Dear John Blu-ray delivers stunning video and great audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
Soon after John and Savannah fall madly in love, their relationship is put on hold. With one leaving to complete his service, and the other to complete her college education, they pass the time by exchanging a continuous stream of love letters, until they can be reunited permanently a year later. But when war breaks out, their separation is extended indefinitely. Will their relationship survive the greatest test of all: the test of time?
Romance sells. Stephenie Meyer know it, Nicholas Sparks knows it, and Hollywood knows it. And
that's what makes Dear John so intriguing. Billed as a Romance but delving into so much
more, the latest Nicholas Sparks novel-turned-film isn't just another garden-variety and
overly-mushy happily-ever-after Romance.
It's built around a seemingly unbreakable bond of love between two people, but the greater story
is something else altogether. Dear John frames a romance amidst
the chaos of life; there are no easy decisions, no right or wrong answers, only
life and all of its hardships that come to define the whole of one's existence. Dear John
succeeds where others fail, because even through the deliberately tearjerking moments is an
honest-to-goodness glimpse into what life is all about. It's not always perfect, it doesn't end like a
fairy tale, and Dear John embraces the facts of life over the sentimentalities of fiction.
Director Lasse Hallström (Chocolat) yanks on the heartstrings in pretty much every scene
--
Kleenex probably financed the movie -- but the base emotions of the movie, particularly those that
come from somewhere other than the focal Romantic relationship, prove powerful, heartfelt, and
raw, and Dear John is all the better for it.
Dear John: I admit it. I fell for your John Deere, not for you, dear John!
John Tyree (Channing Tatum, Fighting), a member
of the U.S. Army's Special Forces, meets a young South Carolinian girl, Savannah (Amanda
Seyfried, Chloe), while on leave. The two fall almost immediately in love. Their first
encounter leads to a first official date and Savannah's introduction to John's obsessive
coin-collecting
father (Richard Jenkins, The Visitor). Their
whirlwind romance blossoms into something deeper in the span of two weeks, but John must
return to active duty and Savannah's headed
back to college. Not to be denied their relationship by the constraints of space and time, they
promise to write to one another day after day, hoping that their year
apart will seem like weeks instead of months. Before the year is out, tragedy strikes; planes fly
into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, forever changing the American landscape
and leading John to choose duty over love as he re-enlists for further military service, leaving a
heartbroken Savannah behind. Can their relationship survive the strains of war, or will Savannah
pen a "dear John" letter and move on with her life?
"Polarizing" might be the best word with which to describe how audiences will react to Dear
John. Some will laugh at its blatant sentimentality. Others will begrudge the absence of a
more
conventional Romantic plot. Others still will find in it an honesty that seems to be missing from so
many other films of its kind. It's the latter through which, should one see it in that light, the
strengths of the film become more readily evident and, ultimately, outweigh its weaknesses.
Dear John -- even the title is cliché
and
telegraphs the major turning point midway through the film -- manages to overcome a triteness
and
sometimes overly-sappy façade with a genuinely touching second half. In fact, the movie might
have even worked better had it foregone, or at least toned down, the romantic elements and
instead
focused on the father-son relationship that's easily the strength of the film and that through
which it
derives much of its emotion, integrity, and honesty. Still, the romance comes off as genuine;
there's a palpable chemistry between Tatum and Seyfried, and the parts of the film that focus on
the burgeoning relationship and even on into some of the lovey-dovey elements before John
returns to the military and Savannah returns to college work well enough, though again the best
scenes are those that also involve John's father as an external element as the relationship takes
form.
Fortunately, Channing Tatum's performance in Dear John is exponentially better than the
embarrassing effort he put forth in G.I. Joe: The Rise of
Cobra. That doesn't mean he should get busy writing his Oscar acceptance speech. He's
stiff as a board, barely emotes, and recites his lines as if reading them for the first time, but that's
still quite the improvement over his turn as the iconic Duke. Tatum does absolutely sell one scene
as he's reading a letter in a hospital; his emotion is readily evident and seemingly genuine, and
while another actor steals the scene, Tatum's effort helps make it the best in the movie. On
that note, the film works wonders with the way in which it shifts the context of said letter that's
read aloud twice in the film. A major revelation changes the entire complexion of the letter and,
by extension, the
film, adding credence to the notion that Dear John is greater than the sum of the
romantic façade that's the picture's greatest superficial element, but certainly not its most
thematically relevant. As for Amanda Seyfried, she
neither
impresses nor disappoints; she plays the part of Savannah well enough, but both she and Tatum
are
overshadowed by very a subdued but nevertheless exceptional effort by the always-excellent
Richard
Jenkins. Technically, Dear John boasts gorgeous scenery, solid cinematography, a good
score, and stable direction from Lasse Hallström. Hallström, coming off a successful venture with
Hachi, captures a
somewhat similar tone with Dear John; both films construct themes revolving around
devotion, loss, and sacrifice. They're both tearjerkers to be sure, but Hallström shows a knack for
retaining a steady, honest tone to these sorts of pictures, even through the sadness that hangs
over
them. As with Hachi, Dear John is a gentle film that's manipulative but
surprisingly contextually real, framing life as it is and not as it should be, where the good must
sometimes give way to the bad, where love and regret and ups and downs come with the
territory, one inevitably superseding the other in an ever-shifting environment that's all about the
give and take and the ebbs and flows of a world that is
inescapably far
from motion picture perfect.
Dear Sony, thanks for another superb Blu-ray transfer. Other than a couple short bouts of banding,
there's nothing about Dear John's picture quality that demands any reduction in score. This
1080p, 2.40:1-framed transfer is gorgeously film-like in every scene. Love the movie or hate it, the
film is worth a look on Blu-ray if only to revel in the natural texturing, wonderful colors, deep blacks,
and strong depth that make Dear John's transfer as sweet as its saccharine romance.
Viewers will note
the fine grains and textures on unfinished lumber in one early scene at an under-construction house
in chapter three. The transfer also demonstrates precise replications of the intricacies of military
uniforms and weapons, facial hairs and pores, and the ridges and designs on close-ups of coins. Colors
are breathtakingly natural, whether sandy beaches, green grasses, or camouflaged uniforms. Blacks
are pristine -- deep, inky, and true -- with
absolutely no evidence of crush or, on the other end of the spectrum, taking on an unnaturally bright
texture.
Flesh tones are stably natural, too. The print is positively pristine, with nary a hint of unwanted
debris. A very fine layer of grain hovers over the image to put the finishing touches on a virtually
problem-free transfer. This is another splendid new release from Sony.
Sony brings Dear John to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Though lacking
any noteworthy elements, this one moves along as well as can be expected of what is a generally
easygoing Romance/Drama-style soundtrack. Stable and crystal-clear, this DTS track handles each of
its
elements very well, notably the light genre music that flows effortlessly into the soundstage with a
crisp and soothing flair, supported by a light surround element. The track isn't heavy on
atmospherics, but it handles all the movie has to offer nicely, whether rolling thunder and an
enveloping rain in chapter three or heavier ocean waves in several other scenes. A few wartime
scenes
later in the film feature several instances of sharp but not particularly powerful gunfire and the heavy
rumbling of Humvees across the soundstage, the latter delivering the most potent bass to be found in
the film.
Supported by pitch-perfect dialogue reproduction, Dear John sounds just fine on Blu-ray, even
if there's, more often than not, little of note actually going on.
Dear John enlists a few supplements for this Blu-ray release. A Conversation with
Channing, Amanda, and Lasse (1080p, 5:24) features the stars and director of Dear
John praising one another's styles and work on the film. Transforming Charleston
(1080p, 14:52) examines the challenges of recreating various worldwide locales in and around
Charleston, South Carolina. Military in Movies: Dear John's Military Advisors 1080p, 11:03)
features
Military
Advisor Lt. Col. Gregory Bishop and cast and crew speaking on the process of lending realism to
Dear John's military segments. Mr. Tyree, The Mule, and Benny Dietz (1080p,
4:53) takes a closer
look
at the world of coin collecting and its role in the film. Next is The Story of Braeden Reed
(1080p, 24:33), a piece that looks closely at the work and life of young Braeden Reed, the actor
who portrayed the autistic character Alan in the film. Also included is a collection of 12 deleted and
alternate scenes (480p, 10:13); an alternate ending
(1080p, 3:41); a series of outtakes (480p, 2:24); BD-Live functionality; MovieIQ connectivity; and
1080p trailers for The Bounty Hunter,
The Runaways, Nine, The Imaginarium of Doctor
Parnassus, The Back-Up Plan, and Catch and Release.
Bashing Dear John as a sentimental, overplayed, and manipulative piece of Hollywood
rubbish
is
probably the cinematically-correct thing for a critic to do. It's certainly all of those things to a
degree,
but the movie is also genuinely touching and charming, particularly as it revolves around the
father-son interplay that proves to be the movie's true source of strength. Those looking for a
straightforward, feel-good Romance will be disappointed with Dear John; it's more a film
about
life and the decisions that shape it than it is simply "just another Romance." From the chance
receipt of
a valuable
coin to the chance retrieval of a submerged purse, from the decision to enlist in the military in
peacetime only to have the world forever altered on September 11, Dear John is more an
examination of life and all that entails, with its romantic element simply representing another stage
of
each character's personal journey. Moviegoers that give Dear John a chance and see it for
what it is rather
than going in
with a predisposition against it or with expectations that it's something that it's really not might be
surprised at the amount of depth and the moving story lines to be found in the film. Sony's Blu-ray
release of
Dear John is, quite simply, another stunning package from a studio that's one of Blu-ray's
best. A nearly flawless 1080p transfer, a capable lossless soundtrack, and a fair selection of extras
make this a disc worth owning. Recommended.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced Dear John for release on Blu-ray on May 25. This romantic drama, directed by Lasse Halström and based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, has earned at least a footnote mention in cinema history as the movie that finally ...
