7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Based on the stories of Stephen King, the series will intertwine characters and themes from the fictional town of Castle Rock.
Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Scott Glenn, André Holland, Jane Levy, Terry O'QuinnHorror | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.00:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.00:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
If you were a fan of the series in general, how did you feel about Lost: The Complete Sixth Season, the last year of the now iconic show from Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams? I ask that question because Abrams is also associated with Castle Rock, as outlined below, and there may be some admittedly tenuous connections that might be drawn between the two properties. Now it should be stated up front that J.J. Abrams neither wrote nor directed any of the episodes in Lost’s final season, and he is “only” the executive producer of Castle Rock, and so this overriding thesis has some built in limitations, but I would argue that your reaction to that pretty controversial last year of Lost may well augur (for better or worse, as the case may be) how you’ll respond to this show. Castle Rock struck me in a way as Lost, a series some would probably argue became almost nonsensically hyperbolic in its final year, on overdrive, and it may be understandable that the very “stuffed full to overflowing” aspect that Castle Rock offers may therefore not be everyone’s cup of tea. Castle Rock is just the latest show to exploit the “mythology” of Stephen King, something that a whole glut of series from the at least somewhat similar Haven to the more recent Creepshow: Season 1 have done with varying degrees of success. I’d argue that Castle Rock is an even more dense homage to King than either of those above linked shows, and as such it should certainly appeal, whatever its perceived shortcomings, to the droves of King fans who have made his books epic bestsellers for decades, and who tend to flock to many of the film and television adaptations of them in pretty significant numbers a lot of the time.
Castle Rock: The Complete Second Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1. While the IMDb has no real technical data on the shoot, Michael mentions the Alexa in particular in his review, and there are some YouTube videos with one of the series' cinematographers, Richard Rutkowski, where he mentions that camera, so I'm assuming this was captured with that technology and then presumably finished at 2K (as always with my reviews, if anyone has authoritative information or can point me toward some, just private message me, and I'll happily update the review). This continues the first season's kind of drab, desaturated look a lot of the time, with grays and pale greens predominating in some of the scenes involving Annie. Other material, especially some flashback material to Somalia, is decidedly warmer and better saturated, and in fact I'd argue it's among the more vividly colored material in the entire series thus far. Detail levels tend to be surprisingly good even in some very dark circumstances, as in a pit of sorts that Annie falls into. There are some intermittently rough moments, as exemplified by screenshot 19 accompanying this review, that don't seem to be entirely the result of any stylistic gambits.
Castle Rock: The Complete Second Season features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 that exploits some great surround activity in both more boisterous ways, as in the calamitous car crash that brings Annie and Joy to Castle Rock, or later when Annie tumbles into an abyss of sorts, but which also regularly populates the side and rear channels with ambient environmental sounds in both indoor and outdoor material. The series has a glut of well rendered sound effects, including some kind of "squishy" ones when Annie gets a little angry and decides to kill a few people. There are some slightly hackneyed startle effects utilized, but on the whole the sound design here is spooky and moody with well prioritized dialogue throughout.
Lost was frankly "appointment television" for me virtually its entire run up to and through that much debated final episode, but even I was kind of rolling my eyes at some of the late developments in that show. Castle Rock has some of that same overstuffed quality, and I'm wondering how long an anthology outing like this can continue to whip up excitement, though that said, there are certainly a ton of venerable Stephen King characters that could become focal points (how about a season dealing with the cutest little puppy ever, Cujo?). It may be worth noting that this second season has fewer audio options and fewer supplements than the first season, and is evidently not being released in 4K UHD, as the first season was, which may indicate others are "counting beans" with regard to this series, which in turn may not augur well for it surviving. Technical merits continue to be strong, and the sole supplement about Annie and other of her general "ilk" is above average. With caveats noted, Castle Rock: The Complete Second Season comes Recommended.
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