Reacher

[A-Tex Devil 2445]

1 hour ago, Post Oak said:

This is a really fun podcast

Chris calls Reacher "Swolelock Holmes"

Was coming to post this.  Was laughing out loud at Mantzoukas.   The dude is always at 11 but short bits of him are great.  They understood exactly how to enjoy this series while also praising the performances, other than KJ.  And they appropriately called him out as a Zabka wannabe. 

[Parliament 14121]

6 hours ago, aggie08 said:

In Child's defense, how many different ways can you write that a small town in the middle of butt-fucking nowhere is the home base to a massive international criminal conspiracy?

What's the name of the book where he takes down Art Bryles?

[MissingInAction 24808]

7 hours ago, F250 said:

 

Season two: Reacher strolls into a town, discovers some injustice, makes some friends and enemies while plowing a local gal and kills a bunch of bad guys.

 

Just like my summers in Padre and Port A.

[Scary Stranger 1712]

Yes. Clothes on back, cash and a tooth brush. That’s all he ever has in the books. Finds a local thrift store to replace his one outfit when other gets too bloody. 
 
As for the backstory?  They touch on it through the book series. MP in namm, football, the guy they sent with a flashlight and pistol into enemy caves etc etc. 

I think you’re getting the last bit confused the the series Bosch. In those books he was a Vietnam era tunnel rat. Don’t recall that with Reacher at all, but I could just be getting old or it could be the drugs.

[Hefeweizen 5307]

Just now, Scary Stranger said:

I think you’re getting the last bit confused the the series Bosch. In those books he was a Vietnam era tunnel rat. Don’t recall that with Reacher at all, but I could just be getting old or it could be the drugs.

There was one book where he went through a tunnel and it was pretty well written, enough so that I remember it.  But definitely not a tunnel rat.  

[Gil Bang 25894]

18 hours ago, Harrison Bergeron said:

The series was simple, fun entertainment. While Reacher seems to be a pretty two-dimensional character, the sidekicks carried the movie. The dynamics between Reacher and Finlay and Reacher and Neagley were some of the best parts of the show. It was refreshing to have the bad guys have a simple motive - GREED - vs. some complicated, overwrought motives. And the Venezuelans and the Klinger cousin giving him all he could handle was refreshing.

For bookfags, does Child ever go into a little detail about Reacher's backstory and motivation, or is it pretty straightforward: for whatever reason guy just likes wandering around the country.

Yeah, he's got a phobia about possessions.  He inherited a house, and it freaked him the fuck out. 

9 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Yes. Clothes on back, cash and a tooth brush. That’s all he ever has in the books. Finds a local thrift store to replace his one outfit when other gets too bloody. 
 

As for the backstory?  They touch on it through the book series. MP in namm, football, the guy they sent with a flashlight and pistol into enemy caves etc etc. 

That's Harry Bosch. 

9 hours ago, RPM said:

Tom Cruise Reacher might be a tunnel rat, but this Reacher is too f'n big. He'd never fit.

See above. 

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

42 minutes ago, Scary Stranger said:

I think you’re getting the last bit confused the the series Bosch. In those books he was a Vietnam era tunnel rat. Don’t recall that with Reacher at all, but I could just be getting old or it could be the drugs.

Correct. My bad 

Bosch, Reacher, Rapp all run together after a bunch of books. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by ChickenSandwich

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

I need a Joe Pike focused Prime series. 

[Gil Bang 25894]

10 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

I need a Joe Pike focused Prime series. 

Heh.  While working this morning, I had the TV on some oddball channel, and "Quincy" was on.  Mostly just background noise for me, but I do look up occasionally.  
 

Anyway, as it ended, I glanced at the credits.  Episode was written by Robert Crais.

[Hook1997 5270]

I’m enjoying it but can’t get past Thad, it’s like they cast the biggest, dumbest most robotic guy they could find to play Reacher.  Never read the books, so maybe that’s how he’s supposed to be?  

23 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Correct. My bad 

Bosch, Reacher, Rapp all run together after a bunch of books. 

We need a Rapp movie or series that doesn’t suck, I really liked those books but the movie was not great.  

[Doc Sam Beckett 5782]

On 2/7/2022 at 7:31 AM, Porterhouse said:

She gets it alright. About halfway through. It’s okay. Movies were better done. Actor’s physical appearance is certainly better than Cruise but he’s no Cruise. Read all the books. Killing Floor was one of the worst. Child told a dumb story and it comes through in the series. 

 

Agreed. I haven't read them all, but the one in Nebraska with the Duncan clan or the one in the snow where the bus goes down were both better books 

 

8 hours ago, Not a cat said:

Was going to say this too.  I describe the reacher books as Harlequin romance novels for men- escapist fantasy all of us desk jockeys wish we could be.  Stroll into town, kick some asses, bang a hottie or two, right some wrongs, then move on no strings attached.

Pretty much the story of my life, pal

[Parliament 14121]

47 minutes ago, Hook1997 said:

I’m enjoying it but can’t get past Thad, it’s like they cast the biggest, dumbest most robotic guy they could find to play Reacher.  Never read the books, so maybe that’s how he’s supposed to be?  

It is.  But is his acting THAT bad?  Add in the fact that he has good actors around him, and good chemistry with them and he does just fine.

To that point, they need to do what Justified did; bring in some different, great actors every season.

 

[GhostOfTomJoad 9307]

At his worst, he comes across as a blonde Puddy from Seinfeld. But at his best, he makes the change from silent observer to lightning fast destructive force of nature in the action scenes while also pulling off enough comedic chops to be able to wink at the absurdity of the story along with the audience.

The producers have some interesting options ahead. It appears that it's pulling in a decent audience and season 2 would be better served if they went a bit heavier/darker IMO. It's barely a PG-13 equivalent now. 

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Watched over the last 3 nights.  I really enjoyed it.  No, it's not going to win any Oscars (Emmys actually, dummy!), but the original work doesn't really lend itself to that type of reaction.  It was fun, kept your attention and you were invested.  The acting was pretty solid and any time you can see Bruce McGill with a southern draw (My Cousin Vinny), it's a treat.  

So Reacher is an actor named Alan Ritchson and from previous work, it's easy to take him lightly.  But he seems like a super cool dude and has a good head on his shoulders after going to a dark place and realizing he's bi-polar.  Listened to this podcast while working out today.  It was pretty good, but long.  Talks about his challenge of mental health and the entire project, from casting to shooting.  He literally suffered a lot so they could make their production deadlines.  Good voice (if you make it to the end) too.

 

[CooterBrown 17901]

It was renewed for a second season today.

[atomheartbevo 89400]

4 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

It's barely a PG-13 equivalent now. 

So PG-13 now allows films to show heavily mutilated naked corpses nailed to walls, with their bloody dicks swinging in the breeze and their balls cut off?

[Parliament 14121]

58 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

It's barely a PG-13 equivalent now. 

Other than the boobs and weiner.

[aggie08 21414]

8 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

So PG-13 now allows films to show heavily mutilated naked corpses nailed to walls, with their bloody dicks swinging in the breeze and their balls cut off?

And post mortem leg snapping and constant swearing. I really want to know what qualifies as an 'R' in GhostOfTomJoad's household.

[Scary Stranger 1712]

I’m enjoying it but can’t get past Thad, it’s like they cast the biggest, dumbest most robotic guy they could find to play Reacher.  Never read the books, so maybe that’s how he’s supposed to be?  
We need a Rapp movie or series that doesn’t suck, I really liked those books but the movie was not great.  

I liked the Maze Runner kid as Rapp but the plot and villain was shitty.

[atomheartbevo 89400]

1 hour ago, aggie08 said:

I really want to know what qualifies as an 'R' in GhostOfTomJoad's household.

Caligula (unrated).  

Game of Thrones has a few episodes that might push it into R territory.

[Hornbeliever 707]

I judge shit pretty easily.....did I enjoy watching it or not?  I don't think about whether it had meaning or had a new angle or whether it taught me about humanity or if a certain shoe size is required of the actor.

This was very good.  Full of holes yet I still wanted to ignore my 5 year old daughter (no pics) to watch the next episode.

 

 

[kilroydos 267]

7 hours ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

 

 the one in the snow where the bus goes down

That one seems like it would make for a good season at some point.  Maybe not quite yet, but if it goes more seasons.

[GhostOfTomJoad 9307]

And post mortem leg snapping and constant swearing. I really want to know what qualifies as an 'R' in GhostOfTomJoad's household.

We don't have kids, so Deadwood is the line of demarcation in our casa.

[Grimas 659]

I want a Mack Bolan "The Executioner" series...

[huge 3788]

JFC Reacher was not in Nam, he was in the Middle East.

KJ kept bringing up Baghdad not DaNang.

[RPM 26210]

If Reacher was in Vietnam, he'd be over 60.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

3 minutes ago, RPM said:

If Reacher was in Vietnam, he'd be over 60.

And he for damn sure wouldn't have been a tunnel rat at that size. Know a guy who does handyman construction services, very talented guy with his hands, He was a tunnel rat in VN, and says going under houses can be an issue for him at times.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

The Reacher books are escapist literature, not more than about ankle deep in the cerebral zone, but fun, action shit.  They remind me of the Dirk Pitt series. I always used to grab one when getting on a plane for a vacation.

[BHMCruiser 1813]

This show was good. End of thread.

[gsoda3 3234]

On 2/7/2022 at 11:06 PM, utxmike05 said:

Looked surprised when he ran out of ammo in his pistol. Lol

 

in the books he's a numbers savant along with being OCD about operational awareness.  he's always keeping track of shots fired and rounds left esp in the middle of a gunfight.  

On 2/8/2022 at 6:22 AM, Scary Stranger said:

Except for the last two. He let his son write the last two and they are awful. Not going to read any more that Lee doesn’t write himself.

his brother, not his son.

17 hours ago, Hefeweizen said:

There was one book where he went through a tunnel and it was pretty well written, enough so that I remember it.  But definitely not a tunnel rat.  

it was a series of tunnels in caves. 

 

i think the next season should be tripwire and then persuader.  not so much for their plots (altho persuader is pretty good) but more so for the background elements of his life story.  

 

also for anyone else who read the books were you disappointed they covered the legion of honor medal in this way?

[BabaYaga 15205]

2 hours ago, huge said:

JFC Reacher was not in Nam, he was in the Middle East.

KJ kept bringing up Baghdad not DaNang.

This.  Even in the books, his Silver Star was from the Beirut barracks bombing.  It was Bosch (Michael Connelly series) that was a Vietnam tunnel rat vet in the books.  In the Prime series, they changed this him being a SF vet from Iraq/Afghanistan to align with current times

Edited February 9, 2022 by BabaYaga

[davidg 4025]

46 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

in the books he's a numbers savant along with being OCD about operational awareness.  he's always keeping track of shots fired and rounds left esp in the middle of a gunfight.  

I don't think they touched on the numbers trait in the show as much as the books and perhaps even the Cruise movies.  It had me wondering a bit. Maybe they will expand that a bit in future episodes.

[Gene Parmesan 3993]

I think it's solid.  I don't think the Reacher actor is going to win an Emmy unless it's for best ab to bicep ratio, but he does solid overall.  Not really a fan of the Finlay character.  I'm sure it's explained better in the books and maybe they did early on and I just missed it, but you can probably count on one hand the number of Harvard educated detectives in the country, and one is employed in bumbfuck Georgia with zero power?

[Post Oak 20183]

16 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Watched over the last 3 nights.  I really enjoyed it.  No, it's not going to win any Oscars (Emmys actually, dummy!), but the original work doesn't really lend itself to that type of reaction.  It was fun, kept your attention and you were invested.  The acting was pretty solid and any time you can see Bruce McGill with a southern draw (My Cousin Vinny), it's a treat.  

So Reacher is an actor named Alan Ritchson and from previous work, it's easy to take him lightly.  But he seems like a super cool dude and has a good head on his shoulders after going to a dark place and realizing he's bi-polar.  Listened to this podcast while working out today.  It was pretty good, but long.  Talks about his challenge of mental health and the entire project, from casting to shooting.  He literally suffered a lot so they could make their production deadlines.  Good voice (if you make it to the end) too.

 

seems like a good guy.  hope it works out for him

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

16 hours ago, Parliament said:

It is.  But is his acting THAT bad?  Add in the fact that he has good actors around him, and good chemistry with them and he does just fine.

To that point, they need to do what Justified did; bring in some different, great actors every season.

 

he just needs to slow down when he's ScoobyDooing the bad guy plan reveal.  Micro-machine guy is impressed. 

[Tylerocks 2551]

Finished it last night.

Enjoyed it enough to not overthink anything and not nitpick (see 1883 thread).  

It was entertaining and I didn't think the dude was a bad actor.  His no-nonsense, matter-of-fact schtick seemed on par with his prior military background.

 

Loling at the casting director that placed Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

1 minute ago, Tylerocks said:

Finished it last night.

Enjoyed it enough to not overthink anything and not nitpick (see 1883 thread).  

It was entertaining and I didn't think the dude was a bad actor.  His no-nonsense, matter-of-fact schtick seemed on par with his prior military background.

 

Loling at the casting director that placed Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher.

Tommy Cruise was the casting director that made that choice. He purchased the movie rights to the series.

[bolverk 29394]

1 hour ago, Gene Parmesan said:

I think it's solid.  I don't think the Reacher actor is going to win an Emmy unless it's for best ab to bicep ratio, but he does solid overall.  Not really a fan of the Finlay character.  I'm sure it's explained better in the books and maybe they did early on and I just missed it, but you can probably count on one hand the number of Harvard educated detectives in the country, and one is employed in bumbfuck Georgia with zero power?

Yeah, they questioned him multiple times about how he ended up their, and I want to say that Finlay kept responding with "none of your business." Thought there'd be some big reveal at the end that he had deep family roots there and came back to mete out some justice or get revenge on some old racist plantation family. 

[BHMCruiser 1813]

Here's my take for what it's worth. The books are all excellent but they are little more than an allegory of a knight errant righting wrongs. Lee Childs has admitted that if you look at the books logically they fall apart because no person could end up randomly walking into these sort of situations routinely.

Reacher is smart, and interesting, but the real draw of the books is little more than Hulk Smash plus some fucking. That's a formula for sustained success.

As for the actor they chose, I thought he was too wooden in the first few episodes but by the end really embodied the Reacher character. He was physically capable of pulling it off, but more importantly to me, he was able to act in a way that brought Reacher to life. One hangup I've always had is how a person who is basically a psychopath of the highest order can interact with normal people without coming across like a total sociopath as well. And this guy pulled it off. Funny, charming, arrogant, kind. Good show. 

[gsoda3 3234]

.
As for the actor they chose, I thought he was too wooden in the first few episodes but by the end really embodied the Reacher character.

I thought the opposite. The book reacher is emotionally void of depth. He's a machine. He doesn't crack jokes. He doesn't much sympathize with anyone other than victims (esp battered women). TV teacher started off true to the books and then deviated. But I enjoyed this take of the character.

[BHMCruiser 1813]

Interesting. I think he's funny.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21781]

1 hour ago, bolverk said:

Yeah, they questioned him multiple times about how he ended up their, and I want to say that Finlay kept responding with "none of your business." Thought there'd be some big reveal at the end that he had deep family roots there and came back to mete out some justice or get revenge on some old racist plantation family. 

Did you miss the part where he talked to Reacher about his dead wife?  That’s where he explained the reason.

Also the books make a big deal about him having an internal clock in his head so that he always knows exactly what time it is and can tell himself what time to wake up.  I do t recall that in the series.

[Parliament 14121]

A Reacher who never talks works fine in a book.  Inner monologue and such.  Doesn't work so well on tv.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4968]

2 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Did you miss the part where he talked to Reacher about his dead wife?  That’s where he explained the reason.

Also the books make a big deal about him having an internal clock in his head so that he always knows exactly what time it is and can tell himself what time to wake up.  I do t recall that in the series.

There was one line where he told Finlay what the time was, and Finlay was surprised because he didn't have a watch.

[After irth 1243]

21 hours ago, Parliament said:

Other than the boobs and weiner.

What more do you need in life?

[Gil Bang 25894]

10 hours ago, RPM said:

If Reacher was in Vietnam, he'd be over 60.

Yeah, the youngest possible Vietnam Vet is at least 65

[NeverMarryAStripper 21781]

Someplace to put the wiener

[GhostOfTomJoad 9307]

Just dawned on me that Reacher is a modern retelling of Conan the Barbarian. I read a shit ton of the Robert E. Howard books when I was a pimple faced, skinny 13 year old. Nothing wrong with revisiting a simple story again and again. It's the Hallmark Channel for middle-aged men.

[Texzilla58 4716]

We finished bingeing tonight. I’ve read all the books. Hated the movies as no way a fucking lawn jockey can be Reacher. Thought the series here was much closer to the spirit of the books and this was a decent adaptation of Kilking Floor with some bits and pieces thrown in from other books, like the kid storyline.

If I’m starting the books I would get the list on Amazon and start with 1 and go sequentially. Each book gives some background into how he mustered out of the Army, his life afterward, and how he became a hobo. He explains it: he spent his youth overseas, went to West Point, then went in the Army. Never saw much of the country he had defended and started walking to learn about it. It’s pretty simple. Each new town has a problem, he asks the wrong questions, has to kick some ass.

[FartingMonk 3606]

Reacher reminded me too much of the action hero character from the Simpsons who was supposed to parody Arnold.