Reacher

guitargeek62

theatreanchor said:

@guitargeek62 Well, I never got any of that. Your brain must be more perceptive than mine. 

If you’re a neurotypical then yes, it quite possibly is!

hollywoodrox

I enjoy the books read nearly all

  I’m probably the only one who thinks the films are ace , Cruise can play anybody & they stand on their own .

Ive not watched the series mainly as I’ve seen all the highlights ,the fights on YouTube 

Philly_Q

I've read all the books up to the point Lee Child started co-authoring with his brother, and then I stopped... not really intentionally, but the new books seem to have some bad reviews and I just haven't bothered.

If Reacher is on the autistic spectrum, I suspect it's entirely accidental, Child just wrote what he wrote!

And Reacher is definitely Lee Child turning himself into a superhero.  Child's very tall, sandy hair, apparently even follows the Reacher philosophy of travelling light, buying cheap functional clothes, etc.  He's just not a huge muscleman... or unstoppable killing machine, hopefully.

And I don't think it's right-wing fantasy porn, it's just a throwback to the old man-of-few-words Westerns and, again, certain superheroes - Batman, Doc Savage.  That said, I do get uncomfortable with the way Reacher just kills everyone rather than beating some of them up and handing over to the cops.  Sometimes it feels like he's no better than the bad guys.  But perhaps I shouldn't take it too seriously.

Since I'm opining, I might as well mention the TV show.  I really liked the first series, it was a good adaptation of the book, but I didn't enjoy the second.... although as I've said before, I don't think it was one of the better books.  Too many characters, and to me it felt like Reacher was an outsider from his own team.  I hope they choose a better book for the next series.

the_jaffa

Philly_Q said:

Since I'm opining, I might as well mention the TV show.  I really liked the first series, it was a good adaptation of the book, but I didn't enjoy the second.... although as I've said before, I don't think it was one of the better books.  Too many characters, and to me it felt like Reacher was an outsider from his own team.  I hope they choose a better book for the next series.

I agree completely. The second series just didn't work well for me at all.

fretmeister

the_jaffa said:

Philly_Q said:

Since I'm opining, I might as well mention the TV show.  I really liked the first series, it was a good adaptation of the book, but I didn't enjoy the second.... although as I've said before, I don't think it was one of the better books.  Too many characters, and to me it felt like Reacher was an outsider from his own team.  I hope they choose a better book for the next series.

I agree completely. The second series just didn't work well for me at all.

It didn't help that it seemed they had dumbed him down too.

Reacher was supposed to be an elite investigator, and in S2 he was a bit thick in places.

Philly_Q

fretmeister said:

the_jaffa said:

Philly_Q said:

Since I'm opining, I might as well mention the TV show.  I really liked the first series, it was a good adaptation of the book, but I didn't enjoy the second.... although as I've said before, I don't think it was one of the better books.  Too many characters, and to me it felt like Reacher was an outsider from his own team.  I hope they choose a better book for the next series.

I agree completely. The second series just didn't work well for me at all.

It didn't help that it seemed they had dumbed him down too.

Reacher was supposed to be an elite investigator, and in S2 he was a bit thick in places.

Well yes, that was the thing, he just stood around like a big lummox while the rest of the Special Investigators team did all the thinking and talking.  Perhaps he was "leading by example", like David Beckham when he was England captain.

darthed1981

Philly_Q said:

fretmeister said:

the_jaffa said:

Philly_Q said:

Since I'm opining, I might as well mention the TV show.  I really liked the first series, it was a good adaptation of the book, but I didn't enjoy the second.... although as I've said before, I don't think it was one of the better books.  Too many characters, and to me it felt like Reacher was an outsider from his own team.  I hope they choose a better book for the next series.

I agree completely. The second series just didn't work well for me at all.

It didn't help that it seemed they had dumbed him down too.

Reacher was supposed to be an elite investigator, and in S2 he was a bit thick in places.

Well yes, that was the thing, he just stood around like a big lummox while the rest of the Special Investigators team did all the thinking and talking.  Perhaps he was "leading by example", like David Beckham when he was England captain.

Really?  I thought he tended to be mostly right and not say much.

Especially when they all decided the missing one was a bad guy and Reacher just said "he wouldn't have done that to his dog".

Philly_Q

Yeah, but it felt like he was mostly right "because that's what the script said".

darthed1981

Philly_Q said:

Yeah, but it felt like he was mostly right "because that's what the script said".

That is generally terribly helpful.

In the books - you often have a few pages describing how Reacher gets to a conclusion, makes the shot etc. - explains it better.

I watched it because I liked the bad guys getting their comeuppance not so much for the intellectual stimulation

ThePrettyDamned

I tried watching the series but it didn't do it for me. Struck me as dumb action, in a good way, but it didn't make me as happy as the classic 80s and 90s action movies.

The guy who plays Reacher in the series is perfect though. Cannot fault the performance. 

darthed1981

ThePrettyDamned said:

I tried watching the series but it didn't do it for me. Struck me as dumb action, in a good way, but it didn't make me as happy as the classic 80s and 90s action movies.

Ironically, that's Rick Beato's next video.

EricTheWeary

Isn't Reacher what's called Dad TV? Non super power male hero righting wrongs on a show that's usually not talked about, never receives any awards yet is watched by millions worldwide. Yellowstone is supposed to be peak Dad TV. 
I read one of the books once and thought it was awful although I think that about a lot of popular fiction (Harry Potter, The Thursday Murder Club,etc) so it's not much of a measure. 

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:

I read one of the books once and thought it was awful although I think that about a lot of popular fiction (Harry Potter, The Thursday Murder Club,etc) so it's not much of a measure. 

You're not wrong, but I find the Reacher books are a step above the likes of James Patterson.  His process for writing a new Alex Cross book seems to be:

1. Set annual alarm saying "Time for New Alex Cross book".
2. Make up title with the word "Cross" in it.
3. Make voice note of plot synopsis.  Fifty words should do it.
4. Listen back, make sure you've given Cross's kids and his tedious old grandmother something or other to do.
5. Send voice note to one of your co-writers (or ghost writers, it's a Cross book).
6. Have breakfast.

theatreanchor

Dad TV. Dad Rap. Dad Rock. Dad Dance. It's the hot new thing. 

EricTheWeary

theatreanchor said:

Dad TV. Dad Rap. Dad Rock. Dad Dance. It's the hot new thing. 

I like to think I'm a DILF. 

Philly_Q

ThePrettyDamned said:

The guy who plays Reacher in the series is perfect though. Cannot fault the performance. 

I think he was a bit too 'roided-up in the second series.  He's so big now he could play The Incredible Hulk without the aid of CGI, he'd just need the old Lou Ferrigno green wig and body paint.  It even seems to have limited his facial expressions...

Being so big also - oddly enough, given all the fuss about Tom Cruise in the films - makes Ritchson look shorter.  The books make such a big thing of Reacher's height, but in the TV series Maria Sten, as Frances Neagley, looks almost as tall as Ritchson.  They should give him lifts or change the camera angles to make him look even taller.

Reverend

AK99 said:

the_jaffa said:

There's definitely suggestions in the books that Reacher is on the autistic spectrum but it is not explicitly mentioned. As for your part 2, not sure but I think it is mostly a fantasy of Lee Child's

That's how I always saw the books - ex trade union shop steward turned author creates the kind of guy he'd like to be. 

The point above about the similarities to yer average Comic Superhero is spot on too.

Entertaining enough to a point, until you realise it's the same characters reused in different settings in every book. Still, the formula works for him, and also one helluva lot of book buyers.

Fixed that for ya

AK99

Ah didn't know that, thx Reverend.

 Kinda fits - somebody channelling a lot of suppressed anger into a 'Don't fk with me pal or I'll kill you' alter-ego  

fretmeister

Philly_Q said:

EricTheWeary said:

I read one of the books once and thought it was awful although I think that about a lot of popular fiction (Harry Potter, The Thursday Murder Club,etc) so it's not much of a measure. 

You're not wrong, but I find the Reacher books are a step above the likes of James Patterson.  His process for writing a new Alex Cross book seems to be:

1. Set annual alarm saying "Time for New Alex Cross book".
2. Make up title with the word "Cross" in it.
3. Make voice note of plot synopsis.  Fifty words should do it.
4. Listen back, make sure you've given Cross's kids and his tedious old grandmother something or other to do.
5. Send voice note to one of your co-writers (or ghost writers, it's a Cross book).
6. Have breakfast.

I loved the early Patterson books.
But he got lazy really quickly. It was particularly painful when the premise was good and he just blasted the book out on a Friday afternoon in a way that would embarrass ChatGPT.

Philly_Q

^^ @fretmeister I don't mind them, if I was on sitting bored on a train and someone had left a James Patterson book, I'd be more than happy to read it.

But they're so lazy and formulaic.  It does make me laugh how the chapters get shorter...
...and shorter
to give the illusion that the book's...
...really fast paced. 
And not just...
...short.