Shannon Pincombe

There are times you see Alan(Reacher) looking straight at the edge of the camera lens, a deliberate ploy by an actor to make the viewer feel as if he's talking directly to them, and his gaze barely drifts in an almost casual yet purposeful manner. Watch Morgan Freeman in 'Shawshank' he does it a lot which indicates a character is going through the motions of either thinking about something in real time or has just slipped a realization into a concept previously constructed. Adding to the equation. The way this is used in this show is immense. Why 'immense', well, aside from the obvious Reacher filling the screen, he conveys an urgency and importance to us so so well. I loved Cruise in the movies as he is the quintessential 'realism' actor (that fall from the roof at the end of 'Never Go Back'....everybody felt that. But, Alan IS Reacher. The ensemble cast is great, love their by play, but an entire Reacher season could just be Alan lone wolfing a plot against a formidable enemy, injuries, downtime, struggle and lots more gore and we'd all be along for the ride no matter what. The man is living a role he was virtually made to play. It's a shame Amazon wants to remove the realistic physical aspects of such brutal combat. Bodies don't end up looking like they do in this series as they would after a real firefight....or a one on one punch on with Reacher. There'd be WAY MORE BLOOD. Just a bit more realism please Amazon. I recall the prison shower fight from season one. Lots of snapping, normal Foley work for a fight scene but the faces would've looked a hell of a lot worse. Faces don't like being hit or stomped that hard by a beast like Reacher. If I could figure out how to take half a star from my rating I would....for this. Skin and bone burst when hit hard. Reacher hits blokes and they end up with split lips. No way! There'd be skull fractures and loads of torn nasal, lip, eye skin, split foreheads etc. Please give us real. The books. Well...you can't do the complete books. Keep up the good work.

There are some sublime scenes here. Some beautiful set pieces and the acting is top notch. Paul McGann is such a great actor. He shines in this. Richard E Grant has some amazing moments and his ability to switch moods mid scene is such a delight. Very funny. Very, very funny. The ensemble cast cannot be faulted. Even the ladies in the cafe and cake shop are perfectly cast. A brilliant movie.