Dominion: Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Dominion: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

And lo, the Lord said, "Thou shalt not deliver unto them mediocrity." But SyFy did not heed Him...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 3, 2015

Ah, the road to Hell. Moviegoers know thy paved path well. Scott Stewart's universally panned Legion (2010) was a modest box office success; not enough to greenlight a theatrical sequel, particularly given its poor critical reception and shoulder-shrug word of mouth, but enough, apparently, to make a low budget television series a viable option. (Not that anyone was asking for one.) Enter SyFy, a shoestring genre network ever in search of a spiritual successor to its only certifiable hit: Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica (2003-09). And who could blame them? Dominion has all the BSG fixins, all the familiar twists and turns, and the same inhumans hiding amongst us paranoia and rival factioning that quickly transformed Moore's Galactica reimagining from an obscure cable miniseries into an award-winning, four-season, now-classic TV series. But Dominion isn't BSG. It lacks the confidence, precision, absorbing structure, sharp writing, grasp of mythos fundamentals, gripping performances, impressive production design and FX... essentially everything that made the latter great. What remains is a shallow, heaven-n-hell-inspired imitation that has big, lofty, admittedly intriguing ideas but lacks the storytelling prowess and proof of concept that would allow it to transcend its on-the-cheap SyFy trappings.

'Dominion' is set in the near future, 25 years after "The Extinction War," in which an army of lower angels, assembled by the archangel Gabriel (Carl Beukes) in the wake of God's disappearance, waged a devastating war against mankind. The archangel Michael (Tom Wisdom) rebelled from his brethren, turning against his own kind and siding with humanity. Rising out of the ashes of this long battle are newly fortified cities which protect human survivors. At the center of the series is the city of Vega, a glistening empire that has formed from the ruins of what was once Las Vegas, and in it The Chosen One, Alex Lannon (Christopher Egan), a prophesied savior with strange tattoos written in an unknown language: the final message of God, which can only be translated by man's new messiah. But where will Alex's allegiances ultimately lie? With the leaders of Vega? His lover Claire (Roxanne McKee)? Michael? Gabriel? Their sister Uriel (Katrine De Candole)? Or will The Chosen One chart his own course?

Problems arise from the start and never really go away. Despite a lengthy narrated introduction to The Extinction War and a full rundown of the events that followed, in spite of endless exposition throughout the series' early episodes, and even after spending quality time with the angels, humans and ruling houses of Vega, the world and inner-workings of Dominion -- the factions, the cities, the key players, the ranks of heaven, the rules of the game -- are almost impenetrable. Convoluted and confusing, the story unfolds with a heavy hand and a heavier pace. It's tough to latch onto anyone or find a foothold anywhere, especially as the vast majority of the characters are either unlikable, uninteresting or, worse, both. There are a few standout wolves scattered amongst the human flock (Anthony Head's David Whele for one), but they may as well twirl mustaches and don black cloaks for all the subtlety they bring to their roles. The fact that Alex, Claire and Dominion's do-gooders trust the painfully obvious villains as much as they do makes each hero seem positively dim-witted. (Or at the very least blind as a hell-bat.)

The use of Christian mythology is underwhelming from the outset as well, with internal logic and supernatural through-threads being more of an afterthought than a crucial component of the storytelling. The cleverness of these elements improve as the season nears its endgame -- the seventh episode, "Ouroboros," features a smart twist on Noah's flood -- but there really isn't much to heaven's angels and their complicated relationship with man that hasn't been done before, or done to far greater effect. (Supernatural and the Prophecy franchise run circles around Dominion, and when it comes to the Prophecy sequels, that isn't saying much.) It doesn't help that every performance subscribes to one of two extremes: bland or overcooked. Egan is forgettable (though the blame largely falls on the writer's room). Wisdom is flat and pushed to be even flatter. McKee is dull and predictable (in all but Episode Six, "Black Eyes Blue"). Beukes musters a decent Hank Azaria impression (circa Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian). De Candole is just bad. So bad. Luke Allen-Gale overacts as Whele's shady, Gabriel-allied son... then somehow cranks his performance three levels above that. And Anton David Jeftha invites unintended laughs as Furiad, a higher angel. Only Alan Dale and, again, Anthony Head live up to their pay grade, but even then, subpar scripts and stale, cheesy dialogue ruins just about anything anyone achieves.

Strides are made before "Beware Those Closest to You" wraps up the first season's eight-episode arc, and there's a glimmer of potential in the last three episodes absent from the preceding five, sure. But Dominion so disastrously fumbles everything from its premise to its execution to its FX (good God, the FX) to its biggest shocks and surprises that it hardly matters. Can the series right enough wrongs in Season Two to warrant a second shot? Anything's possible. Is it likely? No. Too many changes would be required for Dominion to be anything more than a SyFy guilty pleasure.

Dominion: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

If you're able to look past Dominion's at-times bottom rung visual effects and cartoonish CG, there's quite a lot to appreciate with Universal's faithful 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation. Colors are typically warm and vibrant, with carefully saturated skintones, strong primaries and satisfying black levels. Detail is excellent too, even if some of the shoddier FX renders clarity a bit hit or miss. Edges are crisp and clean (without any significant ringing), fine textures are revealing, and delineation is noteworthy. There are instances of noise and crush, in addition to some exceedingly minor macroblocking, but none of it proves distracting. Bottom line? The series' visuals leave something to be desired, but its encode will help minimize the sting. Fans will be pleased.

Dominion: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While it has to soldier through a few weirdly front-heavy sequences and overcome an unreliable soundfield, Dominion's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track does its job and does it well. Or as well it can. The series' sound design isn't remarkable by any means. By extension, Universal's lossless track isn't all that impressive, at least subjectively. Still, dialogue is clear, intelligible and competently prioritized. The LFE channel throws its weight behind action beats, shootouts and angelic battles. And the rear speakers make more convincing environments and climactic encounters suitably enveloping. Moreover, directionality is decent, pans are decent, and dynamics are, you guessed it, decent. Again, there's nothing really wrong here. No villains to unmask. No bombs to disarm. No wolves in sheep's clothing to report. There just isn't much to the experience. Dominion sounds like a low budget sci-fi show. Which isn't all that troubling considering... it's a low budget sci-fi show.

Dominion: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Alternate Extended Episode (HD, 81 minutes): The season finale, "Beware Those Closest to You," is presented via a 62-minute broadcast cut and an 81-minute extended version, the most notable difference being Noma's visit to Gabriel and the events that follow. The verdict? The showrunners should've gone with the alternate extended episode. It's much better.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 14 minutes): Deleted scenes are available for five episodes: "Godspeed," "Broken Places," "The Flood," "Something Borrowed" and "Beware Those Closest to You."
• Gag Reel (HD, 3 minutes): Crack-ups, line flubs and a door that just won't open.

Dominion: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dominion really, really, really wants to be a supernaturally themed Battlestar Galactica, to the point most of the "homage" it indulges is more akin to grand larceny. And any comparisons the similarities invite only expose Dominion's flaws that much more. Even in an alternate reality, where BSG never came to be, SyFy's latest series would still fall flat in almost every area, from its scripts to its performances to its execution, leaving little to enjoy and even less to savor. Universal's Blu-ray release is better -- thanks to a solid AV presentation -- but its anemic supplemental package disappoints. I'd recommend sampling an episode or two before making a purchase.