Reacher (Season 01)

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ORIGINAL

(Non-Spoiler Review)

Before moving on to the review, all who were deeply unhappy (fans of the book, like me) with Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in the two movies based on Lee Child’s bestsellers, can breathe easy as the real deal is here.

Reacher Season 01 is based on the first book in the series, Killing Floor. I’ve read the book and it instantly became one of my favourites. The first thing that this TV series gets right is finding an actor who perfectly fits Child's description. Alan Ritchson, who plays the titular character OR a "hobo" as he calls himself, possesses something that the Tom Cruise version didn't: an intimidating, glass-shattering presence. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that Amazon made sure the characters are done right.

Warning: There's lots of brutal, bloody violence, cursing, innuendo, and nudity.

If you have read Killing Floor, you know exactly what happens in it. For those who don’t; our enormous hero gets off a bus in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, and is quickly arrested on suspicion of murder. He must stay in Margrave and prove he isn’t guilty. When he finds out who has been killed, the matter becomes personal and he is on the mission to “find everybody responsible and kill every last one of them”.

Each episode moves on perfectly and ends with a cliffhanger that's sure to give one the urge to quickly move on to the next episode to find out what happened. The effect is the same as flipping the pages quickly to get to the next chapter. It never felt that any character was out of context or not too important for the story.

Willa Fitzgerald (Roscoe) and Malcolm Goodwin (Finlay) are both up to the task as the show’s main police officers, who are not all always on the same page as Reacher with regards to his affinity for violence.

TSHC SCORE: 8.8/10

CONCLUSION:

Reacher S01 knocks it out of the park with the perfect adaptation of the book. If you are a fan of the book series, you are probably going to be much happier with this adaptation than the feature-length one. As for non-readers, it is a must-watch show, if you are interested in an action-packed crime mystery.