Kafka. Kubrick. Stravinsky. Sometimes we turn to culture for edifying insight that speaks to the plight of humanity and the troubling truths and moral complexity of the universe which we inhabit. Jack Reacher, it has to be said, isn’t like that.
For decades fans have been drawn in their many millions to keep coming back to the mega-selling thriller series by Lee Child in the sure knowledge that they are escaping to a simple world in which good will ultimately triumph over evil, albeit with not insignificant helpings of delicious sheer mayhem along the way. The uninitiated should be warned: do not underestimate Child’s craft. His books boast peerlessly honed prose as clean as a freshly swept marble floor.
After the enormous sales made cinema adaptations inevitable, Hollywood faced what you might call a sizeable challenge: who could possibly play Reacher, described by Child as a 6’ 5” crime-fighting mountain of muscle? The surprising answer for two movies was Tom Cruise, who was judged by many readers to have fallen disappointingly short of expectation on the physique front. For this was the pint-sized superstar who’d struggled to match eye-lines with Kelly McGillis for their smooching scenes in Top Gun. (Or let me put it another way: he may actually be even as short as me.)
But the new screen incarnation is a very different matter. Amazon Prime’s series Jack Reacher is delightfully easy viewing for those in search of the better sort of trash and gives us a star who almost matches the dimensions of the hero of our imaginations. Alan Ritchson may be three inches short of Reacher’s height on paper but, bulked up with muscles on top of his muscles, no one’s cavilling.
In fact, as I sit back and relish the action, there’s really only one thing missing - relatability. Whether or not Reacher is now or has ever been a shulgoer, or indeed what faith he follows, doesn’t really come up in the few moments when the fists stop flying and the guns fall silent, but I can’t remember many blonde-haired hulking nordic giants hanging around my old neighbourhood.
That’s where Netflix’s Fauda comes into its own: yes, we love the gripping drama and the arresting air of realism, but it also helps to have in Lior Raz an action star who you might even mistake for an ordinary mortal. Not only has he never had to stoop going through doorways, but he’s also topped with a pleasingly shiny palate. We in the folically challenged community (we prefer not to use that disparaging ‘b’ word) cherish our few heroes when we can find them.
All the world needs now is a match-up between the two universes. In one corner, Jack Reacher would surely be the favourite, but in the other stands Fauda’s dour anti-hero Doron, standing ready to upset expectations thanks to Raz’s genuine special forces skills. Quite how the story would bring these two up against each other...Lord knows, but frankly, who cares. Come on Jeff Bezos, Netflix - we’re waiting.
