Although I do not like Cruise, he is a good actor, and the films were decent. But he just wasn’t Reacher.
Right- Mission:Impossible is a TEAM, not a solo act. And they are a clever heist plan, not action.
We know he knows enough about martial arts to recognize some South American style that I never heard of. Mostly he just fights “dirty.” Which is the only way to fight in the situations he’s in.
Exactly. And I’m enjoying it more than I did the books. The actor playing Reacher is really doing a great job.
I’ll second this, and I’ve seen her in a couple of other series where she was great also. Maybe this will push her profile higher as the show seems to be getting good reviews.
Now, don’t be sad, one out of three ain’t bad.
You see why several times in the show. First off when the guy is pushing around his girlfriend, Reacher doesn’t even have to say a word and the guy is backing down and apologizing. Hard to imagine someone 5’ 6" getting the same reaction.
I’m going to spoil this part for those that have not finished watching yet.
This was especially flagrant in the later episodes where he got his ass kicked and almost drowned by the 98 pound weakling or when he fought what’s his name in the burning warehouse. He should have snapped both of those guys in two without breaking a sweat. I realize they stretch those out to make it seem like the bad guys were tough, but these guys were not even portrayed a tough earlier.
I don’t remember what Child looks like. Who was the cameo character?
As I said in the other thread, I started reading the books with the first one but tired of them fairly quick. Never bothered to watch the movies. The series really hooked me. I loved pretty much everything in it. I don’t binge watch things, so for me to go thru the series in three days says how much I liked it.
Well, in the pool scene, Reacher took a crowbar beating that would kill three real people. That was the unrealistic part for me, not the part where the little guy beat up the big guy. Once he got one or two good hits in with the crowbar, Reacher would have had a tough time of it. They needed to give the little guy a chance with Jack Reacher, and that provided the reason.
Onto another subject:
I’m not a big stickler on the necessity of casting an actor exactly like a book description, but in this case Reacher really does need to appear big and physically intimidating. They didn’t need to cast a 6’5" guy, but they needed to make him look that big at least. I don’t know how tall the actor is (over 6’ I expect), but he was tall enough. As long as those around him were smaller, they didn’t need to cast a 6’5" actor. In the movies, finding a lot of people significantly shorter than Tom Cruise was going to be a harder task.
I’ll mention again how much I enjoyed the actress playing Roscoe. She stood out.
One presumes Peter Dinklage was busy
Yeah, I think it was in reference to a head butt and I’m not sure how many stylistic ways one can deliver a head butt. “I dunno, Reacher, it looked more like a ‘Glasgow Kiss’ to me, I think what we’ve got here is the Scottish mafia.” Reacher’s line about boxing having too many rules seems more in character for someone whose rule in a fight is “get your retaliation in first.”
I’ll bet you are right. I thought he was someone who saw Reacher beating people up earlier and so was very polite.
I’ll second this again. She was excellent in the role. And I’ll throw in the guy that played Detective Finlay. (He played Clive, also a detective, in IZombie and was great in that as well.) The interaction between the three main characters was really well done.
It was filmed so well, I actually thought he was about 6’5" until the dance scene in the bar. That’s when I realized he wasn’t quite that tall unless Roscoe was close to 6’ herself. IMDB says he’s 6’2", she’s 5’5".
@Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank guessed it accurately in the spoiler of post #38, upthread.
I didn’t catch it initially, either, not knowing what Child looked like in real life.
I’d assumed if there was a cameo, it was that guy in the diner. Or the guy sorta jostling for space outside the last dead cop’s house. But not as obvious as in the 1st movie.
The crowbar fight was horrible. Crowbar is a problematic weapon, and the guy wielded in a way that left him entirely open. Very disappointing.
In the books, as I recall they talk a bit about the self defense training Reacher had. I know the guy I trained under was involved in teaching Navy Seals. The books kinda make Reacher seem more like special forces than cop - tho he observes that all of his suspects are armed trained killers.
How did the black FBI guy get back to the scene after the flat tire?
I never thought Kristin Kreuk could act in Smallville - and her skills have not improved w/ age! 
Not only that, but did Reacher ever even change the flat tire? I assume he did but all they had to do was include a shot a him grabbing the jack and spare out of the trunk and we’d have known.
In the books do they have as many exaggerated feats of strength - opening a bottle in the crook of his arm? Crunching a cellphone in his hand?
In the books, Neagley owns a high-end PI/security firm. She’s the richest of Reacher’s old unit.
Nothing that extreme that I can recall. If he had to break a leg to stuff a body in a trunk, it’s more likely he’d do it the usual way
Ah, thanks. There’s a LOT of books, and now, 'young Reacher" short stories. I mostly remember flashbacks with her.
3 episodes in an I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!
I loved the 1st Reacher movie, disliked the 2nd. But the series rocks. I git hooked immediately in the 1st episode when Reacher got the wifebeater to back down without saying a word. The fight scenes have been excellent.
The dialogue is snappy and it is well paced.
The crowbar scene did make me cringe a bit. Child goes out of his way to have Reacher deal quite easily with assailants wielding crowbars, baseball bats, 2 x 4s, and whatever. He usually steps inside the swing and disarms his opponent in the first seconds.
I have to give TC props for the attitude and cynicism that’s missing in the series.
Definitely the correct approach if the weapon is swung like a bat. Which Reacher would’ve done instinctively. And which is why that is the wrong way to use such a weapon in a fight.
Wait - there is a ‘usual way’ ? where is that in the manual?
Well, the actor who plays Reacher played Hawk on Titans, which is why I’m reminded of comic book action.
Under “Pursuit, ending,” if memory serves
Just binged the whole series, having never read any of the books or seen the TC movies. Overall, I liked it a lot, definitely will look forward to season 2.
More detailed comments:
When I say “I liked it a lot”, I mean “I really liked the first 3/4 of the season, and then thought the last couple of episodes were a major letdown.” I don’t know how much of the final act was straight from the book, but the entire story just got dumber:
(1) Utterly unbelievable that the baddies, who finally have Reacher dead to rights and know how ridiculous a threat he is, let him go with just Picard to keep an eye on him, as if he’s the only person in the world who can find Hubble.
(2) Stretches credulity that Roscoe wasn’t at least suspicious of Picard after the safe house was burnt. You don’t have to immediately decide he’s dirty. But it has to at least be on your mind.
(3) The big warehouse fight was a little too ridiculously mega-happy, with literally every good guy getting out unscathed, and all the good guys getting to pair up and fight hand-to-hand the person who they have the most emotional reason to fight, yada yada
(4) And also, for whatever reason, the action choreography/cinematography in the big fight seemed WAY cheaper. Like they forgot they needed to reserve some of their action and effects budget for the big fight at the end