Starring: Alan Ritchson, Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, Marc Bendavid, Kristin Kreuk, Bruce McGill, Christopher Webster, Willie C. Carpenter
The 2012 movie Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise did little to make we want to see any reiterations of the character, a military investigator who could make Hercule Poirot look incompetent by comparison. We now have the first season of Reacher, based more closely on the novels by Lee Child and starring a hulk named Alan Ritchson as the title character. Ritchson, from all indications, has the physical stature Child envisioned when writing the novels, but despite his superior intelligence and crime-solving acumen, he doesn't have much of a personality. If you had Tom Cruise's charisma matched with Ritchson's physical presence, you'd really have something.
The opening two episodes of this series filled me with interest. The mysterious Jack Reacher comes strolling into a small Georgia town, but is soon picked up on suspicion of a brutal murder. Reacher is in the local jail when a meek accountant named Paul (Bendavid) confesses to the murder when questioned by the chief detective Oscar Finlay (Goodwin). Reacher and Paul are soon transferred to country prison to await arraignment, but are thrown into general population where they are accosted by toughs whom Reacher thrashes within minutes.
Reacher is soon released, but after finding out the victim is his brother Joe, he unofficially joins up with Finlay and deputy Roscoe Conklin (Fitzgerald) to solve the murder, which covers a vast conspiracy involving weapons, counterfeit money, crooked police, and Venezuelan drug cartels. Roscoe is a woman, by the way, and a pretty and tough one at that. She can handle herself during the series' more violent scenes.
Following the first two episodes, Reacher becomes a slog through a labyrinthine plot and too many characters to account for. When the crime is solved, we find it underwhelming. Reacher himself is reduced to a walking, talking cliche. He walks away from explosions as if there is no such thing as shrapnel, flying objects, or as if flames are aware of boundaries they aren't permitted to cross. Reacher stays off the grid and doesn't believe in suitcases, backpacks, or even a change of clothes. All of his shirts show off his chiseled physique and if I've seen one scene of him disrobing, I've seen five or six. In the end, we see him confidently walking to whatever place will have the next injustice for him to rectify. And he hitchhikes, which is a sure way to get into danger. I would recommend an Uber, but it is difficult to determine how he gets money to pay for it.
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