City on a Hill: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

City on a Hill: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 6, 2023

What used to make this city great was that it was run by bad men who understood that they were bad.

If it's based in Boston, there is a good chance that the longtime duo of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have something to do with it. That is certainly true with City on a Hill, a gritty Boston-based cop drama that the duo co-produced, and Affleck helped to write. The show oozes Boston; the city, its people, its culture, its accents, and its 1990s setting are hallmarks that differentiate the show from others of its ilk, but this is, ultimately, a lean and satisfying genre production that delivers on solid storylines, great characters, and legitimate grit and darkness. It's not so much what the show does different but rather what the show does to amplify essentials and deliver a satisfying program that may for years to come be amongst the standard-bearers for the "gritty cop drama."

Official synopsis: In early 1990s Boston, Assistant DA Decourcy Ward (Aldis Hodge) forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran, Jackie Rohr (Kevin Bacon). Together, they take on a case that ultimately changes the city's entire criminal justice system.

The show is an open portrait of the many open wounds that fester through Boston. Crime runs rampant, of course, as a necessary underscore for the grit and brutality. The crime is heavy and intense, and the police responses are heavy and intense. Both sides work gray areas. The criminals are not gunning people down and robbing banks for the thrill of it, but with motive and purpose. Of course, there are times when energy and testosterone push too hard, but the same is true on the other side of the line as well. The show does not shy away from examining both sides of each coin and how that coin so often falls on its edge rather than on one side or the other, whether in the way the crime elements works or how the police operate in response. In this way, the show offers nothing new. These are dynamics as old as the genre, which is why the show's setting is paramount to infusing some new blood into this age-old story.

The show does not wrench in its Boston bona-fides for the sake of wrenching them in. The city's pulse is the proverbial character unto itself, and it is the city's beating heart, its lifeblood, its history, the infusion of a particular kind of culture, speech, person, and dynamic that drives the story to heights beyond what its generic facade has to offer. The complexities of how the city operates, how people perceive the city, and how they use and abuse it -- and their position in it -- defines almost the entirety of the show, whether the criminal element, and the brother duo of Frankie and Jimmy specifically, or the law enforcement duo of Rohr and Ward, the former of whom is Boston through-and-through and the latter of whom is an outsider attempting to learn the ropes and find his place in the dense Boston atmosphere. Ward's journey is complicated by his skin color. Boston is central to the story, and it is Boston itself that allows the material to thrive when it might otherwise reach a plateau at "generically engaging."

The show's great strength, beyond its ability to weave together stale genre elements with fresh atmosphere helps, comes in the performances. The cast nails the roles, not content to simply regurgitate practiced accents -- which are important to authenticity -- but rather explore characters on both sides of the ledger, pushing the darkness but also finding a humanity beyond. These are deep, worthwhile characters who are quickly established but gradually exposed, a testament to the writing and a testament to the quality of acting, which is superb. The leads bring a sense of depth and understanding, boasting serious consideration to the roles, the work, and the world in which they live and operate. The authenticity of character is found on the page but brought to life on the screen with all of the grit, rawness, roughness, and realness one could want. Interpersonal dynamics are excellent, and the cast does some seriously good work in bringing these characters to vivid life.

City on a Hill: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Showtime's 1080p transfer offers the expectedly stout 1080p presentation. The image does deal with some innate noise, but rarely does it appear in any sort of extensive or debilitating amount. The picture offers a fairly stable level of textural excellence, revealing ragged city corners, clothing, and faces with excellent definition and depth; viewers will be able to explore concrete, fabrics, and skin thanks to the expert definition and overall clarity apparent in every episode. Even in low light, where the show spends a fair bit of time, there is not much left to the imagination. Colors are sufficient, presenting quality depth and boldness in good lighting and solid shadow definition in low light. Black levels could stand to be a bit darker rather than the very light push to gray and washed out as seen at times, but even still black levels hold more positive than negative. Skin tones look full and healthy within any given lighting scenario, and bright outdoor exteriors deliver impressively rich vibrance and nuance. There are no significant compression issues to report.

City on a Hill: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a satisfying listen. The show's sound design offers a mix of intense gunfire, subtle atmospherics, music, and dialogue. The track never feels supremely expansive, but it does open up to allow listeners to aurally discover the lay of the Boston land and sufficiently immerse themselves into it. Overall clarity is fine, and depth to gunfire and other action elements satisfies. The track offers solid front-end stretch and good surround wrap, though the back channels are not always in frequent use. Dialogue does drive the show, and clarity is excellent, even with some of the thickest accents the show has to offer.

City on a Hill: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This complete series release of City on a Hill features a few brief extras found only on two of the discs. No DVD or digital copies are included. This release does not include a slipcover.

Season One, Disc One:

• Inside Episode 1 (1080p, 2:30): Exploring the Frankie-Jimmy relationship and the actors who portray them.
• Inside Episode 2 (1080p, 2:37): Looking at some of the episode dynamics: Ward's place in the world in which he works and lives, the screen chemistry between Bacon and Hodge, and more.
• Inside Episode 3 (1080p, 2:35): Focusing on the Cathy Ryan character.

Season One, Disc Three:

• Kyra Sedgeick Directs City on a Hill (1080p, 2:00): Briefly looking at Sedgwick's work as director on episode 1-7.
• Capturing Boston (1080p, 2:55): Life in Boston then, the city's heartbeat and place in the show, and the darkness that courses through the show and the city.

City on a Hill: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dark, gritty, and often unnerving, City on a Hill hits hard and uses its home as a means of communicating and expressing genre qualities and characteristics in new ways. The show is very well written and acted even better, making it one of the better gritty cops-and-robbers sagas to come along in some time, especially on the small screen. Showtime's Blu-ray set lacks much in the way of meaty bonus features, but the video and audio presentations are very strong. Recommended.