In 2012 writer Lee Child’s character Jack Reacher hit the big screen with Tom Cruise in the title role. This was followed up with a sequel in 2016 with Cruise once again reprising the role. In 2022 Amazon debuted an all-new series focusing on the character aptly titled Reacher featuring Alan Ritchson taking over the title role. Could this new take on the character deliver what fans of the films and novels want or will it fail to find the answer to the mystery?

 

Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher’s keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with. One thing above all is for sure: They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.

 

I have never read any of the books and do really like the movies, but one of the things that was a constant issue I heard about was Cruise and his lack of really embodying the novel’s description of Jack Reacher. Ritchson is clearly closer to the large imposing stature that the character is supposed to have and does a great job with the character in this series. He brings a great confidence and swag to the role that makes you believe that this Reacher can back up anything he says or plans to do and he wastes no time in cracking some skulls.

 

Heading in I was a bit worried it might not have the same punch that I