Jack Reacher [DVD] [2012]

All of my many Blue Ray reviews focus solely upon the actual quality of the film from Standard Def DVD quality to the higher standard set for Blu Ray. Summaries of the plot and opinions of the story line and acting can be found in the majority of the other reviews so I do not want to be redundant. My rating is based solely upon the Blue Ray disc's video and audio quality and not the quality of the movie itself. Keep in mind, however, that the quality of what you see and hear is also dependent upon the quality of the TV monitor you are watching on as well as the home theater set up you are using. The monitor I use is a fairly new Panasonic ZT 65" plasma and the amps, speakers, cables, OPPO 103 BluRay player and AVM-60 7.1 Atmos enabled Surround Processor I use are hi end esoteric gear to provide me with a more realistic and objective perspective. The Oppo player is not enabled to transcode Atmos audio so it will default to the next best audio coded, in this case, DTS HD MA 7.1 I am not trying to be a snob here, but just pointing out that what you see and hear is very dependent upon the quality of the gear you are using. VIDEO QUALITY..... What we have here is a very decent color grading with natural colorization of the environment. Colors do not pop unnaturally as they would in a Transformers movie. Most of the daytime scenes are warmly color graded with a slight desaturation. Night scenes take on a cool coloration bringing up the blues. Skin details tend to be smoother and extra small details, while not to take away from the resolution are a bit smoothed out as well. Blacks appear to go pretty deep and pass pluge nicely. Black does not turn to grey. The average bit rates was in the low 30's which is pretty decent as well. Contrast is very good leaning towards excellent. AUDIO QUALITY... I was surprised and happy that there was a 7.1 lossless DTS HD MA format included. The first 57 minutes of the film is centered in the front stage so there was not much aggressive use of the surrounds for their discreet usage but the second half of the film really kicks the surrounds and LFE channel into high gear and immersive audio mixing. Pans between front and rear stages as well as left and right became frequent. During the ending fight, the rain is beautifully mixed so you feel you are right in the rain storm..except you don't get as wet as the characters. EXTRAS.... No ads for other movies, thank god. While I purchased the single blue ray and there was no second SD disc, extras included a short documentary on how they developed and trained for the unique fighting sequences, a doc on the author of the Reacher stories and how this first film came to fruition. Of course, director commentaries are also included but I personally rarely ever listen to these. All in all, a very decent rendering of the film transcoded for Blue Ray. I do hope this review has been of some help to you in deciding upon your purchase. Thanks for reading.

I remember back in 2012, hearing Tom Cruise producing and starring in a film called Jack Reacher, based on a book series I've never heard of, and being totally nonplussed by it. I became more intrigued when Christopher McQuarrie was directing, who wrote his Oscar winning film The Usual Suspects as well as directing his debut film, the cult classic The Way of the Gun. Seen the trailers, looked good, car chase looked pretty good,but skipped in theaters only to say I'll Netflix it or something. When it released on bluray, I didn't get it immediately, waited for the U&S (BTW BBY, where is the U&S at? We need those coupons!!!!!) and wasn't disappointed in the least. I love the acting, the writing, direction, action and music to death. It gave off vibes of dirty Harry and The Silence of the Lambs with a Bullitt type car chase that deserves a spot in top car chases ever filmed. The picture and audio quality is top notch, with the extras a slight disappointment, with two commentaries and a couple of featurettes the only extras. The BBY exclusive also has a CinemaNow featurette on the car chase, which if you have the means, I highly recommend.

It must kind of suck to be Jack Reacher, because you're living in a world where every other person on the planet is either A) apathetic, B) well-meaning but incompetent, or C) straight-up evil. And, whoever you are, you're pretty darn stupid. Thank the lord we have Jack Reacher to set us straight, though, stepping off the bus and onto our crime scenes, unraveling criminal conspiracies as easily as he changes his wardrobe at the local Goodwill. If you're a thriller aficionado, if you like your noir action hard-boiled, and/or if you can buy into 'Jack Reacher' as a character, there's an exceptional amount of fun to be had here. With the exception of the height disparity between the lead actor and the character from the books, I think this is the best Tom Cruise casting decision I've ever seen. So much of what we've come to believe about his personality runs parallel to Reacher's - the drive, the singleminded focus, the superiority complex - that I was able to buy into it from the first minute to the last. And, the music! There were actual themes relating to the characters, and melodies, not just tones used to enhance the mood!

Jack Reacher somehow provokes two completely separate responses. While playing, it packs a powerful punch and inspires a real "They don't make 'em like this anymore!" enthusiasm. But, outside of its runtime, the cavalcade of crime-solving procedurals across screens big and small unfairly bury the film as a disposable one of many. As the pilot of a television series, it would be monumental. As the first film in a franchise, it would be fantastic. As a standalone movie, it feels like only a piece of something larger. Tom Cruise embodies another memorable character alongside the magnetic Rosamund Pike and a series of strong villains/suspects. Its mystery is well-constructed. Its car chase and various showdowns are surprisingly fresh. The film does its job with incredible skill and is undeniably worth a watch, but it might take the enrichment of a second installment in the series to elevate Jack Reacher to the status of something you will want to revisit time and time again.

We heard that the author Lee Child didn't like Tom Cruise cast as Jack Reacher because he's not 6'4" like the Book character. But honestly, that's petty. Cruise does a fine job as a burnt-out Army vet who is very good at being an investigator. Robert Duvall as a crusty gunshot owner and target range owner is extremely interesting, and Cruise holds his own with Duvall. Cruise is trying to determine the guilty party of a public long-range shooting of five, and boy does the plot thicken. It's hard to tell who is the good guy and the villain. A good cast helps and contributes to the drama. And a good plot really helps too. Highly recommend it!

Not being a Tom Cruise fan its been hard to get anyone else to watch it because everyone else I talk to hates Tom Cruise. So I'll say what I've been telling everyone else. Put your hatred of Cruise aside and enjoy the film for what it is. For ME....its his best role I've ever seen him play. I'm actually not embarrassed to say I like this charachter played by Tom Cruise. He isn't his normal cheesy-acting self, he is more. I don't think I recalled him doing one of his trademark smiles in here, its all stone faced and I think he finally did it right. This film really opened up my eyes to what an investigation can really be. Just when it seems that its a shut closed case, you end up seeing how much outside the box you really have to think. Then it makes you wonder how many other cases have bene incorrectly solved. I think anyone who enjoys Alex Cross type films would like this.

If you read anything about the Jack Reacher movie, I'm sure you read about that fact Tom Cruise was not the 6'5 blond muscle bound Jack Reacher like the book. I think Tom Cruise pulled this roll off GREAT. I'm not a reader of the series and I can see how fans would be upset but there are not too many 6'5 actors out there who can act like Mister Cruise. I think he was a good choice as Jack Reacher. The movie was well done and very interesting. Its more of a murder mystery then an action movie though so know what your getting into before you decided to buy. I think it is worth a rental for sure and worth a buy if you dig the books and are a big Tom Cruise fan. Solid movie great picture quality on this BR as well!

In my opinion you can lump all movies into three categories: 1. awesome movie with great story and plot with the right actors making a movie seem believeable. 2. Good entertaining movie that is fun to watch but that the story line is not fully realized, wrong actors in the movie or just bad acting where it is too far of a stretch to be believable yet it is still enjoyable to watch strictly for entertainment and 3. A bad movie with bad acting that no one would believe. For me jack reacher fits fits into category 2. it's an entertaining movie. Even though there are times that it's difficult to believe that Tom Cruise could be and do all that Jack Reacher does (or Robert Duval for that matter), if you are able to by-pass the actors and just look at the characters it is a believeable and entertaining "who done it" movie.