Peter Weir brings his ethereal, dreamlike direction to a cop thriller in Witness. Perhaps an unlikely choice for the man who made Dead Poets Society and Picnic at Hanging Rock, until you see it.

While Witness is not without Dirty Harry-style thrills, it is primarily a romantic drama. The framing of the young boy, Samuel (Lukas Haas), witnessing a crime, and the need for protection, acting as a meet-cute for Harrison Ford's John Book – a hardened but endlessly moralistic cop, and Kelly McGillis's Rachel – a grieving Amish mother. This framing makes for problematic pacing and some tonal irregularity. As we move from the unsettling opening, into a very slow middle act involving milking cows and raising barns, before being thrown into Witness's action-packed shoot-out finale.

That's not to say it doesn't work. While Witness doesn't fully address its subtext entirely satisfactorily, it adheres to its internal logic throughout. The characters are consistent, Ford's John follows rules to a fault, and Rachel is devoted to her lifestyle and faith. Despite their growing feelings for each other, there is a Casablanca-like inevitability to their relationship.

With this in mind, the thriller framing works. There is the faint overhead of threat and urgency driving our two leads to address their feelings in the small pocket of peace they have before things hit the fan. Book's exploration and growing familiarity with the Amish lifestyle is almost frustrating in context – he's not doing anything particularly cop-like for a large chunk of it. However, the film is sympathetic and affectionate towards them as we see how they deal with tourists, and how they come together to care for each other. Perhaps it is somewhat one-sided as we see little to suggest how patriarchal they are; the elder men are all portrayed as affectionate, loving grandfathers.

The thriller plot itself is a bit underdeveloped. There are corrupt cops, some dodgy dealings, and some murders, but these are never really given the same time and space as the relationships. It's almost Macguffin-like in its vagueness, held together primarily by strong performances from Danny Glover – the murderer, and Josef Sommer – the corrupt police chief. Their desperation to find and kill Book takes precedence over their real motivations.

Unfortunately, the action scenes when they happen, are so similar to other thrillers of the era that they encourage you to forget the hour of character development you have just sat through. The flipside of this is that any audience expecting a typical Peter Weir film will be put off by the Hollywood action scenes. There's almost a need to see Witness twice to fully appreciate it and keep track of its tonal shifts. On first watch, it's hard not to see it as two, separate, mostly successful films chopped together in a way that doesn't always work… but it doesn't entirely not work either.

4K Ultra HD Limited Edition Contents

4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless 2.0 stereo audio
Optional DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by film historian Jarret Gahan
Video interview with cinematographer John Seale
Visual essay on the film's performances by film journalist Staci Layne Wilson
Vintage 1985 interview in which Harrison Ford discusses Witness with critic Bobbie Wygant
Between Two Worlds – five-part archival documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Peter Weir, John Seale, producer Edward S. Feldman, and actors Lukas Haas, Patti LuPone and Viggo Mortensen
A Conversation with Peter Weir – archival interview with the film's director
Deleted scene from the network TV version of the film
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket
Limited edition 60-page perfect bound booklet illustrated by Tommy Pocket, featuring writing on the film by Dennis Capicik, Martyn Conterio, John Harrison and Amanda Reyes
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket
Six double-sided collector's postcards