“REACHER” follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher’s keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with. One thing above all is for sure: They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.
For in-depth thoughts on Reacher: The Complete First Season, please see my colleague Tia Fabi’s review from its original streaming release here.
Video Quality
Reacher: The Complete First Season arrives on Blu-Ray with a lovely AVC encoded 1080p transfer in its original aspect ratio. The impeccable cinematography on display gives the show a cinematic quality that many of the standard network shows are lacking. This show employs such a distinct style that brings a richness to the series where you never feel like you are watching a show that is cutting corners. The levels of detail this presentation offers up is eye-popping, as all of the subtle facets of the production design and costumes are easily identifiable. Skin tones appear very natural and nuanced across the entire cast throughout the season, and you see more cuts and scrapes added to the mix as things move along.
The special effects blend well with the fairly realistic story they are trying to tell. There are no egregious instances of aliasing or compression artifacts detectable in this transfer. The color palette runs mostly natural with numerous magical instances of beautiful colors popping off the screen from the environments. Highlights are contained and keep from blooming even at its most brilliant. Black levels are appropriately deep and give way to an excellent amount of detail in shadows. The Blu-Ray is quite appealing in the way it brings this series to life. This is a step up from any streaming version of the show that is available. If you want to really go all out, there is a MOD 4K UHD Blu-Ray set available that was not offered up for review.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a tremendously active DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that creates a fully fleshed-out world. The spatial awareness of the track is pretty intense at times, and the panning techniques are used to great effect in the surround channels. Special consideration should be paid to the series music from Tony Morales. His work perfectly sets the tone for the story, and it creates a wonderfully enveloping sound that draws you further into the show. Action sequences and more kinetic moments are given the appropriate weight in the mix with a forceful showing in the low end. Dialogue always comes through crisp and clear without being stepped on by the score or any sound effects. Ambient sounds are also precisely placed in the rear channels. The audio presentation here is top notch across the board. There are English and English SDH subtitles provided.
Special Features
- Realizing Reacher: A 21-minute featurette which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the production, plotlines, and character development of the show’s first season. There are some really interesting interviews with the cast and creative team which offer some basic insights into the creative process.
- Novelistic: A nine-minute interview with writer Lee Child in which he discusses the tremendous success of the Jack Reacher novels, the new show, how they went about starting with the story they did, and much more.
Final Thoughts
Reacher is a much different beast than the Tom Cruise films that attempted to bring the character to life. Cruise is a certified star who knows how to deliver spectacle with the best of them, but there is no denying that Alan Ritchson brings something to the character that unlocks the full potential. This first season offers up a fairly engaging mystery with some great moments of comedy and some tense action set pieces. The tonal balance is really what is most impressive as all of these elements work in tandem. Paramount Home Entertainment has brought the first season to Blu-Ray with a terrific A/V presentation and a couple of decent special features. Even if you have seen the movies and did not think much of them, this show is worth a chance. Recommended
Reacher: The Complete First Season is currently available to purchase on MOD 4K UHD Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.