Amazon Prime thriller hailed ‘one of the best action shows ever’ drops 3 new episodes

Amazon Prime’s reliable dad-core hit Reacher is back for a fourth high-octane and occasionally silly season.

Man mountain Alan Ritchson stars as the titular Jack Reacher, who embarks on another mission that involves deadly violence and a smattering of Arnie-style quips.

This time around, Reacher ends up with more than he bargained for when he comes across a woman crying on a subway train, shortly before she shoots herself.

From there, Reacher is plunged into a conspiracy, which includes dodgy politicians and someone who needs a bone marrow transplant for leukaemia, all with the retired copper at the centre of it, trying to set the record straight.

The first three episodes of this latest season have now dropped on Amazon Prime and several reviews have promised it is a return to form for Reacher, who was first brought to the page in Lee Child’s hit series of books.

After the novels flew off the shelves in the millions, Tom Cruise starred as Jack Reacher on the big screen, and now Ritchson has immortalised him in an adaptation many have ranked among the best action series of all time.

The first season premiered back in February 2022 to a modest reception, but it became the first Amazon original series to top Nielsen’s streaming ratings the week after its premiere.

Showrunner Nick Santora has adapted Child’s novel Gone Tomorrow for this fourth season, with the familiar blend of Reacher’s preternatural fighting ability and bone-dry wit thrown in.

The Rotten Tomatoes score for the season has so far put this outing of Reacher at 88 per cent, which is admittedly high, but worth noting it is the lowest of the show so far.

While some critics have suggested the formula that brought viewers in for Reacher is growing stale, others have said the show is back to its best – critics, they love to have a Marmite opinion!

One rave review in Roger Ebert suggested it ‘might be the best yet’, adding: ‘It has everything that launched Reacher into a monster hit: compelling cases, brutal high-octane action, three-dimensional characters with stakes, killer quips and a lead who straddles the four quadrants like a deadpan yet sexy and highly skilled blend of Batman and the Punisher.

‘In season 4, Reacher enhances all the elements that action-thriller fans love about the series, using its tropes and style to peak effect.’

The Radio Times had another gushing review, awarding it five stars. The write-up said: ‘It might be the best Reacher team yet, with each member of it espousing, in a different way, the series’s philosophy of refusing to take no for an answer if that answer is given in bad faith by a dodgy authority figure. 

‘As for Reacher himself, his deadpan humour remains impeccable. Watching him deliberately give literal answers to stupid questions never gets old, and neither does the pleasure he takes in insulting people immediately if they set off his finely tuned pomposity radar. 

‘We’re here for the dry wit as much as we are the extreme violence.’