Is Reacher the face of heroes to come?
Amazon Prime Video seemingly hit another home run with their television show Reacher, an adaptation of the first Jack Reacher book, The Killing Floor. The series debuted in February 2022 and was met with rave reviews, holding a 90% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.1-star rating on IMDb.
The eight-episode season follows the protagonist Jack Reacher, a hulking loner of a man, as he stumbles into a quiet Georgia town, gets involved with a murderous plot, and eventually saves the day. The eponymous hero is played by small screen CW-alum Alan Ritchson. His massive frame fills out the character as he is written. This contrasts sharply with the casting of Tom Cruise, who starred in the two film adaptations which came before the show, Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.The suggestion that Cruise’s talents weren’t up to snuff was never in question. But even as a proven action star due to the Mission Impossible franchise, among others, Cruise’s relatively diminutive size was criticized by fans of the series. Ritchson truly fills the shoes of Reacher. This casting was positively received due to authenticity, but for another reason as well. The question that comes up is: why is he such a popular character?
The public opinion of what positive masculinity in media should look like may never reach a majority of consensus. But it has shifted drastically from the rugged and rigid action stars of the 1980s and '90s to the more socially aware and ostensibly PC versions that have come in the wake of the MCU and other current franchises. The show Reacher cuts against the grain of these new conventions. Is that the source of his magnetism?
0 Comments