Reacher
I enjoyed Tom Cruise's two outings as Jack Reacher, in Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. But they weren't to everyone's taste. In particular, fans of Lee Child's novels railed against Cruise's stature; Reacher's 8' tall with hands the size of dinner plates…or something like that. Clearly they don't understand that actors pretend to be what they're not, it's known as acting
, and Cruise was pretending to be 2'6" taller.
An advantage of not reading novels is that one cannot be disappointed by their adaptation to the screen. (pipe)
Anyhow, Amazon Prime's Reacher has enjoyed good word of mouth, with Alan Ritchson playing a larger version of the titular character. And since we have a free Prime trial, I can watch it without adding anything to MacKenzie Scott's just giving fund. (thumbup)
The word of mouth is very well-deserved. Although the main protagonist is a white dude—and better played than I expected from a beefcake—there are two strong co-protagonists who're female or black. Both are sympathetically portrayed, and given backstories that round them out, making their presence within the narrative make sense. At no time did this seem like a muh diversity
ensemble, just good choices to carry the story.
I've never binge-watched anything beginning-to-end before, because I get antsy after too long. But I couldn't stop watching Reacher, which made for a pretty late night…or early morning, finishing at around 5:00.
If it wasn't for the fact that it'd be rewarding Amazon for Rings of Power and adding to Scott's disproportionate wealth, I could see myself subscribing if only for season 2.
9.5/10