Reacher - New Amazon Prime Series | The Boneyard

Reacher - New Amazon Prime Series

CL82

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If you are fan of the Reacher novel series by Lee Child and were disappointed by the Tom Cruise films, this series is the adaption you've been waiting for. For those who don't know the series Jack (no middle name) Reacher is a drifter who was formerly military police. He doesn't have a home, or even luggage, and he drifts from town to town largely living on his pension check that he has sent to Western Union. Reacher is 6' 5" 250, powerful and a skilled fighter. In his travels "trouble finds him" and he ends up using his military training to resolve that trouble. His stature is very much a part of the character and part of the reason that a Tom Cruise wasn't right for the role. Alan Ritchson is a much better match both in age and size.

The series based upon the first novel, The Killing Floor. Reacher goes to Margrave Georgia on a whim because he heard that a jazz musician died there. He stops at a diner which is suddenly surrounded by police. They arrest him for murder. The action picks up from there and is very true to the book.

I highly recommend the Prime series (and more so the books). Anyone else watching it?
 
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I am planning to watch. I am a fan of the book series and, while I like Tom Cruise, he was never the right choice to play Reacher. Reacher's physicallity is a big part of his character and Cruise was never able to capture that.
 

nwhoopfan

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I saw the trailer and was intrigued. I don't have Prime currently but will definitely sign up again at some point and then check out the show.
 
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I have enjoyed the two episodes that I watched this weekend. Definitely has much more of the feel and character of the Reacher books than the movies did. The movies weren't terrible, but they never captured the feel of the books.
 

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I blew through all 8 episodes on Saturday. As I posted in another thread, it's almost like casting overcompensated for Cruise by hiring a tall block of muscle. My image of Reacher in the books was a big, fit guy, but not Alan Ritchson ripped. Anyway, I enjoyed it and hope they do more Reacher books. I also thought Willa Fitzgerald was excellent. Ritchson took a couple of episodes to warm up to - seemed quite stiff, robotic, and more glib that the books in the first couple. The villains were pretty much one note and predictable, but Child never really developed the bad guys in the books either.
 

HuskyHawk

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I’m one episode in, but it seems like a winner so far.
 

CL82

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I blew through all 8 episodes on Saturday. As I posted in another thread, it's almost like casting overcompensated for Cruise by hiring a tall block of muscle. My image of Reacher in the books was a big, fit guy, but not Alan Ritchson ripped. Anyway, I enjoyed it and hope they do more Reacher books. I also thought Willa Fitzgerald was excellent. Ritchson took a couple of episodes to warm up to - seemed quite stiff, robotic, and more glib that the books in the first couple. The villains were pretty much one note and predictable, but Child never really developed the bad guys in the books either.
I started to do the same thing but stopped halfway through to stretch them out a little bit.

I agree regarding Ritchson. The size is right but he does look too ripped. overall he’s a pretty good fit. And the fighting style they have him using is closer to Reachers style in the book.
 

Chin Diesel

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Even Ritchson is smaller than the book's description of 6'5" and around 250 lbs. Ritchson goes 6'2" and around 200 lbs.

I didn't mind Cruise in the movies. Liked the first movie way better than the second. Much of that was due to Rosamund Pike.
 
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I blew through all 8 episodes on Saturday. As I posted in another thread, it's almost like casting overcompensated for Cruise by hiring a tall block of muscle. My image of Reacher in the books was a big, fit guy, but not Alan Ritchson ripped. Anyway, I enjoyed it and hope they do more Reacher books. I also thought Willa Fitzgerald was excellent. Ritchson took a couple of episodes to warm up to - seemed quite stiff, robotic, and more glib that the books in the first couple. The villains were pretty much one note and predictable, but Child never really developed the bad guys in the books either.
I also found this Reacher to be a little quick with the one-liners, but I chalked that up to medium of television needing that as a hook, so it doesn't bother me too much. But I loved the, "count to three, but punch on two" scene as it was right out of the books, minus the internal dialog of the books that wouldn't translate well to TV.
 

storrsroars

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Even Ritchson is smaller than the book's description of 6'5" and around 250 lbs. Ritchson goes 6'2" and around 200 lbs.

I didn't mind Cruise in the movies. Liked the first movie way better than the second. Much of that was due to Rosamund Pike.
I did look up his height while I was watching it. He can sell 6'5" around shorter actors. I'm 6'2" and felt he was taller than me. The actor who played Joe was also 6'2" and very passable physical resemblance.

Yes, the punching before "3" made me smile as well.
 

HuskyHawk

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Even Ritchson is smaller than the book's description of 6'5" and around 250 lbs. Ritchson goes 6'2" and around 200 lbs.

I didn't mind Cruise in the movies. Liked the first movie way better than the second. Much of that was due to Rosamund Pike.

This says 6’4” 235. I’ve seen 6’2” elsewhere but he’s not 200. Maybe he was at one time.


From another article
“So I try to look as average as possible. I do a lot of running, and I don’t touch weights. I walk around at like 205 lbs., and maybe I can play a dad or a doctor or whatever. And then, this role finds me. For the first time, I get to open up and walk around at my comfortable weight. I put on 30 pounds for the role. I feel really good. This is my natural size, and it just feels nice to be able to be me.”
 

HuskyHawk

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They are doing their best to make her look plain, but Willa Fitzgerald is a cutie as Roscoe.

I am wondering how they will play this show. A season all in one location and then he moves on? I didn’t read the books, but that would seem to make sense.
 

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They are doing their best to make her look plain, but Willa Fitzgerald is a cutie as Roscoe.

I am wondering how they will play this show. A season all in one location and then he moves on? I didn’t read the books, but that would seem to make sense.
Yeah, he's definitely a drifter. Sometimes he ended up in a particular place on purpose, sometimes it was just chance, but he finds trouble anywhere he goes.
 

Bomber36

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I thoroughly enjoyed it, but as far as the peach cobbler goes…
 

HuskyHawk

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Yeah, he's definitely a drifter. Sometimes he ended up in a particular place on purpose, sometimes it was just chance, but he finds trouble anywhere he goes.

He clearly says he's a Hobo. ;)
 

Chin Diesel

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Made it through Season 1.

I'm someone who never read the books and was introduced to Reacher from the Tom Cruise movies.

Amazon Prime was fine. I think I actually like the Cruise character better due to not be as aggressive with the killing using guns as a primary weapon. The Cruise character had a bit more nuance than with deciding to go for the kill and weapon of choice. Whatever. Ritchman is an assassin. Not a show stopper but a preference.

As for the plot. A bit too predictable. Having Teale the mayor, the FBI detective Picard and the Kliner's kid KJ all being the trio was too straight forward for me. I would have had either Frances or Hubble's wife Charlie have a heel turn. I also thought Mrs. Johling was going to fire off some shots when they discovered the counterfeit stash in her home.

Oh well. Olympics sucked and this filled in time nicely between UConn games this week.
 

CL82

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Yeah, he's definitely a drifter. Sometimes he ended up in a particular place on purpose, sometimes it was just chance, but he finds trouble anywhere he goes.
Potentially I think that is a nice hook for the TV series. You have the same character, with the same background, and skills, inserted into different situations. I heard that Lee Childs regretted giving Reacher his nomadic nature because it meant that he wasn’t going to see characters like Roscoe again, in all likelihood, and Lee Childs wouldn’t get to continue to work with Willa Fitzgerald who’s work in addition to the depth of the character he appreciated and enjoyed.

For those who haven’t read the series there are some reoccurring characters other than Reacher, but they are typically limited to a novel or two.

I still have the last four episodes to go.
 

Chin Diesel

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Potentially I think that is a nice hook for the TV series. You have the same character, with the same background, and skills, inserted into different situations..........


71ea879cc072d7dec327970d4f1d7ff3.jpg
 

CL82

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Some of both. He has a knack for sniffing out trouble and propelling himself toward it.
Or at least not walking away from it.
 

CL82

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Lol, well that was really one plot for however long that series ran. That said, I think it’s different having an ensemble than just having one guy. A better equivalent might be The Equalizer. Or maybe the lead character from the movie “The Accountant”.

I’m trying to think of the things that really make Reacher unique. His stature certainly is one and another is his utter ruthlessness without anger or remorse. He just keeps on going and you know he will prevail regardless of the odds. You just don’t know how. For whatever reason, that makes the character pretty compelling.
 

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Nelson DeMillle's frequently recurring character John Corey is spiritually related to Reacher. Not quite as much of a tough guy, but cut from the same cloth. Has some issues with authority, has his own distinct but strong moral code, will do anything and everything to get done what he thinks needs getting done, consequences and rules be damned. Corey isn't military, but he was NYPD and since retiring works off and on with the FBI.
 

Chin Diesel

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Lol, well that was really one plot for however long that series ran. That said, I think it’s different having an ensemble than just having one guy. A better equivalent might be The Equalizer. Or maybe the lead character from the movie “The Accountant”.

I’m trying to think of the things that really make Reacher unique. His stature certainly is one and another is his utter ruthlessness without anger or remorse. He just keeps on going and you know he will prevail regardless of the odds. You just don’t know how. For whatever reason, that makes the character pretty compelling.


Quantum Leap took it to another level with time travel.
 

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