Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Reservation Road Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson February 5, 2020

Reservation Road (2007) is being released by Mill Creek Entertainment as part of a double bill of Joaquin Phoenix movies.

The publication of John Burnham Schwartz's second novel Reservation Road (1998) quickly became a hot property among film companies but no production deals were consummated for several years (for reasons unknown) until around 2007 when Schwartz's screenplay adaptation reached the hands of Joaquin Phoenix, who showed it to Terry George. The Belfast screenwriter/director asked Phoenix if he wanted to play the role of downcast divorcé Dwight Arno but the actor had grieving father Ethan Learner in mind instead. Five years earlier, Phoenix stepped in to portray Merrill Hess for M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002) after Mark Ruffalo had to bow out after being diagnosed with a treatable brain tumor. As fate would have it, Phoenix and Ruffalo would now appear in the same film together on opposite sides.

Ethan Learner (Joa­quin Phoenix), a communication professor at a local college, and his wife, Grace (Jennifer Connelly), a landscape designer, are attending a concert featuring their 10-year-old son, Josh (Sean Curley), in a beautiful park overlooking the lake in suburban Connecticut. The narrative crosscuts to Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo), a lawyer in private practice, who's at Fenway Park with his 11-year-old son Lucas (Eddie Alderson), a diehard Red Sox Fan. While enjoying the game (the movie takes place during Boston's magical World Series run in 2004), Dwight is rattled by the constant phone calls from his nagging ex-wife, Ruth (Mira Sorvino), who wants Lucas back home with her and her boyfriend in the early evening. The Learners are also on their way home and stop at a country gas station. Josh wants to release the fireflies from his jar and walks across the street. Grace scolds Ethan for not keeping an eye on their son. They ask Josh to return to the car. While driving his SUV with Lucas on the passenger side, Dwight has another call from Ruth but had put his cell phone in his pocket so struggles to keep his focus ahead of him. At a bend on Reservation Road, Dwight doesn't see Josh until it's too late. Ethan rushes to his fallen son and yells for the car to stop. Out of fear and panic, Dwight drives away. When he arrives at Ruth's and she notices a big bump on Lucas's forehead, Dwight explains that he hit a log and it thrust their boy forward. Ethan and Grace are in mourning but have different ways to cope with their grief. Grace seeks solace from loved ones while Ethan is connecting with parents whose kids were hit-and-run victims on an online forum. Ethan becomes frustrated and impatient when the police don't have any new leads or a suspect. Will he uncover that Dwight was the driver on that awful night?

I haven't read Reservation Road but those who have and also seen the film state that Schwartz and George (who later made significant revisions to the former's script) add twists and coincidences to the story. Film critic Manohla Dargis of the New York Times expressed the differences between the book and adaptation well: "In his novel Schwartz sepa­rates the three main characters psychologically and emotion­ally, more or less existentially segregating them by chapter. The film jettisons this frac­tured pattern and brings the three directly into play with one another through didactic editing and coincidence." I haven't read the novel but the problem for me is how George directs some of the actors, especially Phoenix. Ethan loses his faith in law enforcement to become a vigilante but acts impulsively in his actions such as when he takes a snapshot of a local diplomat's SUV just because it reminds him of Dwight's. It seems that George restrains Phoenix from showing grief and truly dealing with the sudden loss of Josh in therapeutic ways. Phoenix is excellent (as he always is) but a combination of the plot-driven script and shaky direction prevent the audience from seeing more subtle qualities in Ethan's character. Ruffalo captures Dwight's inner anguish and guilt to perfection. Ultimately, the two male leads overcome a formulaic script to make Reservation Road still worth watching.

*Note: The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter considers Reservation Road to be "the first movie to address the Googlization of America." Terry George revealed to journalist Jenelle Riley (then with the Entertainment News Wire) that his revised version of Schwartz's script added Ethan's Internet searches and online chats as a new subplot.

Reservation Road Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Reservation Road makes its North American premiere on Blu-ray on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. Universal (through its subsidary, Focus Features) released the film on DVD in 2008 in its original exhibition ratio of 1.85:1 which has been maintained here. That transfer was very strong in several areas as is this high-def transfer. Day scenes are bright with autumn colors. Skin tones look natural without any manipulations in post. Nighttime scenes are very dark and cinematographer John Lindley has bathed the actors in midnight blue and teal (see Screenshot #s 13-15). The image can appear flat and very two-dimensional. You'll spot a small speck above Dwight's right shoulder in capture #20. Mill Creek has encoded this feature at an average video bitrate of 24223 kbps. My video score is 4.25.

Mill Creek has provided eleven chapter stops for the 102-minute film.

Reservation Road Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mill Creek supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mix (2708 kbps, 24-bit). Dialogue is clearly enunciated and intelligible. Crowd noise and stomping chants during the Red Sox game are heard on the surrounds and .LFE. Mark Isham wrote a tenderhearted score that sounds appropriate for a New England or Eastern town setting. He incorporates a somber oboe and more cheerful flute (which also sounds dour in other places). The piano has a melancholic feeling to it. The score reminds me of Howard Shore's music for Before and After (1996), which is fitting since both films concern families beset by tragedy and consequences. The diegetic music features Josh performing on cello with a small ensemble and Emma Learner (Elle Fanning) playing the piano.

There are optional English SDH for those who need them.

Reservation Road Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (7:46, 480i) - seven scenes omitted from the final cut. These are presented in non-anamorphic 1.85:1. Apparently, they were removed for reasons of pacing and redundancies. In English, not subtitled.

• Looking Back on Reservation Road (14:44, 480i) - an EPK featurette that mixes talking head interviews with clips from the movie. We hear from author/co-writer John Burnham Schwartz, director/writer Terry George, location manager Thomas Whelan, as well as actors Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo, and Mira Sorvino. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (2 min, upconverted to 1080p) - an original trailer for Reservation Road that's been reformatted to 1.33:1.

Reservation Road Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Reservation Road would only be just another run-of-the-mill family tragic drama where it not for the performances of the principals, who elevate it to something more. Initially, the ending felt like a cop-out but George leaves it a bit open-ended. Mill Creek delivers a very solid transfer and consistently competent audio presentation. All extras are ported over from the US DVD. For fans of Phoenix, Ruffalo, and Connelly, this comes RECOMMENDED.