8.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Set in the 1860s it centers on former confederate soldier Cullen Bohannan, whose quest for vengeance has led him to the Union Pacific Railroad's westward construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad.
Starring: Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, Common, Christopher Heyerdahl, Tom NoonanWestern | 100% |
Period | 18% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In Blu-ray.com's Hell On Wheels: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review, I mentioned having grown up in Salt Lake City where elementary school kids were guaranteed (at least back in the Dark Ages when I went to school) a field trip to Promontory Point, the place where the vaunted Golden Spike was pounded into a track, symbolically joining the efforts of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific to create the first transcontinental railroad. This third season of Hell on Wheels has another connection to Utah, albeit perhaps not quite as celebratory. While the bulk of the season plays out with several characters still reeling from various crises that exploded over the course of the second season, a fascinating plot arc develops in the season that sees Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) having one particularly bad series of events with Mormons. If the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon poked scabrous if ultimately kind of sweet natured fun at the religion, Hell on Wheels offers a much darker perspective on the pioneers who under Brigham Young’s mentorship emigrated west from Illinois to finally land where Brigham himself said “this is the place”, the desert valley which would ultimately become known as Salt Lake City. Hell on Wheels has continually attempted to mine the same kind of gritty, angst filled world that informed much of Deadwood, but this particular plot arc is rather notable not just for how potentially offensive it might be to current Latter Day Saints (though there are some at least relatively noble Mormons on hand in the show, too), but also for how it slyly reintroduces a conflict that some fans of the series may have thought was finally over and done with.
Hell on Wheels: The Complete Third Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One with a VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Unlike the really odd if admittedly slight differences in aspect ratio seen on the Hell On Wheels: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray release, all the episodes on this set have a uniform 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The series continues to look fantastic in high definition, with both incredible depth of field in the many outdoor location shots as well as often impeccable fine detail in close-ups. The directors and cinematographers continue to play with various angles and lenses, including things like a fish eye lens that looks up at Cullen through a trough he's about to take a drink from in one episode. This season doesn't quite have the drab, dreary ambience that some of the preceding two seasons have had, but that actually only means that the palette for this season tends to pop a bit more than it has in years past. The change from AVC to VC-1 for this season does not seem to have created any undue issues to discuss.
As with previous seasons, Hell on Wheels: The Complete Third Season's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is unusually vibrant for episodic television, almost always utilizing source cues for each episode as well as a rootsy underscore that typically utilizes the surround channels quite well. The series has its fair share of great sound effects, which include everything from the hazards of stormy weather to gunshots to the roaring gallop of horse hooves across the prairie, and that is all presented with quite a bit of force and some might even say bombast at times. Dialogue is clean and clear and this track sports excellent fidelity and an absence of any issues.
- On Set: Building Hell on Wheels (1080p; 3:37)
- Set Tour With Common (1080p; 1:55)
- Charlie Daniels: "Hell on Strings" (1080p; 3:10)
- Common and Dohn-Norwood: "I'm Building Me a Home" (1080p; 5:49)
Make no mistake about it, Hell on Wheels is still viscerally exciting a lot of the time, and there are several really well done plot arcs that are interwoven throughout this season. But there's also just the slight whiff of having been there and seen that as the series tends to trod over content that it has already covered. This season belongs squarely to Christopher Heyerdahl, who emerges as one of the all time creepiest characters ever to inhabit a western. Several other plot arcs have their ups and downs, but the creative staff behind Hell on Wheels had better realize that with a seven year life span (if the series follows actual historical events), they'd better keep moving forward rather than retracing old routes. Technical merits continue to be exceptionally strong on this release, and despite some niggling qualms about what lies ahead, Hell on Wheels comes Recommended.
2011-2012
2012
with Character Cards
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2015
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2014
1939
Per un Pugno di Dollari
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2015
1971
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Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
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2014
C'era una volta il West / Paramount Presents #44
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50th Anniversary
1961