3 Years Later, Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher Remains the Only Version to Show His Real Superpower

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For sheer entertainment value, Prime Video’s Reacher is one of the best shows currently on television. Over three seasons, Alan Ritchson’s portrayal of the wandering crime solver has won over a huge global fanbase. With a fourth season confirmed, it looks like Jack Reacher will continue to solve mysteries and take down bad guys for a good while yet.

As fans know, this isn’t the first attempt to adapt Jack Reacher for the screen. Tom Cruise starred in Jack Reacher (2012) and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016), which upset some viewers. Many also felt those films failed to capture a key aspect of the character effectively.

Reacher’s Size Difference Between Ritchson and Cruise Matters

Comparing Alan Ritchson’s portrayal of Reacher to Tom Cruise’s, the most noticeable difference is their size. Before landing the role, Ritchson was known for parts in shows like Smallville, Titans, and Blue Mountain State, while Cruise has been a major movie star for the past forty years. Cruise brought a convincing energy to the character, delivering both impressive action and charm.

A major issue with casting Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher was his height – he didn’t meet the physical requirement from the books. While Cruise could convincingly play Reacher’s intelligence, his height always needed to be addressed. The novels emphasize Reacher’s strategic fighting style – assessing his surroundings and using calculated force – and the films attempted to capture that. However, Cruise’s shorter stature impacted the character’s imposing presence.

Alan Ritchson’s impressive size and strength are central to the character of Reacher, making his physicality a key part of what makes the role work. While he was already in great shape for shows like Titans, he took it to another level for Reacher. The amount of muscle he gained for the first season was remarkable, and he’s continued to build on that, appearing even more massive in each subsequent season.

Playing the role of Jack Reacher, or a UFC fighter with an impressively muscular physique, is visually striking. However, what truly distinguishes this Reacher from the portrayal by Tom Cruise is his effective use of his size and strength, a key element also present in the original books.

Cruise’s Fight Scenes Were Good, But Ritchson’s Translate Reacher’s Combat Perfectly

The movie Jack Reacher features two fight scenes that come close to capturing the brutal, yet skilled, combat from the books. However, Tom Cruise’s size makes them feel a little less impactful. The first scene shows Reacher facing off against a local troublemaker and his friends outside a bar. Reacher gives them a final chance to leave, warning them he’ll severely beat three of them and scare the others away. But they don’t listen, and Reacher quickly takes care of the situation.

This fight scene is genuinely exciting and impressively staged. The instructor trained Tom Cruise in Keysi, a fighting style focused on head protection combined with close-range strikes using elbows, knees, and fists. However, the scene doesn’t quite match the character of Reacher from the books or the show, as Reacher typically takes the initiative and doesn’t wait to be attacked.

The previous Reacher adaptations often showed the hero waiting for an opponent to make the first move before retaliating and defeating them. However, Alan Ritchson’s portrayal is different. He’s quick to proactively use force, even headbutting enemies mid-conversation. This contrasts with Tom Cruise’s approach, which emphasized protecting the head while fighting. Essentially, Ritchson’s Reacher is more aggressive and physically imposing, and he isn’t afraid to use his head as a weapon.

If this situation were real, Reacher would have immediately attacked the man as they left the bar, using both powerful force and calculated technique. He’d quickly handle the man’s friends while they were still disoriented. Reacher’s military background taught him that a fair fight doesn’t exist.

He doesn’t believe in giving bullies multiple opportunities to change their behavior. He prefers to stop things quickly before they escalate. Essentially, his approach is about being fast, direct, and powerfully decisive. He defeats his opponents swiftly and efficiently, and he dislikes any unnecessary showboating before a confrontation.

Reacher Is a Master of Pre-Fight Analysis and Environmental Awareness

However, the film deserves credit for another well-done action sequence, clearly influenced by the Reacher novels, but with a clever twist. In a key scene, Reacher is ambushed and hit with a baseball bat, sending him stumbling into a small bathroom. His attackers then try to finish him off with the bat and a crowbar, but the cramped space causes them to constantly hit each other, giving Reacher the upper hand.

Reacher typically wins fights with brutal, direct methods – he’s not afraid to seriously injure an opponent to survive. However, in this case, the setting itself unexpectedly helps him, which feels out of character. Reacher usually relies on his own skills, not luck or circumstance.

He doesn’t realize something’s wrong until he’s attacked, and it’s not because of any clever planning on his part. Unlike the character in the books and TV show, this Reacher doesn’t set traps or intentionally lead enemies into confined spaces. He simply gets lucky and manages to use his surroundings to defend himself – it’s a matter of chance, not strategic skill.

This scene is a huge contrast to the tense standoff at the Hubble house in the show’s first season. Here, Reacher expertly prepares for an attack, dressing in military gear and camouflage. He systematically eliminates a team sent to find him, using the darkness to his advantage. Knowing he was outnumbered, Reacher relied on careful planning and preparation to level the playing field. The sequence brilliantly showcased his control of the surroundings, while also leaving room for quick thinking – like when he used a fruit bowl as a weapon and another attacker as cover.

Actually, many scenes in Ritchson’s show better showcase his talent. For example, there’s a Season 1 fight on a fire escape where he defeats his opponent by using their own tie. The Season 3 finale also features a great brawl against a rare adversary who is physically stronger than Reacher. In the end, it wasn’t brute force that took the bigger man down, but a trap Reacher had set earlier – a blocked machine gun barrel.

The actors perfectly captured the essence of Child’s character, which is why fans will always have a soft spot for the show. While Tom Cruise may have adjusted Reacher to fit a typical movie hero mold, Alan Ritchson’s portrayal stayed completely true to the original character, and that’s a real strength.

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2025-12-15 23:11