8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Chuck is back with new missions, a new business -- and no Intersect. The stakes are high as Chuck sets out to become a full-fledged spy. But without the CIA as backup, Chuck will have to rely now more than ever on John Casey, Sarah Walker, and a new Intersect -- Morgan Guillermo Grimes. Across this thrilling final season, Chuck will find that his wits, his friends, and his family are the only backup he needs.
Starring: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah LancasterAction | 100% |
Comedy | 63% |
Romance | 41% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Good things come to those who wait, and Chuck's fans have waited, hoped, rallied and fought for this moment: a proper end to one of the most ratings-starved underground hits in NBC's roster. It hasn't been easy -- online pleas and petitions, I'm Not a Nielsen Family Twitter campaigns, organized Subway blitzes, clever grassroots movements, motivated sponsor support -- but the series' devoted followers have extended the show's life by at least three seasons. Good things also come in small packages, and while fans would have certainly preferred a full 23-episode renewal (with promises of more to come), the 13-episode fifth season, eventful and tightly paced as it is, clips along without any filler to be found or any wasteful tangents to be endured. Of course, there's one other thing that's true of good things: they must come to an end. Chuck doesn't fizzle, though. It isn't snuffed out, it doesn't go quietly into the night, and it doesn't hang its head and walk off into the sunset. No, Chuck goes out in a blaze of glory on its showrunners' own terms, and it is good. Not: eh, it's good. But rather: Then creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak looked over all they had made and saw that it was very good. And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth season.
Carmichael Industries, on the job...
Another season of Chuck, another less-than-extraordinary high definition presentation. At this point, fans should be familiar with the series' visual shortcomings and be aware of the fact that many of the image's "issues" actually trace back to the use of 16mm cameras. However, that doesn't completely excuse Warner's noisy, wildly uneven, at-times problematic 1080p/AVC-encoded efforts. While the graininess, frequent softness, and all around inconsistency of the presentation derives from the show's source, other anomalies -- compression artifacts, slight banding, mosquito noise, ringing, and crush -- aren't always inherent to the original photography. Determining where the series' flaws end and the encode's inadequacies begin is a challenge, and I suspect the resulting episodes wouldn't look that much different even if they were given more room to breathe. (As it stands, the first seven episodes of Season Five are housed on disc one, the next six, plus an extended version of the series finale are housed on disc two. Overcrowded? Perhaps. Overcrowded to each episode's detriment? Perhaps not.) Even so, colors are warm and vibrant, primaries pack serious muscle, skintones are nicely saturated (despite the occasional flushed cheek and overheated face), and black levels are decent (albeit a bit dull when grain spikes and the lights dim). Contrast is hot, hot, hot -- as it's always been -- and fine detail and shot-to-shot clarity runs the gamut from satisfying to serviceable to disappointing. Again, the source is key; but the source isn't the only factor at work. All in all, the fifth season boasts one of Chuck's better presentations, but only by a moderate margin. Fans will be mildly pleased, apologists will rush to its defense, and everyone else will shrug their shoulders and try to overlook the glaring flaws.
Chuck's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is loaded with lossless heat, but it's still a relatively front-heavy, two-dimensional experience that lacks the fullness and immersiveness of more refined mixes. Dialogue is clean and clear... for the most part. Some lines are muffled, others are lost in the heat of shootouts, still others aren't given the support they need. It isn't a prevalent issue, mind you, just an ever-present issue that distracts from time to time. All the while, LFE output is hefty but a tad cumbersome, rear speaker activity is aggressive but a bit flat and uninvolving, and dynamics are notable but not noteworthy, eeking by instead of making a sonic statement. Directionality is decent, though, pans are fairly slick, and Tim Jones' score puts out a hit on every channel, making the most of its lossless stomping grounds. Should any blame be placed on Warner's shoulders? No. This is Chuck and its sound design, warts and all. Should it be dismissed? Not at all. It won't blow anyone away, but it certainly gets the job done. Series devotees won't be disappointed.
And so we come to the end of an era... or rather the end of Chuck, a long-endangered series that owes every season of its existence to its dearly devoted fans. Fedak and Schwartz don't let their fans down either, thanks to the wild, funny, emotional ride that is the series' fifth and final season. Not everyone will like how it all ends, but in the coming years, few people will see Chuck's last thirteen-episode run as being anything less than good. Very, very good. Warner's Blu-ray release isn't quite as exciting. Its video presentation is as noisy and uneven as ever, its DTS-HD Master Audio track is solid but less-than-extraordinary, and its supplemental package is fairly generous but not incredible. All told, fans will be happy, superfans and series apologists will be ecstatic, and casual viewers will be slightly underwhelmed; in other words, the same reactions every other Chuck Blu-ray release has elicited.
2007-2008
2008-2009
2010
2010-2011
Extended Cut + Theatrical
2012
2016
Ultimate Collector's Edition
1994
2005
2010
2010
2008
2010
2013
Limited Edition
2015
2016
25th Anniversary Edition
1997
2010
2014
2018
Extended Cut
2017
2011
2019
2014
2003