Alan Ritchson, the blondish, hulking, steely-eyed star of the hit streaming television seriesReacher, represents the perfect physical and psychological embodiment of the titular protagonist from Lee Child’sJack Reacherbook series. In Child’s 1997 debutReachernovel,Killing Floor, which serves as the basis for the first season ofReacher, Child describes the Jack Reacher character as being a fair-haired, six-foot-five, 250-pound former military police officer whose fierce fighting skills and intellect make him a virtually unstoppable force.
While the six-foot-three Ritchson may not fit Child’s description of the character as precisely as, say, 1980s Dolph Lundgren might have, Ritchson’s Jack Reacher is nonetheless much more compatible with Child’s original vision of the character than five-foot-seven Tom Cruise turned out to be in the filmsJack ReacherandJack Reacher: Never Go Back.
Moreover, while Cruise’s star power made the short-lived film series commercially viable, theJack Reacherfilms haven’t made nearly as indelible of an impression on the public consciousness asReacher, which became the#1 series for the Amazonstreaming service for 2023.
Tom Cruise Is No Match for Alan Ritchson
Reacherstar Alan Ritchson, who is approximately twenty years younger than Tom Cruise, is so far removed from Cruise in terms of personality and physical appearance that it seems as if theJack Reacherfilm series andReacherrevolve around two entirely different protagonists.
The primary reason why it took approximately fifteen years for the firstJack Reacherbook,Killing Floor, to be adapted to the screen with the 2012 filmJack Reacherwas the difficulty in finding an actor who could fulfill the titular protagonist’s mammoth physical specifications.
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In attempting to justify Cruise’s incongruous appearance in the film series, the creator of the book series, author Lee Child, explained that Cruise embodied the character’s mammoth dimensions in a metaphorical sense through Cruise’s inherent persuasiveness and sheer magnetism.
Ritchson’s presence as Jack Reacher inReacherfeels like a natural extension of the character’s existence within the book series, whereas Cruise’s appearance as Reacher represents the manifestation of a forced experiment, which was initiated primarily because of Cruise’s box-office drawing power.
Every aspect of Ritchson’s performance inReacherseems authentic. While Ritchson’s necessarily bulky, taciturn, towering presence effectively establishes Reacher’s trademark one-man-army hero persona, Ritchson’s innate ability to project the character’s flawed, messy nature enables Ritchson to bring the Reacher from the book series to life and establish himself as the definitive Reacher, though there’s an argument to be made toabandon the source material.
Ritchson’s Jack Reacher Has Timeless Appeal
Alan Ritchson, who was thirty-nine whenReacherdebuted in February 2022, has a look and presence that would have made Ritchson an ideal choice for the role of Jack Reacher at any previous point in history, certainly in 1997, when the first Reacher book,Killing Floor, was published, and in 2012, when the firstJack Reacherfilm was released.
However, Ritchson’s timeless appeal in the role of Reacher is also related to Ritchson’s intangible qualities, which have most clearly established Ritchson as an actor with a compelling screen presence and surprising psychological dimensions that transcend his colossal exterior.
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In the tradition of Steve McQueen, Jason Momoa, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ritchson is an actor with the uncanny ability to occupy a city, a landscape, with a bare minimum of dialogue and movement. Like McQueen, Ritchson’s essential screen persona is defined by controlled, raw animal magnetism. Ritchson’s Reacher prefers to speak only when something important needs to be said so that people will listen more carefully.
However, unlike McQueen and certainly Tom Cruise, Ritchson’s Reacher isn’t cool. Ritchson’s imposing presence is attuned to Reacher’s core identity as an alienated, drifting loner, a former United States military police major who has been summarily dropped into the civilian world, where he doesn’t fit in and continually gets into trouble.
Ritchson Is Poised for Major Stardom
Now thatReacherhas been renewed for a third season, it seems likely, given the excellent ratings and reviews that the show has received, that Alan Ritchson will be playing Jack Reacher for the foreseeable future, even as the show’s popularity will almost certainly allow Ritchson to simultaneously pursue a feature film career, as the actor has already stated his wish to playBatman in the DCU.
The success ofReacherhas pushed theJack Reacherfilm series into irrelevance, though this process was already underway beforeReacherdebuted. Moreover, while Ritchson has publicly expressed his admiration for Tom Cruise, who likelywon’t return as Reacher, and Cruise’s portrayal of Reacher within the film series, Ritchson has clearly assumed complete ownership of the Jack Reacher role, for whichJack Reacherbook series creator Lee Child has described Ritchson’s portrayal of Reacher as being perfect.
If Ritchson attains film stardom on the basis ofReacher, it will be interesting to see how Ritchson’s increased profile might affect how his performance as Reacher is received by audiences and critics in upcoming seasons. As the star baggage that Cruise, whodidn’t work as Reacher, brought to the role proved to be as much of a distraction to many people as Cruise’s diminutive frame, the relatively unknown Ritchson enteredReacherwith a clean slate.
Indeed, one of the most enjoyable aspects of watchingReacherso far has been the revelation that within the star ofReacherlurks a fine actor.
