From being described as 'painfully heterosexual' to wanting Alan Ritchson to crush his head with his thighs. James has had such incredible character development
I feel like we book people need to be more comfortable with saying when we think an adaptation actually did a better job than the source material. Obviously the opposite is true more often but I've watched several movies/shows where I've felt they handled the storytelling better than their book counterparts. I recently went back to school to study creative writing and I remember vaguely at the beginning of the course it talking about how one of your considerations as a writer should be what format your story can be best told in. I think some stories that initially get written as novels actually just fit the screen format better, which is why they seem to improve in a different medium
My favorite "Better than the book" is True Blood. It was still a hot mess but the changes it made for at least the Alan Ball seasons were better than the book. Spoilers for this old ass show I guess Biggest things were keeping Layfette alive, and not having Eric's maker be a pedo. And in general shortening a lot of the nonsense down etc.
My semiotics teacher in college once said that mediocre books where more likely to be turned into good films/tv shows that "great" books because a "great" book is great because it makes full use of the resources of its medium and that makes it difficult to adapt without loosing more than half of what makes the book unique. Bad or mediocre book on the other hand have a lot of room for improvement when translated to a new medium. His example was _The Godfather,_ an awful book turned into a masterpiece film
I love the Jack Reacher TV show. And the first movie with Tom Cruise. The second not so much, felt it was the wrong choice of book to adapt. It had too many moving parts. I still never felt any of them were better then the books personally. The only thing that were better on the screen, were the fight scenes. The action. But everything else? Book is the better format for me. Mainly because I prefer how I imagine and interpret the scenes. But yes. People should be comfortable with admitting when they think an adaptation does a better job. But as with most, if not all things entertainment, it's all a matter of perspective.
The Reacher series is the epitome of male drag. It is my classic example when i need to explain what exaggerated masculinity for drag is like. I will die on this hill.
As an autistic person who enjoys the Reacher novels as the book equivalent of fast food, I never really noticed Reacher was autistic coded until you mentioned it. My brain works in such a similar way it seemed entirely normal to me I wonder if Lee Child is autistic
As an autistic person myself, actually someone of similar size to Reacher (6'5"), I think the show portrayed Reacher very well. He's very blunt, he has an unconventional train of thought that naturally lets him connect dots other people have trouble with, while still having difficulties with various things that most people don't really think about, with the same applying to very specific knowledge as well as lacking some general knowledge, and he's very much so a man of relatively few words who prefers to just get straight to the point. Pretty much all of these things I myself do relate to, and I think what you said about his size informing his character is actually pretty on the nose. He is a massive man, who naturally has a certain intimidation factor that is just kind of there. I do agree that he is a bit *too* perfect at those things though. I like to think of myself as a pretty smart person, but I would never be able to half of the logical conclusions that he found, at least not nearly that fast. I think one thing that the show could have definitely included to great effect was a "let down the guard" moment. I know that the events of season 1, especially in the latter portion, moved at a pace that needed Reacher to be on guard at nearly all times, but I think such a scene would have been amazing in the first half of the season. I'll say this as a guy who very much so relates to the way Reacher carries himself in public, it's tiring. I'm very much pulling from my own experiences here, but being someone who naturally looks and acts different in a way where you just kind of exist independent of everything around you is *tiring*, and when I get home I absolutely just crumple onto the nearest comfortable surface. I'd love to have seen a scene where Reacher's alone, he closes the door or the window and his perfect posture just lets up. He falls back into a chair or his bed and just lays there for a bit. It doesn't need to last long, but just a moment where the man actually recharges would have really reinforced him as a great character to me.
I (29) watched this with my dad (70’s) and I hadn’t read the books and he hadn’t seen many modern remakes and it was a great memory for books and source material
The best definition of Reacher books I gave to an ex-girlfriend: It is trashy romance for men. Also, even the rare Reacher books with continuity are self-contained and yes, the series is better, only it erases the popular headcanon that Reacher is in the spectrum. I do believe that the prose is obnoxious because these books are supposed to be read by people who may not pay too much attentions, so things are forshadowed strongly and then recounted for people who paid too little attention.
Otherwise known as the video where James's intrusive thoughts tried to take over. I mean. I don't know what I'm talking about, I heard nothing out of the ordinary, I swear.
I'm kinda annoyed both seasons center around stuff from Reacher's past, which is worse in season 2 where his human-sized friends constantly steal screen time from him in the action scenes.
Completely unrelated, but I think you'd enjoy Godfell. It's a comic miniseries with some great fantasy worldbuilding, and some great fight scenes. It's set in a world where a dead God fell out of the sky and forced a sort of treaty between warring factions who are now trying to take control of the corpse--from inside said corpse. It's a fun read, and one of the few comics where I was really couldn't wait for the next issue. It's fully complete now, and there's a collection coming out (soon, I think) so you don't have to try to find all 6 issues. And the whole thing is short enough to read in an afternoon, what with it being a miniseries and all.
By season 2, I don't like the show. Even in season 1, the fights were accommodating to Reacher, like when he was being hit with crowbars or when he gave a complete rookie a gun and it just works. In season 2, they make it clear that no one stands a chance against him, and sometimes they don't even bother bringing guns. They just get folded (Reacher seems to be as strong as Captain America). Knowing that all of the fights are guaranteed to go one way makes them boring. Especially with the uncompelling villains. On top of that, I think season 2 has the soul of a bad cop show. The characters take insane risks, like chucking a pipe bomb into a house _based on a hunch_ , or driving a car into an office to find everything, even the server room, unlocked. It feels lazy and a little mean spirited with how reckless violence is always justified. Also, the season 2 cast revolves around Reacher, like in the books. Season 1 wasn't all bad, but I wasn't that impressed by the choreography (some of it was just silly/accommodating), and the good pacing makes the series consumable, but not necessarily memorable.
Hey, after watching this video, and your top 10 action scenes in books, I think you'll LOVE this book I'm working on. Can you give it a read and review when I'm done?
don't be, as someone who has literally only watched season 1 and read the book season 2 will be based on, it's a great thing it's not going in order. there's no reason for it to and the book they are moving onto is seriously incredible!
I love the Reacher books (with a few exceptions) but I completely agree the character is better in the TV show than in the books. As well as nailing the arsehole vibe, there are times when Ritchson comes across as funny and likeable, which is something the book version almost never does. Even when delivering the same lines the book version just seems blunt and void of humour, while that's not the case in the TV show. You can understand why he gets the girl, and why some people are so loyal to him in the show, whereas in the books it is just a thing that happens and it was never completely clear to me why. Can't wait for season two.
I wasn't a fan of the show(didnt read the book) the first episode is the first time a show has actively made me think "this is cringe power fantasy" before a fight has even happen
Felt the same way, honestly. I've seen all the episodes, and Reacher A. Never meets a physical threat and B. Is right about nearly every single conjecture, even ones that don't make sense. On top of that, season 2 feels like a regular cop show.
@@JamesTullos Hey, after watching this video, and your top 10 action scenes in books, I think you'll LOVE this book I'm working on. Can you give it a read and review when I'm done?
5:44 aHEM, *obviously* I have much more refined taste than either of these two groups of people because *I* know Alan Ritchson from the Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies
Yes, the first book was okay, but reading it after having seen the series first I can definitely see where the adaptation smoothed out so many rough edges. The later books losing the first-person angle were just bad IMHO, so it's only up from here!
Forced myself through the first three Reacher novels because people kept telling me they were so good. I found them to be extremely low-grade airport fare that were formulaic from the start and also lazily researched. I understand the author is a Brit that had never been to the US and he started writing them decades ago, but surely he could have asked someone about important bits like the US military, weapons, etc. I preferred the Tom Cruise movies for the simple fact that they demanded a lot less of my time.
I would definitely recommend the show. I couldn't survive reading the first book. The author also used to be a TV screenwriter, which made sense in how he wrote his book. Also, I guess the actor likes playing as a dick. 🤣
Why don’t people talk about him in Titans that’s literally the only place I remeber him like the show wasn’t good but it wasn’t that awful it does seem like the people that made it hated DC but he was great in it honestly
So you took the worst of the books and compared it to the series, like the series writers didn't have 16 books to base their Reacher on? I for one like the books better, mainly because all the action filling is just boring to me.
Eh I think the books are better. The dialogue works better for me in written as compared to when someone says it. Also Reacher in shows seems more emotional or something. When he tries to put together pieces of puzzle in the show, it just feels corny and cringy as compared to doing the same thing in novel. Idk it's been a while since I read these books
The book is great as is the show. Last clip was Thad not reacher when describing reacher as an ahole so not great work here I stopped watching after that
From being described as 'painfully heterosexual' to wanting Alan Ritchson to crush his head with his thighs. James has had such incredible character development
Alan Ritchson has that effect on people
It's not gay, it's just the evolutionary urge to submit to the alpha in the room.
@@yakubduncan9019is this supposed to be ironic or are you a weirdo
@@reptilesarecool6739Yes
I feel like we book people need to be more comfortable with saying when we think an adaptation actually did a better job than the source material. Obviously the opposite is true more often but I've watched several movies/shows where I've felt they handled the storytelling better than their book counterparts. I recently went back to school to study creative writing and I remember vaguely at the beginning of the course it talking about how one of your considerations as a writer should be what format your story can be best told in. I think some stories that initially get written as novels actually just fit the screen format better, which is why they seem to improve in a different medium
My favorite "Better than the book" is True Blood. It was still a hot mess but the changes it made for at least the Alan Ball seasons were better than the book.
Spoilers for this old ass show I guess
Biggest things were keeping Layfette alive, and not having Eric's maker be a pedo. And in general shortening a lot of the nonsense down etc.
My semiotics teacher in college once said that mediocre books where more likely to be turned into good films/tv shows that "great" books because a "great" book is great because it makes full use of the resources of its medium and that makes it difficult to adapt without loosing more than half of what makes the book unique. Bad or mediocre book on the other hand have a lot of room for improvement when translated to a new medium. His example was _The Godfather,_ an awful book turned into a masterpiece film
Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, the film is at least as good as the book if not more
I love the Jack Reacher TV show. And the first movie with Tom Cruise. The second not so much, felt it was the wrong choice of book to adapt. It had too many moving parts.
I still never felt any of them were better then the books personally. The only thing that were better on the screen, were the fight scenes. The action. But everything else? Book is the better format for me. Mainly because I prefer how I imagine and interpret the scenes.
But yes. People should be comfortable with admitting when they think an adaptation does a better job. But as with most, if not all things entertainment, it's all a matter of perspective.
I'm here as the 'person whose mum is the parent who loves Jack Reacher' representative.
The Reacher series is the epitome of male drag. It is my classic example when i need to explain what exaggerated masculinity for drag is like. I will die on this hill.
Yes, there are Jack Reacher books at my house that belong to my dad.
As an autistic person who enjoys the Reacher novels as the book equivalent of fast food, I never really noticed Reacher was autistic coded until you mentioned it. My brain works in such a similar way it seemed entirely normal to me
I wonder if Lee Child is autistic
Possible.
As an autistic person myself, actually someone of similar size to Reacher (6'5"), I think the show portrayed Reacher very well. He's very blunt, he has an unconventional train of thought that naturally lets him connect dots other people have trouble with, while still having difficulties with various things that most people don't really think about, with the same applying to very specific knowledge as well as lacking some general knowledge, and he's very much so a man of relatively few words who prefers to just get straight to the point. Pretty much all of these things I myself do relate to, and I think what you said about his size informing his character is actually pretty on the nose. He is a massive man, who naturally has a certain intimidation factor that is just kind of there.
I do agree that he is a bit *too* perfect at those things though. I like to think of myself as a pretty smart person, but I would never be able to half of the logical conclusions that he found, at least not nearly that fast.
I think one thing that the show could have definitely included to great effect was a "let down the guard" moment. I know that the events of season 1, especially in the latter portion, moved at a pace that needed Reacher to be on guard at nearly all times, but I think such a scene would have been amazing in the first half of the season. I'll say this as a guy who very much so relates to the way Reacher carries himself in public, it's tiring. I'm very much pulling from my own experiences here, but being someone who naturally looks and acts different in a way where you just kind of exist independent of everything around you is *tiring*, and when I get home I absolutely just crumple onto the nearest comfortable surface. I'd love to have seen a scene where Reacher's alone, he closes the door or the window and his perfect posture just lets up. He falls back into a chair or his bed and just lays there for a bit. It doesn't need to last long, but just a moment where the man actually recharges would have really reinforced him as a great character to me.
It's comforting to see that James and I have the same reaction to Reacher's pretty face and muscles
Didn’t expect this to be so revealing but I’m here for these great mental images.
(Wait, did I type that out loud?)
So I only checked this video out because my dad will not shut up about these books so the "ask your dad" bit took me out lol
Good video. They always get me in the mood to write
My dad is the one who told me about this shit, you are absolutely right he is the guy who loves this stuff
I (29) watched this with my dad (70’s) and I hadn’t read the books and he hadn’t seen many modern remakes and it was a great memory for books and source material
The best definition of Reacher books I gave to an ex-girlfriend: It is trashy romance for men.
Also, even the rare Reacher books with continuity are self-contained and yes, the series is better, only it erases the popular headcanon that Reacher is in the spectrum.
I do believe that the prose is obnoxious because these books are supposed to be read by people who may not pay too much attentions, so things are forshadowed strongly and then recounted for people who paid too little attention.
Otherwise known as the video where James's intrusive thoughts tried to take over.
I mean.
I don't know what I'm talking about, I heard nothing out of the ordinary, I swear.
It sounds more like a mancrush, or special interest.
Always nice when an adaptation manages to use the source material as a rough draft
Didn’t expect so much men thirst on this review… but I’m down for it.
I'm kinda annoyed both seasons center around stuff from Reacher's past, which is worse in season 2 where his human-sized friends constantly steal screen time from him in the action scenes.
The intro song is back:)
You just wanted to do a jack reacher fight compliation. Then disguised it as a 'review.' It's fine we already know your nerdy.
Completely unrelated, but I think you'd enjoy Godfell. It's a comic miniseries with some great fantasy worldbuilding, and some great fight scenes. It's set in a world where a dead God fell out of the sky and forced a sort of treaty between warring factions who are now trying to take control of the corpse--from inside said corpse. It's a fun read, and one of the few comics where I was really couldn't wait for the next issue. It's fully complete now, and there's a collection coming out (soon, I think) so you don't have to try to find all 6 issues. And the whole thing is short enough to read in an afternoon, what with it being a miniseries and all.
By season 2, I don't like the show. Even in season 1, the fights were accommodating to Reacher, like when he was being hit with crowbars or when he gave a complete rookie a gun and it just works. In season 2, they make it clear that no one stands a chance against him, and sometimes they don't even bother bringing guns. They just get folded (Reacher seems to be as strong as Captain America). Knowing that all of the fights are guaranteed to go one way makes them boring. Especially with the uncompelling villains.
On top of that, I think season 2 has the soul of a bad cop show. The characters take insane risks, like chucking a pipe bomb into a house _based on a hunch_ , or driving a car into an office to find everything, even the server room, unlocked. It feels lazy and a little mean spirited with how reckless violence is always justified. Also, the season 2 cast revolves around Reacher, like in the books.
Season 1 wasn't all bad, but I wasn't that impressed by the choreography (some of it was just silly/accommodating), and the good pacing makes the series consumable, but not necessarily memorable.
Hey, after watching this video, and your top 10 action scenes in books, I think you'll LOVE this book I'm working on. Can you give it a read and review when I'm done?
I checked out after the third book, but still I'm kind of bummed that the second season of the show doesn't follows the plot of the second book.
don't be, as someone who has literally only watched season 1 and read the book season 2 will be based on, it's a great thing it's not going in order. there's no reason for it to and the book they are moving onto is seriously incredible!
@@MaxEllSibSwe I'm watching season 2 now and it's awesome hahahaha
Im curious as to how they will adapt Jack Reachers ageless immortality from the books
I love the Reacher books (with a few exceptions) but I completely agree the character is better in the TV show than in the books. As well as nailing the arsehole vibe, there are times when Ritchson comes across as funny and likeable, which is something the book version almost never does. Even when delivering the same lines the book version just seems blunt and void of humour, while that's not the case in the TV show. You can understand why he gets the girl, and why some people are so loyal to him in the show, whereas in the books it is just a thing that happens and it was never completely clear to me why. Can't wait for season two.
I wasn't a fan of the show(didnt read the book) the first episode is the first time a show has actively made me think "this is cringe power fantasy" before a fight has even happen
Felt the same way, honestly. I've seen all the episodes, and Reacher A. Never meets a physical threat and B. Is right about nearly every single conjecture, even ones that don't make sense.
On top of that, season 2 feels like a regular cop show.
The Hunger Games comment is really funny considering I watched all 4 of the OG films again today and yesterday. Did you read my mind, James?
Yes I did. I'm always watching, and always listening.
(Don't turn around.)
Aaaah
@@ComedyPlastic👻
@@JamesTullos Hey, after watching this video, and your top 10 action scenes in books, I think you'll LOVE this book I'm working on. Can you give it a read and review when I'm done?
5:44 aHEM, *obviously* I have much more refined taste than either of these two groups of people because *I* know Alan Ritchson from the Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies
Great video! But maybe cut down on the introductory song a bit, I want a video essay, not an opera
Yes, the first book was okay, but reading it after having seen the series first I can definitely see where the adaptation smoothed out so many rough edges. The later books losing the first-person angle were just bad IMHO, so it's only up from here!
Forced myself through the first three Reacher novels because people kept telling me they were so good. I found them to be extremely low-grade airport fare that were formulaic from the start and also lazily researched. I understand the author is a Brit that had never been to the US and he started writing them decades ago, but surely he could have asked someone about important bits like the US military, weapons, etc. I preferred the Tom Cruise movies for the simple fact that they demanded a lot less of my time.
this video made me realize jack reacher is different from jack ryan
This comment is an offering to the algorithm. But also, good video! I bavent read the books, but interesting to hear the differences between the two
A BMS reference, my day is made.
I would definitely recommend the show. I couldn't survive reading the first book. The author also used to be a TV screenwriter, which made sense in how he wrote his book. Also, I guess the actor likes playing as a dick. 🤣
Hey , he is great at it, through he might be typecast too
james off topic question would you ever consider reviewing a throne of bones by vox day?
I really think you had better keep the moustache.
Ask your Dad? Better ask your Mom and sister. Reacher has a huge female fanbase.
It's not really my cup of tea but I'll listen to you talk about it lol
Slightly gay James has got to be my favorite James lol 😂
I picked up the first book because of how much I enjoyed the show. I will not be reading any more of the books.
Men really private the video while I was trying to watch it, the new one that is not this one
How did you know? My dad is a fan lol
Best wishes
Why don’t people talk about him in Titans that’s literally the only place I remeber him like the show wasn’t good but it wasn’t that awful it does seem like the people that made it hated DC but he was great in it honestly
Positive comment
How do you know the show is better if you haven’t read the book?
Great video. I've read a few of the books, they were mid :)
Truly profound of you to say
So you took the worst of the books and compared it to the series, like the series writers didn't have 16 books to base their Reacher on? I for one like the books better, mainly because all the action filling is just boring to me.
Eh I think the books are better. The dialogue works better for me in written as compared to when someone says it. Also Reacher in shows seems more emotional or something. When he tries to put together pieces of puzzle in the show, it just feels corny and cringy as compared to doing the same thing in novel. Idk it's been a while since I read these books
The book is great as is the show. Last clip was Thad not reacher when describing reacher as an ahole so not great work here I stopped watching after that