REACHER: My review

I’m really enjoying REACHER on Amazon Prime Video.  Maybe it’s because I so identify with the main character, Jack Reacher.  He’s a mountain of a man, built like the Incredible Hulk, can beat the shit out of anyone, is very reserved, an expert in military ops, and rivals Sherlock Holmes in detective skills and powers of observation.   

I might as well be describing myself.

In some ways this series reminds me of JUSTIFIED, one of my all-time favorite shows.  Colorful characters (a nice way of saying backwater rednecks), and a larger-than-life leading man (the parallels to me are so obvious) who kicks serious ass.  May season two please be that he goes to Russia.  

Like JUSTIFIED, REACHER is from a series of crime novels.  Lee Child is the author.  The adaptation was developed for TV by Nick Santora, whose background includes creating SCORPION, and writing on LAW & ORDER and THE SOPRANOS.  I’ve never met Nick, but obviously he’s been following me around taking notes.  

The show stars my doppelgänger, Alan Ritchson.  From what I understand it’s Amazon Prime Video’s most watched series.  I'm not surprised.  A second season has already been ordered.  

When you read that description of Reacher, as laid out by Lee Child, one person you definitely can’t picture is Tom Cruise.  A mountain of a man?  Tom Cruise?  I don’t think so.  The 2012 movie was loudly criticized by fans of the novels since Cruise was so unlike the description of the character.  Welcome to Hollywood where they’ll happily trash any project just to get “stars.”  Marvel fans better hope Tom Cruise doesn’t want to play the Black Panther.  

REACHER streams on Amazon Prime Video.  Full disclosure:  You may not love it as much as me, but then again when you watch the show it’s not like you’re looking into a mirror.

from By Ken Levine