Few action-centric television shows measure up to Reacher. Most of the episodes of the hit television series feature an exciting action or fight scene. The action scenes in Reacher heavily lean toward gritty, grounded realism over flash and style. Additionally, the show’s best fight sequences externalize the persona of its titular hero, Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), as an individual. It’s time to take a deeper dive into the fight sequences of Reacher and what they say about the action-packed series.
‘Reacher’s Action Scenes Favor Substance Over Style
The action scenes in Reacher are unconcerned with dramatic flair, showcasing the brutal elimination of a threatening opponent as quickly as possible. Reacher is not looking for style points when he fights a thug or assailant. His main objective usually entails taking out his opponent without allowing them to do the same. Reacher must quickly finish his adversary before they can get a strike off, or before they can reach for a gun or weapon. For example, let’s take a look at the prison fight from the series premiere, “Welcome to Margrave.” During the fight scene, Reacher quickly realizes that he and Paul Hubble (Marc Bendavid) are about to be attacked by several inmates in a prison bathroom. Reacher surmises that the only way they can survive the encounter is by fighting.
The fight scene in the prison bathroom lasts under two minutes, and Reacher manages to incapacitate and eliminate the threat of all four inmates. He always remembers to keep an eye on their improvised prison knife and keeps it away from him at all times. Reacher jams his thumb into the eye socket of one of the thugs and then snaps his arm to make him drop his knife. He then proceeds to ram another man into the wall and snaps the prisoner’s ankle. In record time, Reacher stops the danger before the prison guards finally appear to survey the carnage. It was a dirty and ugly fight because Reacher understood the stakes.
Before the fight starts, Reacher warns the inmates he will count to three, and he throws the first strike before he finishes the count to catch the prisoners off guard. Reacher understands he is not taking part in a fair fight, so he will not fight fairly either. He’s a former soldier and a finely honed weapon, and he wants to find any means necessary to eliminate the threat to his livelihood as quickly and efficiently as possible. The fight scenes in Reacher favor a realistic quality. The action is always grounded in reality, aside from some rare moments of Reacher’s insane feats of strength, which can be explained away as his blood pumping from heightened levels of adrenaline. Reacher does not seek to win a fight by style points, which emulates how he lives life.
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The Fight Scenes in ‘Reacher’ Match the Hero’s Personality
Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald) sums up Jack Reacher pretty earnestly in the first episode of the series, when she serves him a cup of coffee while holding him on suspicion of murder. Of course, Reacher only likes to drink his coffee black, no cream, and no sugar.
Conklin says that she assumed he would like it black, saying that he seems like a “no-nonsense guy,” and that cream and sugar are nonsense. In this moment, Conklin accurately summarizes the laconic Reacher: he’s a simple, practical, and pragmatic individual. He has no use for fast cars, wealth, fancy clothes, or expensive food. He goes where he pleases with just a toothbrush and the clothes on his back. Reacher is a down-to-earth man who leads a utilitarian life. Reacher’s fighting style matches his no-frills, no-nonsense personality.
Similarly, much like how he lives his life, Reacher doesn’t fight with style or grace. His method comes from his years of field experience and time as a military police officer, during which he often investigated and pursued highly dangerous criminals. Reacher also served during the Iraq War, where he once killed three men who were abusing young children, and shot the assailants when they came to Reacher’s quarters seeking to kill him. Reacher has no moral qualms about killing another human being, but since he abides by a strict moral code to only kill irredeemable bad guys, it never weighs on his conscience. The only thoughts and moral anguish Reacher experiences concern his friends, relatives, and people close to him. Reacher never hesitates while he fights. There’s never any wasted motion. Every move he makes has a purpose, and that shows in the character’s fight sequences.
‘Reacher’ Sometimes Resembles a Slasher Killer
There are a few exceptions to Reacher’s typical fight scenes that showcase a grounded, no-nonsense style. In those other episodes, Reacher resembles a slasher-killer from a horror film, but he flips that character archetype because he always targets the bad guys or “evil” individuals. The fight scene at the Hubble household in Episode 7, “Reacher Said Nothing,” exemplifies this when Reacher fights the kill squad that left a trail of victims throughout Margrave. The way Reacher stalks and sneaks up on his opponents almost resembles Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th or Michael Myers from Halloween. These are the scenes where Reacher almost appears inhumanely terrifying, but they demonstrate an amusing inversion of the slasher-killer trope. They present Reacher as a type of righteous boogeyman who targets criminals, and he is there to dispense them with some violent justice.
‘Reacher’s Fight Scenes Get Better Each Season
Reacher’s exciting fight scenes appear to be getting better and more unique each season. No two action scenes in the show are alike, and they always provide unique variations. This is demonstrated in the third season, based on the book Persuader. In the Season 3 finale, “Unfinished Business,” Reacher fights Paul Van Hoven (Olivier Richters), the right-hand man and muscle of the main villain, Xavier Quinn (Brian Tee). Finally, Reacher is forced to fight an even bigger opponent. Once again, the prolonged fight sequence with Paulie reflects the show’s grounded take on the action, as Reacher must outwit a stronger opponent.
With the way Reacher depicts its fight scenes, we cannot wait to see what’s in store for the character in Season 4. The season is currently in production and is based on Gone Tomorrow, the thirteenth book in the Lee Child book series. However, Ritchson will first reprise his role as Reacher in the upcoming spin-off, Neagley, which is set to premiere on Prime Video later this year.
Reacher
- Release Date
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February 3, 2022
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Nick Santora
