MOVIE NEWS – Season 2 of Amazon’s Reacher handled the inevitable problem of Tom Cruise movies nicely while avoiding potential drama. Warning! Major SPOILERS for Amazon Reacher Season 2 follow!

With the second episode of Season 2 of the Amazon series Reacher, the series did a great job of working out the problem Tom Cruise movies inevitably raise. Fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books were up in arms when it was confirmed that Tom Cruise would play the character in the film. In the novels, Reacher is a hulking behemoth similar to Dolph Lundgren. We can say that few have seen Cruise in the role.

Regardless, the actor’s film duology of Jack Reacher only helped increase the character’s popularity and brought new readers to the books.

Cruise’s second film outing was met with a lukewarm reception. So, they decided to reboot the IP with a TV series instead. Alan Ritchson has now replaced Cruise as Reacher in pop culture. He simply fits the role better. Nearly 30 novels have been published in the book series so far, so the showrunners behind the Amazon series have plenty of material to choose from for future adaptations.

Reacher season 2 skips the events of Tom Cruise’s 2012 film

Those who were wondering if Reacher was a re-adaptation of the One Shot used for Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher movie can rest easy. The second season takes place nearly three years after the first season’s events. So, it is understandable that the title character had some adventures during this time. In the second episode, “What Happens in Atlantic City”, Reacher reveals that he ran into James Barr “last year in Indiana” and that he “owes me now”. For context, Barr is the former infantry sniper accused of murder in the original film. Reacher’s investigation into the suspected murders started the story.

With this scene, Reacher establishes that the events of One Shot happened off-screen and that the book is not planned to be reworked.

The title character’s statement that Barr “owes” to him leaves the door open for the character to appear in a later season. However, it’s hard to imagine Reacher actually turning to Barr for help.

Amazon is wise to avoid another adaptation of One Shot

It would be interesting to see a new One Shot adaptation with Ritchson Reacher. Just to see how different it would turn out. Since its release in 2012, Jack Reacher has been re-evaluated as a solidly directed action thriller. It was the first project where Cruise was directed by his now regular collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (recent Mission: Impossible films). The movie is entertaining, but it’s hard for purists to accept Cruise in the role entirely. Regardless, Amazon would be wise not to adopt One Shot, as it’s a not-so-good script.

Whatever critics of 2012’s Jack Reacher think, McQuarrie’s film is an excellent adaptation of Child’s novel, so there’s no pressing need for a new version.

Plus, the showrunners can draw from plenty of other novels. Among them is from one of Ritchson’s favorite Reacher stories, Die Trying. If the series decided to re-adapt One Shot, it would feel like it would create unnecessary drama between the film and the series. It’s as if he’s deliberately pitting Ritchson’s version against Cruise’s.

It was inevitable that Amazon’s series would face this problem, but What’s Happening in Atlantic City handles it in style. The novel’s events happened anyway and proved that Reacher did not spend the years between the two seasons without action.

Did Never Go Back also happen off-screen in the Reacher timeline?

Now that the series has confirmed that One Shot took place in Reacher’s world, the next question is, did Never Go Back also happen? The first three episodes of the second season do not answer this question. Given the direction of the story, it probably won’t. That being said, if the showrunners decided to take One Shot off the “To-do” pile, then by definition, Never Go Back was also off the list.

This is a little disappointing, as Never Go Back turned out to be a disappointing Jack Reacher movie.

The sequel had forgettable action and supporting characters, and the story about Reacher’s supposed teenage daughter is a subplot that should have been saved for the third or fourth film, not the second.

It was too early in the film franchise for such a story. But Amazon’s Reacher could have done it justice. Maybe in the coming years, a brave producer could bring Never Go Back closer to Reacher, but it won’t happen anytime soon.

Source: YouTube