Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Jack Irish: Set 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Still Wandering Melbourne

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 21, 2014

When Jack Irish returned to Australian TV after an eighteen-month hiatus, the creative team didn't waste time reintroducing him to the audience. Except for a brief flashback to the death of Jack's wife, Jack Irish: Dead Point assumes familiarity with the character and his world and expects that the viewer will supply essential context when Jack walks into the King of Prussia pub or meets up with Harry and Cam at the track or encounters reporter Linda Hillier after a long absence. ("So we've successfully moved on from that relationship, have we?", says Harry with withering sarcasm.)

The team's faith in the audience was certainly justified in Australia, where Peter Temple's Irish novels remain as popular as ever and Guy Pearce's incarnation of the former attorney and occasional detective was universally praised. In America, however, where the Irish adaptations have been shown only on Acorn Media's pay-TV service, Dead Point met with mixed reception, and it was pretty clear that those who didn't get it were new to the series. It's certainly true that Dead Point labors under the handicap of having to do without a major character, because actor Vadim Glowna, who played Jack's woodworking teacher, Charlie Taub, died shortly after filming his scenes for the first two Jack Irish episodes. For Dead Point, Charlie's absence is explained by a trip to "the old country", and his presence is invoked by having Jack imagine what his former master might say if he were there now, casting a critical eye over his apprentice's work. But anyone who recalls the twinkling gravitas that Glowna brought to the role will recognize that there's no substitute for his scenes with Pearce.

Still, for those who already know the world of Jack Irish, there is much to savor in Dead Point. For those who don't, there's a lot that will go right past them. They should return to Series 1 and start from the beginning.

As is always the case with Jack Irish, several story lines overlap, but the main plot concerns a far-flung drug smuggling ring that uses cargo containers for naval transport. In an elaborate opening sequence, a police operation searching the Melbourne docks is decoyed to one container where several bricks of heroin attract the drug-sniffing dogs. However, the main stash is in a different container, hidden in the "boot" of a Porsche, and a furtive figure, who will later be identified as Robbie Colburne (Dominic Allburn), sneaks into the key container and speeds away with the heroin. The drug squad headed by Sen. Sgt Laurie Olsen (John Jarratt) will later find the Porsche with Colburne's body in the driver's seat, but no heroin.

Jack is also looking for Colburne, although he does not know why. The job came to him through his former law partner, Drew Geer (Damien Richardson), from a client who wishes to remain anonymous. When Jack learns of Colburne's death from his friend on the force, Barry Tregear (Shane Jacobson), the mysterious client gives him a new job: recover a red leather-bound book, the contents of which the client does not want known. Jack's pursuit of this mysterious volume will lead him both to the Melbourne docks, where the menacing head of the stevedores' union, Mike Cundall (Vince Colosimo), rules the roost, and to a cloistered and exclusive club called the Snug, overseen by a temptress known as Ros Hoskin-Elliott (Kat Stewart), who caters to the upper crust of Melbourne society. To no one's surprise (certainly not Jack's), these two worlds turn out to be connected.

An investigation into the drug world has a personal dimension for Jack, because his former father-in-law, Justice Logan (Barry Humphries, better known as "Dame Edna Everidge"), is about to release the results of a three-year investigation into the illegal drug trade. Major indictments are expected. Rumors abound of efforts to stop the release of Logan's report. Some of those rumors are being tracked by Jack's old flame, Linda Hillier (Marta Dusseldorp), now returned to Melbourne as the host of a radio interview and call-in show. Jack has been looking for an excuse to see Linda again. A drug-related investigation is as good as any. An unexpected visit from Jack's sister-in-law, Ellie (Kimesia Hartz), serves as a reminder that life goes on.

Meanwhile, Jack continues to work with gambler Harry Strang (Roy Billing) and his assistant Cam Delray (Aaron Pedersen) on winning at the track. But Harry is now too well-known to be seen placing bets. He was to work through anonymous faces like that of a struggling single mother, Cynthia (Deborah Mailman), who organizes a fleet of subordinates to place Harry's bets for him. But the scheme goes horribly wrong, and Jack and Cam have to sort out the mess. As usual, Cam's methods are far more direct than Jack's.

At the Prince of Prussia, proprietor Stan (Damien Garvey) keeps trying to move with the times. He's installed a cappuccino machine after taking a barista course (online), and he's updated the menu. The regulars, Norm, Wilbur and Eric (Ron Falk, John Flaus and Terry Norris), are unimpressed until Jack arranges a meeting at the pub with a pretty witness named Sienna (Tess Haubrich). As soon as she enters the pub, Stan proclaims his "updates" a success.

Jack Irish: Set 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cinematographer Martin McGrath returned for Jack Irish: Dead Point, along with director Jeffrey Walker and most of the original production team. The shooting style on this third installment of the series is consistent with that of the first two, as is the image on Acorn Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. The opening aerial shot of Melbourne at night establishes the sense of a contemporary film noir, with its digital clarity and deep blacks, but much of Dead Point takes place in daytime hours, where the palette remains naturalistic and the fleshtones ordinary. Locations such as the docks with their looming containers and the Snug club with its whispered conversations and clinking glasses supply plenty of atmosphere, but one of the recurring themes in Jack Irish is that evil knows no boundaries. Some of the worst violence in the story occurs in well-lit and wide open, empty spaces. Regardless of the locale, the image remains sharp and detailed.

With a single episode on a BD-25, the average bitrate clocks in at 23.05, which is slightly higher than Series 1 and more than sufficient to avoid compression issues on this digitally originated project.

Jack Irish: Set 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with previous episodes, Jack Irish: Dead Point comes with a stereo track, supplied here in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. When played through a surround decoder, the track provides a decent sense of ambiance for locales like the race track and the docks, and the dynamic range is wide enough, with solid bass extension, to do justice to scenes involving the huge cranes used to move cargo containers, as well as a different kind of crane that appears in another location and is used for purposes I will leave for the viewer to discover. Scoring duties for Dead Point have been taken over by David McCormack and Antony Partos, who worked together on the superb Australian crime film, Animal Kingdom.

The dialogue is clearly rendered, and subtitles are available if the Australian pronunciation or slang becomes too thick for American ears.

Jack Irish: Set 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1): Three quick featurettes show the production at key locations, with director Jeffrey Walker explaining the setup at each one. The extras conclude with a slide show of about twenty photos, both production and behind-the-scenes. None of these extras should be viewed until after watching the episode.
• The Docks (2:24)
• Traffic Jam (2:14)
• Air Strip Finale (2:49)
• Photo Gallery (1:42)



• Trailers: At startup, the disc plays trailers for Acorn Media, Line of Duty and The Fall, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Jack Irish: Set 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It may disappoint fans that the second "set" of Jack Irish contains only a single episode, but it's not surprising that both cast and crew declined to repeat the grueling experience of filming two episodes simultaneously, which was the only way that Bad Debts and Black Tide could be completed and aired together in Series 1. Producer Ian Collie has assured the public that Jack Irish will return. Collie is currently working on an adaptation of the fourth novel in the series, White Dog, and has also announced plans to option a fifth book whenever Peter Temple finishes writing it. Meanwhile, Dead Point is a worthy entry in the series, but anyone new to the world of Jack Irish will miss reams of subtext. With that warning, highly recommended.