Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 31, 2021

If there’s one thing Into the Badlands makes clear, it's that no matter how dystopian a post-Apocalyptic world might be, there’s evidently always going to be really cool stuff to wear. AMC’s impossible to totally pigeon hole series was canceled after the third season presented on this set of Blu-rays, and so some may feel investing time in the tale may not be worth it, especially since this season ends with several plot threads clearly dangling and virtually begging for some kind of resolution. That said, Into the Badlands offers a glut of visual delights that make it appealing eye candy a lot of the time, at least for those who can stomach copious amounts of blood and other gore sprinkled through a saga of what amount to warring tribes in a land filled with strife and sociopolitical intrigue. Kind of incredibly, at least given its weird mishmash of feudalism and retro-futuristic production design, Into the Badlands owes at least part of its genesis to the 16th century Chinese opus which has given birth to an almost insane number of film adaptations, including Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back. For those enterprising enough to want to know some of the other film adaptations of this source, I refer you to the first paragraph of my Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back Blu-ray review, which details at least a few of them.

For those wanting to catch up on this particular kinda sorta adaptation via its previous seasons released on Blu-ray, please click on the following links featuring reviews by my colleague Martin Liebman:

Into the Badlands: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review

Into the Badlands: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray review

Even those who caught Into the Badlands as it was originally broadcast on AMC may have wished for a “previously. . .on. . .” recap as the third season gets underway, since there was a lapse of almost an entire year between the final episode of the second season and the opening of this final year. The story picks up more or less where it left off, albeit time shifted forward a bit. The opening vignettes reestablish “introductions” to various characters, with The Widow (Emily Beecham) both venturing out to recruit a new regent, in this case Nathaniel Moon (Sherman Augustus), as well as tending to things inside, as is the case with her prisoner, M.K. (Aramis Knight). Moon’s disfigurement at the hands (no pun intended) of Sunny (Daniel Wu) serves as a natural bridge of sorts to that character, and you can almost feel the writing staff assembling the pieces to bring these characters back together again for what is presumed will be a major showdown.

In a novelistic series like this that is pretty much stuffed to the gills with supporting characters, it can be hard to really stand out, but in that regard, one of the characters with the strongest (if maybe still subliminal) connections to Journey to the West, Bajie (Nick Frost), plays into the proceedings quite a bit this season. Without posting any outright spoilers, suffice it to say Bajie’s “future” (when the show maybe had a shot at a fourth season) seems to be in doubt at one perilous moment, only to be resolved with a near miraculous resurrection. In that regard, a denouement involving Sunny is one of the most frustrating plot threads left dangling, as, frankly, is Sunny himself, in a metaphysical sense. A kind of "prophecy" delivered to Sunny in one of the final moments along with a "reveal" involving a supposedly extinct weapon is another major plot point that is simply unresolved, and needs to be accepted as such.

If there will therefore be elements of the storyline that may end up causing agita for viewers (especially fans who have stuck with the show through all three years), Into the Badlands is still often incredibly visceral, simply due to its oddly engaging aesthetic and especially its incredibly dynamic fight scenes. This is a kind of "martial arts" inspired series that features some astounding wire work, step printing and other bells and whistles which lend undeniable impact to the hand to hand combat moments. The laws of physics are of course routinely jettisoned, but the inventiveness of some of the sequences is really quite captivating.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and AMC with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists Red cameras and a 4K DI as data points. I've long been on record as stating I personally prefer the "look" of Red's digital capture over Arri Alexas, at least generally speaking, and this is another nicely detailed looking presentation that is elevated by an almost psychedelic palette at times. Hues in the blue and purple ranges are especially gorgeous throughout this season, but the entire aesthetic of the series is delivered with really commendably consistent fine detail, solid contrast and blacks, and a lack of any egregious compression artifacts. The series' odd but captivating production design offers all sorts of opportunities for visual blandishments, and both costumes and sets offer virtually palpable textures at times. There are occasional slight downturns in detail levels during some of the CGI, as well as some of the intentionally tweaked fight scenes that feature various video "bells and whistles" like step printing. This is a frequently astounding looking series, and this set of Blu-ray discs reproduces things with a good amount of flair.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Those of you who get a lot of releases from Lionsgate Films (as I do) may be used to seeing their discs basically default to an interstitial DTS-HD Master Audio vignette before the actual feature, since so many of their releases feature that audio codec. This is one of the outliers, perhaps due to the AMC connection, offering the same Dolby TrueHD 5.1 codec that the first two seasons on Blu-ray did. Marty wasn't especially impressed with the first season's audio, upping his score a bit for the second season, but to my ears this third season really raises the audio bar substantially from the previous two years, delivering a nice onslaught of surround activity in the many battle scenes, as well as offering good engagement of the surrounds for ambient environmental effects and the often propulsive score. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout all episodes. Optional English or Spanish subtitles are available.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Perhaps surprisingly, there are absolutely no supplements offered across the four discs included in this release. A digital copy is included. The discs also feature a "Play All" option that works like the old "Season Play" offerings on Fox Blu-rays. For example, when the last episode on Disc One finishes, you get a prompt to insert Disc Two. If you eject a disc before every episode has played and insert another disc, you'll get another prompt advising you to reinsert whatever disc you ejected to complete playing that disc's episodes. The discs do offer an option to play any given episode individually.

Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you can accept the fact that not all of your questions are going to be answered as this third season of Into the Badlands unfolds, the series still provides a ready supply of visual delights and some intriguing characters, along with some of the most peripatetic action sequences on television. Yes, it's undeniably unfortunate that the show doesn't wrap everything up (could there be one final "special event" produced to do so?), and that will understandably be a major stumbling block for some. But that said, Into the Badlands is well produced and frankly kind of weirdly distinctive with its genre bending approach. Technical merits are solid, and with caveats duly noted, Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season comes Recommended.