Reacher - Season 2

The first season was a bit more likeable as it was set in a small town and very much evoked my favourite Banshee. It was also only Reacher's, here he gets a team so he has a bit less space, but apart from the sexy Serinda Swan, I wasn't too impressed with the team, but never mind. Alan Ritchson is a good fit for the role, he's put on some muscle and is a decent beast, breaking limbs with a swipe (I like the contact and brutal action, where limbs are broken in bulk). However, there's a lack of a more pronounced fight like the one in the prison toilet in the first season. Plot-wise it's not bad either, the terminator-like villain is cool and there's definitely no shortage of tension and fun. This series still has a lot to offer. And now I’d love to see an action movie with Ritchson. 8/10. (29.01.2024)

The cool outdoors in the style of the Bourne series, a tough, good-guy protagonist whose gestures and musculature sometimes want to resemble The Punisher a bit, and that's where the positives end. In Season 2 Alan Ritchson confirms that he's the one setting a new standard for the film (or series) Jack Reacher. Nothing against Tom Cruise, but he could have tried harder for the physical action, in profile he's not as suited to the character of the jacked good guy as the walking Hulk. Shame about the execution of the second season, which drags too much and doesn't even develop the main character. The team is pretty cool and the character interaction goes well most of the time, but the plot slips into TV-style filler a lot of the time, and that can't be tolerated in an A-list production. Robert Patrick as the villain was fine. (02.03.2024)

Finally another batch of proper male action as it should be. Alan Ritchson is for me one of the best actors of this genre and I wouldn't want to face such a monster. It's true that compared to the first season, Reacher doesn't ride a solo track here and doesn't take place in a small town, but instead rides with a team and in a slightly broader story, so he loses his "main role" a bit and shifts more attention to the whole, but that's definitely not a bad thing (even if it might be a bit of a problem). His team is ultimately a great bunch with great actors, the story also moves along at a decent pace, and Reacher still steals most of the limelight for himself. What I dislike a bit, on the other hand, are those ills of the genre that unfortunately haven't escaped Reacher. I get that  a 120kg mountain beats the crap out of guys, I get, but when there's a 50kg chick beating them up too, I'm not so buying it. At times the action is drawn out and the team has it too easy with no collateral damage or injuries, many logical details don't make sense, but what I regret the most is that there are too few brutal and violent scenes, we only see brutal limb breaking once, which is reprehensible. Otherwise, of course, apart from these "details", this is still an extremely entertaining, gritty and action-packed ride that benefits especially from great main characters and unrelenting tension, so I wasn't bored for a minute and it's simply exactly the kind of series that grabs you and doesn't let you go. Great satisfaction. (28.01.2024)

The second season is a bit of a disappointment for me. Compared to the first season, a few aspects hurt it. First, the series no longer focuses primarily on Reacher himself, which is exactly what I enjoyed about the first one. Sure, the four-person team works quite well, especially in terms of acting. But the one-liners sometimes felt forced compared to its predecessor. And most notably, the action suffered significant losses. The implausibility was sometimes glaringly obvious (which I never felt in the first season), especially in the final episode where all the protagonists turned into Marvel and DC heroes... Such a shame. Secondly, the story didn’t manage to hook me properly (the villain, Robert Patrick, didn’t help much, as he was blandly written). So, overall, I see it as a 6/10. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely not a disaster; Alan Ritchson still performs effortlessly. It’s just no longer a standout hit. Hopefully, the next installment will turn things around for the better :) (30.01.2024)