DVD Review: Reaching for the combo ‘Reacher’ option

When Christopher McQuarrie’s “Jack Reacher” came out late last year, most critics — myself included — wondered whether the many diehard fans of Lee Child’s novels would be appalled by the casting of Tom Cruise, who is physically almost the opposite of Reacher. Not having read the books, I found the film thoroughly entertaining. One solid fan among my friends was prepared to hate it, but decided after the first few minutes that it was worth simply packing away his prior knowledge in a mental lock box; and he consequently enjoyed it immensely.

Paramount’s new video release comes in two flavors: one has only a DVD, with no extras; the other has the DVD packaged together with a Blu-ray that has a few nice extras, including a commentary track with McQuarrie and Cruise, three short behind-the-scenes films (totaling about 50 minutes), an isolated music track (with occasional comments by composer Joe Kraemer), and download options (digital copy and the first chapter of the next Reacher novel). Since the difference in list price is only $10 (probably closer to $5 in the real world), it’s hard to imagine anyone going for the cheaper edition.

The transfer is excellent, and the Blu-ray production is also top-notch. That is, subtitle options are English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English for the hearing-impaired. Audio has the same four languages, plus a descriptive audio track for the vision-impaired. (If you’re impaired both ways, you’re SOL.) And, for once, the subtitles are available for the three “featurettes” as well as the feature.

“Jack Reacher” (Paramount Home Media, Blu-ray/DVD combo, $39.99; DVD, $29.99)

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).