I’ll always lament Christopher McQuarrie’s failed big-screen adaptation of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. The muscle-bound hero with an aptitude for solving insidious crimes and dealing with preposterously violent criminals was tailor-made for the big screen. He deserved the same A-plus treatment Hollywood afforded Tom Clancy‘s Jack Ryan. Alas, despite top-notch talent on both sides of the camera—including Tom Cruise in the title role—the film series stalled at the box office and was subsequently shelved after just two movies.
Luckily, Amazon quickly scooped up the rights to Child’s nomadic hero and produced the next best thing—an 8-episode mini-series simply titled Reacher, starring the more physically apt Alan Ritchson. It’s based on the first novel in the 28-plus book series The Killing Floor. While not nearly as finely tuned as McQuarrie’s effort, Reacher: Season 1 nonetheless delivered the good. It produced an entertaining, pulpy crime drama with plenty of twists and turns, sex, and bloody carnage. The series satisfied Reacher fans, even if the show occasionally veered away from the one-man-army premise that made the novels so enthralling.
Reacher: Season 2 offers more of the same. However, the scope feels more considerable and appropriate for the character on this go-round. Creator Nick Santora again posits our smirking behemoth amidst a handful of colorful characters but gives Reacher plenty of time to shine on his own. This time, the supporting cast feels essential rather than forced, even if the second season veers dangerously close to A-Team territory.
Reacher’s lifelong solo journey across the nation gets interrupted when former members of his military team, known as the 110th Special Investigations Unit, are suddenly murdered in a gruesome fashion. Reacher teams up with surviving mates Neagley (Maria Sten), Dixon (Serinda Swan), and O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos) to track down and murder the people responsible, inadvertently stumbling upon a plot centered around selling state-of-the-art weapons to dangerous factions around the globe.
The show starts with a bang and ends with a thrill but stalls a bit in the middle — like too many series. I can’t say I was too engaged with Robert Patrick’s cartoonish villain, Shane Langston, who spends most of his screen time wandering around a warehouse barking into a cell phone like a wayward 24 villain. It’s always fun to see him in any role, particularly one that pokes fun at his iconic T-1000 performance in Terminator 2—”Who’s Sarah Connor?” one of his goons asks, “No idea,” he replies—but here he’s not given much to do but scream dry exposition and empty threats. Langston doesn’t pose much of a physical challenge to Reacher and exposes himself fairly early on—you wonder why Reacher and Co. don’t storm the castle and kill him right from the start.
Still, Season 2’s characters leave a mark, and the numerous fights and shootouts offer genuine knuckle-cracking thrills. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better in other shows/movies—to the point that you can predict everything that will happen, right down to the ornery cop (Domenick Lombardozzi) with a stick-up-his-ass going out in a heroic blaze of glory—but the production is top-notch. Performances are also strong, particularly by Sten and Swan, and Ritchson’s laid-back charisma remains as contagious as ever. It’s hard not to root for the guy because, well, he’s so damned cool—a testosterone-fueled tank who knows no fear and somehow maintains a zero body fat physique in spite of the diner grub and beer.
Like Jack Bauer in 24, we’re more enamored with the Reacher than the plot. And while the cliffhangers keep us binging, everything rests on Ritchson’s sturdy shoulders. If you appreciate his portrayal of Jack Reacher, you’ll happily invest eight hours watching his team ruthlessly tackle hordes of dim-witted villains in diverse settings such as factories, helicopters, warehouses, and even, unexpectedly, a funeral. Reacher appeals to its audience by delivering a series of action-packed shootouts, fights, and chases without relying too much on melodrama. It’s sturdy, lightweight fun that gleefully revels in violence, brutal confrontations, and mayhem.
Reacher Season 2 may not go down as peak television, but it’s an enjoyable excursion that reliably gets the adrenaline pumping. While thin on profound themes, the show compensates by delivering sheer entertainment, especially when Reacher takes center stage to do what does best—take out the trash.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
