Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 16, 2017

I mentioned in our Arrow: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray review that the character of the Green Arrow bears at least a few similarities to Batman, but Arrow: The Complete Fourth Season might more accurately draw comparisons to Batman: The Complete Series . Baby Boomers who grew up with the now iconic Adam West version of DC’s equally iconic Caped Crusader, or indeed even those who caught the show in its many rerun iterations or perhaps simply became aware of it due to its Blu-ray release, will know that late in the series’ relatively brief run it attempted to rejigger and reinvigorate things by introducing a new partner for Batman and Robin, namely Yvonne Craig’s character Barbara Gordon, also known as Batgirl. Batman had become such a phenomenon so quickly that its rather sudden dissipation of popularity after just a couple of years perhaps made any bean counters associated with the show a little on the panicked side as they attempted to recapture whatever magic had propelled that popularity in the first place, but how to account for Arrow’s similar strategy of introducing new partners for Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) in this fifth year? The series has already long outlasted the Batman series (even if it has never had anything approaching Batman's cultural impact) and while its ratings in a broadcast and cable environment far more diverse and therefore fractured than the old “three network” model that was in place when Batman aired have never been amazing by any stretch of the imagination, the show has done well enough for The CW, and in fact in its early episodes set new records for the fledgling network. Fans of the old Batman series will know that the introduction of Batgirl was by and large a bust, failing to resuscitate the show, which perished the very season that Batgirl was introduced. Does Arrow follow in these not so impressive footsteps?

Our reviews of the series' previous seasons can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Arrow: The Complete First Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Second Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Third Season Blu- ray review

Arrow: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray review

Another perhaps subliminal or maybe even unwitting connection between the Green Arrow and Batman, at least in this version of the story, is Oliver Queen’s overly husky voice when he assumes his alter ego, something that for whatever reason seems even more pronounced than ever as the fourth season gets underway, with a typically bruising fist fight pretty much erupting out of nowhere. Queen has assumed duties as Mayor of Star City, but his political career is something of a ruse, or at least a strategy, something he discusses with his sister Thea (Willa Holland), who along with her alter ego of Speedy is simultaneously employed as the mayor’s Chief of Staff.

It is in fact a decision by Speedy herself that at least contributes to Oliver’s need to build a new team, though the by now familiar presence of a coalition of villains working in tandem in Star City. In yet another potential subliminal link to the Caped Crusader, the Green Arrow’s vigilantism tends to tip over into increasing, possibly unhinged, violence at times, something that is tied to the increasingly labyrinthine set of flashbacks that the series employs and which I’ve previously likened to at least some elements of Lost.

Perhaps cognizant of the fact that a sole new superhero(ine) failed to rescue Batman from its ratings doldrums, Arrow either introduces or newly features a group of acolytes that begin supporting the Green Arrow in his attempts to wrangle Star City into something approaching lawfulness. All of the new(ish) characters have aliases of course, but as a Baby Boomer I have to say that one of them, Mr. Terrific (Echo Kellum), probably unavoidably recalls an eponymous sitcom about a reluctant superhero that aired for a few short weeks in the late sixties (it was actually just one of two similarly themed comedies, the other being Captain Nice, which suffered a similar quick cancellation).

The good news is that the utilization of this new team does in fact energize Arrow in a way that hasn’t been seen in at least a couple of seasons. The interplay between the characters has the requisite amount of internecine tensions, with some of the skirmishing between the Green Arrow and Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) being especially effective. (Wild Dog’s superhero getup may suggest he is the unwitting offspring of one Jason Voorhees.) On the minus side, the appearance of Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) as a supposed aide to Queen in his guise as mayor who of course also goes by the name Prometheus, seems a little too convenient, though it’s to the series’ credit that it twists the initial perception of the character as the season progresses.

Arrow has certainly upped the ante this season in terms of character variety, but I have to say for me personally the series still has the slightly musty odor of a leftover at times. As indicated above, there are any number of referents to at least one other higher profile DC enterprise, but the entire series tends to have a rote, by the numbers, feel. The flashback material attempts to invest some of the “contemporary” sequences with supposed psychological underpinnings, but the show’s real calling card still tends to be its hyperbolic action sequences, moments where (psychologically speaking) Oliver’s seemingly increasingly dominant Id takes over and a certain (enjoyable) gonzo tendency takes over.

Despite having a probably unavoidably gimmicky aspect, one of the season’s standouts is its multiple crossover episode Invasion! (the all important 100th episode of the series, in fact), which continues a story begun in an episode of The Flash: The Complete Third Season and which was completed on an episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Second Season. Both The Flash (Grant Gustin) and (perhaps unexpectedly, given network constraints) Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) show up in a tale that one of the producers likens to It's a Wonderful Life (to which I might suggest also includes just a tad of Alien).

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1, in a video presentation that is very much in line with the previous seasons I've reviewed, for both good and ill. As mentioned in those previous reviews, the series' tendencies toward heavily graded scenes, especially those in the kind of sickly green-yellow hue that is pretty prevalent, as well as an overall emphasis on really dark (as in minimally lit) scenes can tend to work against support for really high fine detail levels. When the series ventures out of doors or at least is in brightly lit interior environments, the palette pops quite well and both general detail and fine detail levels perk up measurably. There are some passing issues with yellow splotchiness at some passing moments (often in the control headquarters, for whatever that's worth).

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season offers another very winning DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that bursts with immersive qualities in the many action sequences. Since this season has a lot of parkour-esque moments as well as quite a few hand to hand combat scenes, there's really good discrete placement of effects in individual channels and the surround activity is often quite impressive. Add in a few major explosions and LFE is also regularly engaged, on a problem free track that offers very clear presentation of dialogue and extremely wide dynamic range.

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• The New Team Arrow (1080p; 9:48) profiles Oliver's new crew.


• Deleted Scene (1080p; 1:03)

Disc Two

• Allied: The Invasion Complex (1080p; 12:44) is an EPK devoted to the cross-cross-crossover this season.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 00:55 and 00:30)

Disc Three

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1:10 and 3:42)

Disc Four

• Arrow 2016 Comic-Con Panel (1080i; 27:19) is a fun discussion with the cast and Executive Producers.


• Returning to the Roots of Arrow: Prometheus (1080p; 15:18) profiles this season's arch nemesis, replete with a few minor spoilers.


• Gag Reel (1080p; 5:23)


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1:13, 2:26 and 1:19)

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Batgirl wasn't able to rescue Batman, but the new or at least newly emphasized characters that crop up this season in Arrow have given a little (in my opinion necessary) new energy to this series. I know there are probably diehard Green Arrow fans who will take great umbrage at my suggestion that quite a bit of the character and the series in particular feels pretty derivative, but sometimes spectacularly staged action sequences tend to divert attention enough that it may not end up mattering all that much. Technical merits (especially audio) continue to be strong, and Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season comes Recommended.