Line #7 YMMV/JackReacher


1	!!The books:
2	* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/JackReacher here]].
3	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
4	** Neagley, Reacher's DistaffCounterpart and one of his few platonic close female acquaintances. She is the most frequently seen recurring character and gets an AdaptationalEarlyAppearance in the show.
5	** Dave O'Donnell, a former comrade of Reacher and Neagley, is only in one book but is quite popular for being a meticulous investigator who never goes anywhere without a knife in one pocket and brass knuckles in the other.
6	** Holly Johnson from ''Die Trying'', due to being a decently developed love interest and jaw-dropping HandicappedBadass.
7	** In ''One Shot'', RetiredBadass Sgt. Cash is a very popular minor ally, especially after Creator/RobertDuvall played him in the 2012 movie.
8	** South Dakota policemen Peterson and Holland, VoiceWithAnInternetConnection Susan Turner, and CoolOldLady Janet Salter from ''61 Hours'' all tend to rate very highly among Reacher's supporting characters and [[spoiler:most fans were not happy that all of them except Turner (who becomes a recurring character) die in the book and that Holland doesn’t get his morally grey moments as TheMole explored more and ends up a full-blown villain.]]
9	* HarsherInHindsight: In the second book, the main FBI character, while telling his boss about two men helping him, lists their not complaining about the FBI salaries as among their best qualities and is jokingly asked if he can clone them. Later, Reacher theorizes there is a corrupt FBI agent and asks Holly which ones don't complain about the salaries, or rather which ones have enough money from potentially illegals sources that they don't ''need'' to complain about the salaries anymore.
10	* HesJustHiding: in ''Bad Luck and Trouble'' Sanchez is the only member of Reacher's old unit captured by the BigBad whose body isn't found, with some hope being held out throughout the book, with the possibility of his survival even being used to lure characters into a trap. [[spoiler:This becomes AscendedFanon when added into one of the ambiguously cannon ''Hunt For Jack Reacher'' novels by Diane Capri, although it also gives him a FaceHeelTurn and feels very unfaithful to the characters in general.]]
11	* {{Padding}}: Child can get pretty obsessive about cataloging every single facet of a character's appearance, or a room, regardless of anything important to the story.
12	* RomanticPlotTumor: Reacher's romances with the GirlOfTheWeek are not exactly the most intriguing part of the series.
13	* SalvagedStory: The [[ImmediateSequel quasi-trilogy]] formed by ''61 Hours'', ''Worth Dying For'' and ''A Wanted Man'' seems designed to address issues fans were having with the series. Reacher's {{Flanderization}} into a superhuman machine is dialed back significantly, as in all three books he expresses more emotion, makes mistakes, gets injured, needs help from others, and even [[spoiler:fails to save someone he swore to protect, which causes an outright HeroicBSOD]]; in general being brought back to a much more human character. The [[RomanticPlotTumor Romantic Plot Tumors]] are also excised completely, as Reacher doesn't hook up with any of the female characters in any of the three books, keeping the plot firmly focused on the mystery and action. And it worked, with ''Worth Dying For'' in particular generally considered one of the best of the whole series.
14	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
15	** Lamarr of ''The Visitor'' was unattractive, uncharismatic, and had no attraction or chemistry with Reacher. [[spoiler:She turned out to be a sociopathic antagonist.]] Many readers expressed that they would have rather seen her as an atypical GirlOfTheWeek to Reacher and avoided the typical RomanticPlotTumor that often plagues the books, but instead she's replaced by Lisa Harper, who's not much different or memorable than any other GirlOfTheWeek.
16	** PosthumousCharacter Stan Lowrey inspired a lot of interest in ''Bad Luck and Trouble'' due to being an urban investigator who retired to be a farmer and loved it. However, he died in a random accident some time before the book and only makes one minor appearance in one of the books set during Reacher’s military service.
17	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Often, TheReveal about what's going on doesn't live up to all of Reacher's intense speculation about it throughout the book:
18	** ''Nothing To Lose'' is a major example, with the teasing of multiple factions in the TownWithADarkSecret ultimately being brushed aside for something else.
19	** ''The Killing Floor'' has a witness describe early on how the criminal conspiracy has ten full-time members. This might have provided a clever and intense challenge out of identifying those ten if four of them hadn't been ObviouslyEvil, while four others weren't even named or described that well (two are only seen from a distance briefly, opening and closing a gate, before Reacher fights them).
20	----
21	!!The film:
22	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
23	** The accused sniper. Did he [[SummonBiggerFish call Jack Reacher in ]] because EvenEvilHasStandards, as suggested by his partially guilt-driven breakdown upon waking up thinking he committed the crime? Or did he just want to ensure that his framers experienced TakingYouWithMe?
24	** A bit of Meta-Alternate Interpretation. The book Jack Reacher swaggers around because he's a huge mountain of muscle. By making that character played by Tom Cruise, it comes off more as Jack Reacher is TheNapoleon.
25	* CompleteMonster: [[RuthlessForeignGangsters The Zec]] is a former Gulag inmate turned crime lord defined by his belief that one will do anything to survive. To cover up his corrupt dealings, the Zec has [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget a target assassinated with four other innocent people]], [[FrameUp framing]] an innocent former marine to get him the death penalty. Trying to have Reacher and the patsy's attorney murdered, [[BadBoss the Zec]] shows his true brutality by attempting to force [[YouHaveFailedMe failed]] henchmen to bite off their own fingers. When one man fails, the Zec reveals this is wholly routine and nobody ever passes, before having him shot.
26	* {{Narm}}:
27	** Might be the only time you'll hear someone in a modern film actually say, with no hint of irony, "I'm not a hero. I'm a drifter with nothing to lose." Although Creator/TomCruise's delivery [[NarmCharm arguably makes it work.]]
28	** Creator/TomCruise for the most part can pull off AbilityOverAppearance, but when a receptionist paints him as the guy who can kill a woman with his bare hands while hinting it is obvious by the looks of him, it's kind of ridiculous given Tom Cruise isn't exactly visually a powerhouse.
29	* OneSceneWonder:
30	** Creator/RobertDuvall as the one guy in the world who can converse on Reacher's level, though technically he appears in at least three scenes.
31	** Creator/WernerHerzog only has a couple of scenes as the main villain but, being Werner Herzog, he makes one hell of an impact.
32	* QuestionableCasting:
33	** Creator/TomCruise was cast as a protagonist known for being a towering mountain of muscle. Not exactly what fans of the books were expecting.
34	** ''Creator/WernerHerzog'' plays the BigBad? Though that's probably the IntendedAudienceReaction and more or less what the BigBad was going for.
35	* SignatureScene: The street fight and car chase.
36	* TaintedByThePreview: Fans of the books were livid about Creator/TomCruise's casting, as he looks absolutely nothing like the Reacher of the books (most notably, Reacher is huge, and his size is often an important part of his characterization). Some fans did later admit that Cruise at least did a good job, and that even if he doesn't look like him, he does in fact ''feel'' quite a bit like Book!Reacher. Author Lee Child himself said that Cruise nailed Reacher's attitude and character, which was more important than looking like he was described in the book

Context YMMV / JackReacher