Reacher: Season 4 First Reviews: Darker and More Complex, but Packed with Brutal Action
Critics say the new season offers up an intriguing mystery, as well as some of the series' most outstanding action, as it continues to deliver what fans want.
Alan Ritchson is back as Jack Reacher in season 4 of Prime Video’s Reacher, and according to early reviews, it’s arguably the best season yet. While a few critics say its deviations from the source material are ill-advised and decry some of the acting choices, most feel that Ritchson continues to carry the show with his on-screen presence and brutal beatdowns. The new season’s fight scenes are among the highlights, as the show tones down its gunplay in favor of more visceral hand-to-hand battles. At the end of the day, if you’re a fan of the wandering do-gooder with fists of steel and a heart of gold, you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for.
Here’s what critics are saying about Reacher: Season 4:
Throughout its run, the series has gotten increasingly better at blending comedy, action, and intrigue, and that is on full display this season… Reacher Season 4 is all gas, no filler… For this season, the series leans hard into mystery, surprises, and more brutal choreography… That said, this is still a series defined by its action, and in Reacher Season 4, the fights are more brutal, the hits feel harder, and our titular hero is really tested..
— Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho?
Reacher is at its best again in this latest eight-part outing… As always, the mayhem is leavened by the bone-dry, deadpan wit of Ritchson, who’s really grown into the role of Reacher… if someone that enormous can actually grow any more. Wonderfully entertaining..
— Pat Stacey, Irish Independent
It’s more muscular and unforgiving than ever… Season 4 of Reacher continues the show’s trend of delivering intriguing mysteries elevated by thrilling, aggressive action, showcasing Ritchson’s impressive physicality while introducing a fantastic assortment of new characters… Narratively, [this season] is the most intricate so far. There are many moving parts — too many, perhaps — and not all make sense. Yet, the mystery itself is so compelling that any weak spots are easy to forgive… The fight scenes are gritty and savage… Season 4 also delivers Reacher’s best and most elaborate action set pieces.
— David Caballero, Collider
Season 4 may not be the franchise’s highest point, but it still does more than enough to continue the good work done over the past four years, holding up its end of the bargain by giving fans everything they’ve come to expect and doing it better than any other name in the action thriller game… Action is the one area where Reacher season 4 undeniably improves upon all past efforts… There is one drawback that holds [this season] back from being on par with the excellent first and third seasons. Essentially, the second half of season 4 is quite noticeably stronger than the first.
— Craig Elvy, Screen Rant
The stramashes are Reacher’s signature scenes, and this time around they have even more of an old-school feel, with more punch-ups than shootouts… There’s perhaps a sharper, darker edge to the fights, too… It’s thrilling and funny and just so slightly moving in places, as it always is. That’s Reacher. You’re in very large, very safe hands.
— Jack Seale, Radio Times
As always, Reacher’s main attraction is its title character, whose no-nonsense bravery, intelligence, and muscle make him a magnetic force with which to be reckoned. Still, with merely a few tweaks to its tried-and-true recipe, this season—no matter Reacher’s superhuman ability to withstand punishment and keep on killing—boasts the series’ first real signs of wear and tear.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
Season 4 has essentially dropped Jack Reacher into Mission: Impossible Mode, and Alan Ritchson looks surprisingly comfortable there… Ritchson [feels] less like the star of a detective show with enormous fight scenes and more like a full-fledged action-movie lead… Four seasons in, the show has to find new ways to use him without losing what made him fun in the first place — and it’s achieved just that by getting him moving.
— Terry Terrones, Polygon
The action-packed series continues to keep its foot on the gas, and it delivers another jaw-dropping season of classic Reacher action. While the season isn’t without some faults, it proves that the Ritchson-led series still is able to innovate and up the ante season after season… It continues to use the experience of the former seasons to develop bigger action, more impressive stunts, and a darker conspiracy than ever before.
— Jamie Parker, CBR
There’s something to be said for a show that knows exactly what it is and what its audience expects of it … and delivers exactly that… What it lacks in thematic heft or psychological richness, it more than makes up for in pulpy thrills. This is junk-food entertainment done right… As a whole, Season 4 may resemble more of a tactical retreat from the show’s previous highs, but make no mistake: Reacher feels as vital and entertaining as ever.
— Jeremy Mathai, Slashfilm
All the basic components for success are here in Season 4: an interesting setup, Reacher in his element, a motivated baddie, reliable allies, plenty of dead meat for mangling, etc. It’s just not much fun, and the writing and acting are occasionally so bad that it can make a person almost embarrassed to watch. This might be enough for some viewers, but for fans of the book and the sharper, cleverer edge of the earlier seasons, this fourth series feels like a bit of a dip.
— Warren Cantrell, The Playlist
The latest season is less bold, less brash, and less fun… The show’s scope has been reduced, the stories rely too heavily on exposition, and the plot twists induce more “mehs” than “whoas.” However, the biggest reasons for season four’s failure are abundantly clear as soon as the first episode wraps: the supporting characters surrounding Reacher are less interesting, and the villains are as boring as they have ever been… Prime Video’s fourth season of Reacher is too serious, too ominous, and too morose. Yet, the Alan Ritchson-led series is still as brutal as ever, if that’s your thing.
— M.N. Miller, FandomWire
Season 4 might be the best one yet. 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… The tension keeps building, the character dynamics keep flipping, and the storyline will leave you holding your breath.
— Sherin Nicole, RogerEbert.com
Maybe it’s the heat, but this feels like the kind of unchallenging drama these sweltering times demand… Silly? Why, of course. It’s niftily scripted by showrunner Nick Santora, who serves us silliness with a spade, a world with the ethical complexity of a superhero strip cartoon and something of its dramatic architecture… It’s not complex. It’s not Proust. But boy it is fun.
— Ben Dowell, The Times (UK)
Reacher: Season 4 premieres on Prime Video on August 12, 2026.
