8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
This season, Chuck is in luck. Intersect II is ready for espionage service. And that means the old Intersect (Chuck) can go back to his old life. But if Chuck goes, he’s gone: Casey has orders to off him. In the series called “TV’s funniest comedy” by EW.com, Chuck survives to unravel mysteries of the past, become a hero in the present, and – in a stunner of a season finale – chop-and-drop himself into an even more perilous future!
Starring: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah LancasterAction | 100% |
Comedy | 62% |
Romance | 41% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
English, French, Spanish, Dutch
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
If I suddenly found myself thrust into the middle of a high-tech spy war, blessed with superhuman acuity and two gun-toting government handlers, I would tell everyone. No secrecy, no attempts to hide the truth from my family and friends, no soul searching or inner-turmoil. The CIA would probably have to devote an agent to deleting announcements from my Facebook page, if it were even worth covering up at that point. But then again, I'm not Chuck Bartowski (emerging talent Zachary Levi): dutiful brother and all around loyal pal, mild-mannered Buy More employee, and reluctant superspy extraordinaire. When a national security database is accidentally uploaded into his brain, Chuck becomes an invaluable source of agency intelligence -- enough to warrant a pair of assigned agents, Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) and John Casey (Adam Baldwin) -- as well as the target of a sinister organization known as FULCRUM. In case you haven't guessed it, NBC's Chuck isn't a serious dramatic thriller, it's an action comedy and a fine one at that. After its first season earned the show a respectable fanbase, its cast and crew returned with a tighter, funnier, more engaging series of episodes that upped the ante in every conceivable way.
One of the most consistent comedies on television turns out to be a tongue-in-cheek spy lark...
The Complete Second Season's 1080p/VC-1 transfer suffers from many of the same problems that made The Complete First Season such an underwhelming visual letdown. Noise and artifacts clutter the image, fine detail falters as searing contrast and rampant softness invades the proceedings, and skintones are frequently flushed and oversaturated. While each issue is a bit less pervasive than it is on the series' first season release -- the show's source seems to be at fault more often than Warner's technical encode this time around -- the subsequent picture is nevertheless a garish disappointment. Colors are exceedingly vibrant, blacks are deep and a number of scenes look quite nice, but contrast has been boosted to near-ludicrous levels. Likewise, detail proves itself to be satisfying here and there, particularly when comparing the Blu-ray edition to its standard DVD counterpart, but texture clarity and edge definition are fairly inconsistent from shot to shot. Worse still, compression anomalies swarm the bright skies above the Buy More (among other locales), aliasing and crush are constant distractions, delineation is mediocre at best (especially during nighttime shots), and macroblocking is apparent at various points in each episode. It's difficult to separate Chuck's unattractive aesthetics from what I suspect is a lackluster transfer, so I'll just go with my gut. Fan or newcomer, prepare yourself accordingly.
Why Warner insists on cursing the majority of their television releases with lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround tracks is beyond me, but I doubt anything, be it a TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio mix, could help The Complete Second Season's front-heavy, sometimes two-dimensional soundscape leave a more lasting impression. While each episode's dialogue is intelligible and well-prioritized, rear speaker activity is surprisingly restrained in all but the most action-oriented sequences (surges in the series' musical score being one of the lone exceptions). Immersion takes an obvious hit, as does pan transparency and directionality. A crowded banquet hall rarely sounds like a crowded banquet hall, but rather a mixer's approximation of one. The same applies to bustling dinner parties, chaotic shootouts, noisy underground bunkers, and car chases. LFE output is more aggressive -- granting gunfire and explosions notable oomph -- and dynamics inject some much-needed power into an otherwise average track. Ultimately, as much as I enjoy Chuck as a series, putting up with its AV shortcomings is a trying experience. Diehards will shrug off such nuisances after a handful of episodes, but everyone else will have to work to ignore its lesser qualities.
While the Blu-ray edition of Chuck: The Complete Second Season offers a lengthy list of special features spread across four discs, the results are less than spectacular. Yes, a pair of production documentaries and a heap of deleted scenes add welcome value to the release, but without any audio commentaries or Picture-in-Picture tracks, there isn't a whole lot on tap to get excited about. It also doesn't help that the majority of the content is presented in standard definition.
As funny, entertaining and charming as Chuck's second season is, the 4-disc Blu-ray edition is a bust. Its video transfer is a mess, offering noise and artifacts where high definition goodness should reside. Its Dolby Digital audio track isn't just a lossy drag, it's a bit of an uninvolving, front-heavy bore. Its supplemental package serves up a few choice features, but doesn't include any audio commentaries, Picture-in-Picture tracks, or other enticing BD-Java trimmings. Although devotees will get their money's worth -- despite its issues, the Blu-ray edition represents a solid visual upgrade from the standard DVD set -- casual fans and newcomers would be wise to wait for it to go on sale.
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2012
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2010
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2015
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