Reacher - Prime Video

[JonChalk]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

Cotty said:

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

Not sure I can see him doing brooding implied threat.

Have you seen the trailer?


I didn't realise the trailer was in the Twitter link, but the direct Youtube link might be better for people who don't use Twitter.

Edited by Cotty on Thursday 2nd December 22:51

I watched it after posting. I'll reserve judgement until I watch the series.

Yeah he's massive, but reacher in the books isn't described as a pretty boy / male model.

It does look fun though.

..and I think we can all agree: better than Cruise, yes?

Outside of Reacher having longer hair in my imagination, this is so much closer than the movies, and given that Child is co-producing and producing at least one episode, plus has (as yet) un-detailed writing credit for the series, you could assume he's reasonably happy with the choice to lead.

[Mastiff]

Sort of O/T - but I think Amazon Prime is well worth the £7.99 a month - next day delivery, some live TV (Sports) film and series etc. Its quite good value IMHO.

[Mars]

I actually think Cruise portrayed Reacher's personality well. Not wishing to seek attention, slightly dour, resigned to confrontation rather than embracing it, and in his fighting skills he managed to bring a sense of the unstoppable inevitability the books describe.

But as he's barely any taller than me, and Reacher is described as a man-mountain, you had to consider the films an alternative to the books. I liked the films though... the first one more than the second.

This guy doesn't fit the Reacher of the books either for me. He's too young, pretty and overtly muscular. And the humour is too much whereas the books has little or is more subtle. That said, if you consider it another "alternative" then I'm sure it'll be fun regardless. I am looking forward to it.

[hairykrishna]

Halmyre said:

Cruise's casting addressed one problem I had with the books - namely, who would ever pick a fight with Reacher? Yet every time they lined up to take a pasting.

An old friend of mine is a mountain of a man and when we used to go out drinking a lot when we were younger people used to try and fight him all the time. There's a certain ahole personality type that wants to prove how 'hard' they are by decking a big bloke.

The trailer looks really good. I know the books are pretty simple but I think a series suits them much better. There's always a long, slow burn element to Reacher wandering about whichever small town he's in which is harder to do in a film.

[Cotty]

Mars said:

I actually think Cruise portrayed Reacher's personality well. Not wishing to seek attention, slightly dour, resigned to confrontation rather than embracing it, and in his fighting skills he managed to bring a sense of the unstoppable inevitability the books describe.

But as he's barely any taller than me, and Reacher is described as a man-mountain, you had to consider the films an alternative to the books. I liked the films though... the first one more than the second.

I never read the books so treated the films on their own merit.

My dad did read all the books and I remember him saying Reacher was a mountain of a man.

[Ivo Shandor]

I really liked the first Reacher film, thought it was excellent, liked the second too. Reacher feels like an old style hero...which makes me wonder about this new production...

Mars said:

This guy doesn't fit the Reacher of the books either for me. He's too young, pretty and overtly muscular. And the humour is too much whereas the books has little or is more subtle. That said, if you consider it another "alternative" then I'm sure it'll be fun regardless. I am looking forward to it.

Well, Amazon is currently busy butchering several literary classics, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is another in the line. The changing the lead into a muscly pretty boy does show a lack of imagination and knowledge of the material, but, well I'll watch it hoping it's not as bad as it could be.

[Slowboathome]

Mars said:

This guy doesn't fit the Reacher of the books either for me. He's too young, pretty and overtly muscular. And the humour is too much whereas the books has little or is more subtle. That said, if you consider it another "alternative" then I'm sure it'll be fun regardless. I am looking forward to it.

I agree. I always imagine Reacher as a slightly battered-looking 40 year old. Like a retired rugby forward.

I agree about Cruise's performance too. He got the essence of the character.

Trailer bloke looks like he's come straight from Baywatch.

Edited by Slowboathome on Friday 3rd December 14:47

[SWoll]

JonChalk said:

..and I think we can all agree: better than Cruise, yes?

Bigger than Cruise certainly. Better? I guess we'll have to wait and see as thought he nailed the actual character despite the obvious physical differences.

Will certainly give it a go though, big fan of the early books.

Ivo Shandor said:

Well, Amazon is currently busy butchering several literary classics, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is another in the line. The changing the lead into a muscly pretty boy does show a lack of imagination and knowledge of the material, but, well I'll watch it hoping it's not as bad as it could be.

It's a tough one to cast. Any suggestions?

Edited by SWoll on Friday 3rd December 14:24

[Mars]

Slowboathome said:

Mars said:

This guy doesn't fit the Reacher of the books either for me. He's too young, pretty and overtly muscular. And the humour is too much whereas the books has little or is more subtle. That said, if you consider it another "alternative" then I'm sure it'll be fun regardless. I am looking forward to it.

I agree. I always thought it imagine Reacher as a slightly battered-looking 40 year old. Like a retired rugby forward.

Yes exactly - tall and grizzled, like Clint Eastwood, but bigger as though he'd been a farmer all his life, or kick-started tanks for a living, rather than someone who spends his every spare hour in a gym.


But the new series could be fun regardless. I imagine that the look the girl gave him when he presented shirtless will become one of those motifs of the series.

[SWoll]

Mars said:

Yes exactly - tall and grizzled, like Clint Eastwood, but bigger as though he'd been a farmer all his life, or kick-started tanks for a living, rather than someone who spends his every spare hour in a gym.


But the new series could be fun regardless. I imagine that the look the girl gave him when he presented shirtless will become one of those motifs of the series.

I think he would have pulled it off in his prime. That look is pure Reacher.

[Ivo Shandor]

I dunno, I think Clint in his prime was plenty big enough.

[Slowboathome]

SWoll said:

I think he would have pulled it off in his prime. That look is pure Reacher.

Yes! Grumpy bloke approaching middle age.

Not a CBBC presenter/gym bunny.

[Ivo Shandor]

Well I've watched it now, erm, looks fking awful, like it's from 1992. The lead is a real lightweight. I'll give the first ep a crack.

[Newc]

Slowboathome said:

Mars said:

This guy doesn't fit the Reacher of the books either for me. He's too young, pretty and overtly muscular. And the humour is too much whereas the books has little or is more subtle. That said, if you consider it another "alternative" then I'm sure it'll be fun regardless. I am looking forward to it.

I agree. I always imagine Reacher as a slightly battered-looking 40 year old. Like a retired rugby forward.

I agree about Cruise's performance too. He got the essence of the character.

Trailer bloke looks like he's come straight from Baywatch.

Yes exactly. In the books he retires as a major, so he is at least mid to late 30s as he leaves the army. Part of the character is that world weary cynicism, which clearly plenty of people are happy to accept given the books' sales. No need or reason at all to cast a male model.

[JonChalk]

Newc said:

Slowboathome said:

Mars said:

This guy doesn't fit the Reacher of the books either for me. He's too young, pretty and overtly muscular. And the humour is too much whereas the books has little or is more subtle. That said, if you consider it another "alternative" then I'm sure it'll be fun regardless. I am looking forward to it.

I agree. I always imagine Reacher as a slightly battered-looking 40 year old. Like a retired rugby forward.

I agree about Cruise's performance too. He got the essence of the character.

Trailer bloke looks like he's come straight from Baywatch.

Yes exactly. In the books he retires as a major, so he is at least mid to late 30s as he leaves the army. Part of the character is that world weary cynicism, which clearly plenty of people are happy to accept given the books' sales. No need or reason at all to cast a male model.

The lead actor (Alan Ritchson) is 39.

[andrewcliffe]

I'll be giving it a watch. Like many, I thought the casting of Tom Cruise was wrong physically, but the performance he delievered was pretty good.

This new Reacher is physically more correct, but he's too good looking, and he's also missing the scar tissue / gun shot wounds that is referenced in many of the books. However, maybe its a detail that can be overlooked. I'm sure the lead actor would be doing his best though, as if it does well, he's got a job for the next two decades.

[Ivo Shandor]

The likeness of an actor to an established character can be important, but there's so many factors that go into it; the physicality, the range/ability, the type, the direction, editing and also where the character comes from; films, comics, telly the written word. I think the written word has the most leeway. Cruise isn't tall but he's a great actor and he hit the delivery on then head. Hugh Jackman is the most obvious candidate for on-the-surface horrible casting, as he was a foot too tall for Wolverine, but then he became Wolverine, he eclipsed the comic book character to a point where it's now a hurdle to recast that character. The bloke who played Aragorn was about a foo shorter than Aragorn, but he's Aragorn to a generation.
At the moment this bloke has the height/weight, I've not seen the physicality yet but it's only a short trailer.

[Oakey]

SWoll said:

It's a tough one to cast. Any suggestions?

Edited by SWoll on Friday 3rd December 14:24

Lee Child himself always said he pictured Hugh Jackman as playing Reacher

[Ivo Shandor]

Oakey said:

Lee Child himself always said he pictured Hugh Jackman as playing Reacher

Perfect, he is like a modern Clint.

[Oakey]

As an aside, I watched the trailer and it sort of looks cheap. It looks like that era of TV shows such as Stargate and the like.