season one is a very good start for the series and should have all the right pieces for future seasons, which have been announced. The only question now is whether Amazon will choose to adapt all of the books as there a great number to choose from but hopefully, if Ritchson is willing, Reacher can enjoy a healthy number of seasons to follow. As for season one, it's perfect easy entertainment just like the book itself which doesn't outstay its welcome making this a solid one to recommend.
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