The Jack Reacher of Lee Child’s books fights brutally. And Alan Ritchson, the star of the series “Reacher”, had difficulty adapting to the character’s style.
Recently back on Prime Video, the Reacher series promises a season 2 at least as muscular as the first. It must be said that Amazon’s Jack Reacher fights in a unique way, but his interpreter Alan Ritchson feared he would never be able to interpret the particularly brutal style of the character.
Lee Child’s novels have been bestsellers for over 20 years. They are a unique blend of traditional murder mystery thrillers, but feature an 80s action hero. The Reacher of Child’s work is a lot like Dolph Lundgren in his prime, but the difficulty in finding an actor with the right mix of brains and brawn led the producers of the Jack Reacher films to forgo the latter element and cast Tom Cruise instead.
While there was a lot to like about the first film, Cruise wasn’t at all suited to the lead role. Amazon’s TV adaptation hit the jackpot with Alan Ritchson seemingly born to play the hero. Reacher season 1 adapted the book From the bottom of the abyssa logical starting point since it is also the character’s first book.
But the series increased the quota of action and fights, where Reacher’s past as a military policeman came in handy in his clashes. And fans of the novels know that the wandering vigilante is very pragmatic. The only luggage he takes is a toothbrush and his passport, and he buys new clothes from charity shops every few days.
This sense of economy also translates into fights: he avoids them if possible, but if he cannot, he wants to put them to an end quickly. This is why he likes to headbutt, and the first season of Reacher conveyed the character’s fighting style very well.
The most notable scene sees Reacher confront several prisoners in a shower room, where he hits people with his elbows, kicks them violently in the groin and even uses his thumb to gouge out their eyes. Before the series, Ritchson was no stranger to action roles, having appeared in series like Titans, but the way Reacher fights was new to the actor.
During an interview with SlashFilm regarding his training, Ritchson recalled that he almost had “a panic attack” because he feared he wouldn’t be able to master Reacher’s style.
“I said to myself, ‘I’ll never be able to fight like that.’ I’ve done fighting and stunts my whole career and I’ve done a lot of martial arts. Reacher moves in such a way that the elbows and knees become a tool we’re not used to seeing – elbows used like knives.“
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Ritchson had to adapt to a completely different style of choreography for Reacher, but it’s safe to say his hard work paid off. The prison fight is the best of the first season because Ritchson had the most time to prepare for it. Not only is it an intense and exciting action scene, but it also reveals a lot about Reacher’s character. He has no interest in fighting clean or being honorable. He is outnumbered and knows that the only way to survive is to be as brutal as possible, as fast as possible.
In the aforementioned interview, Ritchson admits that as the season progressed, he had less and less time to prepare. It got to the point where he would practice in parking lots the day before trying to get the moves right. If the final fights lack finesse, they make up for it with their brutal impact.
There’s also a balance between portraying Reacher as a force of nature, capable of demolishing most of his targets, and giving his opponents enough fighting chances to make those fights interesting.
Season 2 does not disappoint on this level.