One thing about the Jack Reacher series that’s on its way to Amazon is that it won’t be featuring Tom Cruise. If you’re thinking Jack Ryan then honestly it’s an easy mistake since both Ryan and Reacher are worthwhile characters that have been shown to be quite popular with audiences, but Reacher is perhaps less known than Ryan since despite Cruise’s representation of the man he’s still a large unknown considering that both movies were kind of underwhelming when it came to their performance. But in truth it seems as though Reacher might have been better as a TV series to begin with, something that people could grow into and get used to before being bombarded with a movie. While the action in both movies was great it was kind of hollow since people were rooting for a character that, despite being established, still wasn’t as widely known.
As Kevin Yeoman from ScreenRant would agree, the Jack Reacher movies benefited greatly from the presence of Cruise, so it seems to indicate that if the TV show wants to do just as good then it’s going to have to employ someone that people know and can get behind. Of course that someone is going to have to stand well over six feet since the character of Reacher was meant to be a big guy apparently, a quality that Cruise didn’t have. Despite that Cruise did manage to make the character memorable since he put in a performance that was nothing less than impressive as he usually gives when attempting to make his mark in a movie. There was no doubting that Jack Reacher was someone that knew how to get in and out of a situation and could take care of himself. But Cruise’s exclusion from the TV series almost makes it feel as though there’s going to be something missing unless the producer can get an actor that’s every bit as good, or at least convincing enough that he can possibly make people forget that Cruise was so important at one time.
The story of Jack Reacher feels as though it’s filled with plot holes that aren’t entirely addressed as the movies go along, and honestly becoming a TV series could clear a lot of this up since it might detail the legend of Reacher just a little more, hopefully without tearing that legend apart in the process. There has to be a way to show just how he became such an important person and why so many people would defer to him in so many ways. The confidence and the commanding presence that is brought to the story is something that bears a lot of explaining since quite a few people do happen to like Reacher, but they want to know more about him and why he’s considered to be so awesome. As Sam Barsanti of AV Club has said, this series will be dismissing the idea of the two movies unfortunately and going on its own merry way. This might be a mistake since while the movies weren’t the absolute greatest they weren’t that bad either since they were enjoyed by most of the people that watched them. Deviating from what’s already been provided isn’t the worst sin in the world when it comes to redoing a story, but it can mess with people in a way that they generally don’t like, unless they happened to think that the original wasn’t all that great.
In this case though Reacher is going to need to be given a great story in order to really make a case for sticking around on Amazon and to avoid being a loss that Amazon can absorb but will still feel as a small knock to their reputation. Obviously it won’t turn people away from Amazon any time soon, but it will likely serve as a disappointment if Reacher can’t get up and running in a way that will inspire people to watch. As Tom Cruise proved though a lot of the popularity of this show will have to do with the main actor and will no doubt be tied up in the character. So if Jack Reacher is played by someone that knows what they’re doing and knows how to get the audience on their side it seems that everything will be fine, and the series could go off without a hitch. In truth there’s enough about this character that isn’t known to think that a great number of stories could be told. There might be plenty of material to use in a way that will get people interested and will keep them asking for more.
At this point it’s not really known when we’ll see this series since it’s still in the idea mode, but it does seem evident that Amazon will be making it a priority at one point.
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