Reacher

Amazon Prime

Season 1 of Reacher was probably one of my favorite shows of that year. But while I don’t mind season 2, as Reacher is still Reacher and the storyline about his old team is decent enough, it does feel like the show has lost something rather significant, its hard-hitting fight choreography.

I have seen thousands of fight scenes across movies and TV shows in my life, but some stick with me, which includes the season 1 prison fight with Reacher against a bunch of inmates trying to off him. As a reminder, here’s what the sequence looked like. Brutality follows:

Just an excellent sequence showcasing both the talent and sheer power of Reacher, which also happened in other fights during that season. As I said, it’s kind of unforgettable.

That’s why I’m just not sure what on earth is going on in season 2 here, as the action is just not remotely on the same level. Here’s probably the largest overall fight sequence from season 2 so far, Reacher’s team versus a motorcycle gang sent to kill them, who voluntarily gives up their guns (too loud! Definitely a thing a motorcycle gang would say). Here’s the fight:

You see the difference, right? Even though it still has Reacher breaking limbs and such, the shots, the choreo, it just doesn’t…really work. Even “big Reacher moments” like knocking people off their bikes feels cartoony and gimmicky. I also think this scene, and many of the others, are hamstrung by Reacher being forced to fight alongside a team for close to every action scene. The team is…fine, but it doesn’t allow Reacher to shine in these fights like he does in season one. Instead we get these 1v1 encounters with each team member with Reacher just an infrequent guest star in his own show’s fights.

Then when he does get a fight to himself, we have what happened this week, a truly bizarre sequence where Reacher quietly strangles two guys to death on a bus in, and then pulls a third guy under a truck like he’s The Lizard hunting Spider-Man or something. It’s extremely un-Reacher-like, and a moment where he could have had a classic Reacher versus everyone brawl is reduced to…whatever that was.

The show has absolutely lost something this season. More than one thing, perhaps, but the quality of its action scenes and the tightness of the choreography is gone. Some are also blaming Alan Ritchson for perhaps having gotten too big and hulking this season, forcing Reacher to be slower than he used to be, which I suppose could be a factor. Whatever it is, I hope they can fix it for next season, and realize that Reacher doesn’t exactly need a squad backing him up.

Update (1/7): This seems to have struck a chord with people, so I figured I’d show a few further examples of this. Lucky for me, Amazon Prime Video itself went through and compiled the best Reacher fight moments throughout all of season in a video right before season 2 ended up airing. Here’s that seven minute video:

Can you see the common thread here. It’s not just that the camerawork and actual choreography are better, it’s that Reacher is almost always by himself, either in 1v1 fights or taking on a bunch of people when outnumbered. This has almost never happened in season 2, and when it does, we get things like the bus scene.

Another example of what I’m talking about is an earlier scene that the motorcycle fight I featured above, where Reacher organizes a “team building” fight in the early days of his MP unit:

Here, the problem is that they barely bothered with any choreography at all! They skipped essentially the entire fight which would be unheard of in season 1. Though again, it’s a big group brawl rather than a Reacher solo venture. And this just keeps happening.

Have there been any really good Reacher action moments in season 2? I’d argue the only one that channels season 1 Reacher at all is when he kicks a car so hard it sets the airbag off, which is amazing:

Otherwise? Yeah, this is very serious problem with season 2, and the show has lost something it had in season 1, to be sure. I really hope they recognize and change this for season 3, but it’s unclear if they really even know there’s a problem.