Shark Week: Fins of Fury Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Shark Week: Fins of Fury Blu-ray Movie Review

We're gonna need a bigger boat...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown August 26, 2013

Shark Week. That hallowed institution. That treasured tradition. That celebrated week of the year that Discovery dedicates to the ocean's most feared (and often misunderstood) predators. Say it with me: Shark Week. Now say it again, whispering it with the excitement that bubbles up from the primordial waters deep within: Shark Week. With plenty of fun to be had, chills to be felt and, yes, scientific education to be absorbed, each year seems more entertaining than the last, and with twenty-five years of Shark Weeks and counting, the finned, fan-favorite fixture doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Nor should it.

Shark Week: Fins of Fury gathers together all seven episodes from the 2011 Shark Week season: "Great White Invasion," "Jaws Comes Home," "Rogue Sharks," "Summer of the Shark," "Killer Sharks," "How Sharks Hunt" and "Shark City." From the most scholarly special to the bloodiest and back again, it's a fascinating, sometimes frightening but always gripping five hours of natural history goodness that's by no means outdated. If anything, like most Shark Weeks, Fins of Fury tends to lay it on thick. Unlike the BBC's famed documentaries, Shark Week is built for entertainment, and prioritizes entertainment above all else. That doesn't make these seven specials the Michael Bay blockbusters of shark documentaries, but it does come with a more hyperbolic tone than more sophisticated docs. Even so, there's no week like Shark Week, and fans will gobble up, chow down and voraciously chew through every delicious episode.

Shark Week: Fins of Fury features seven episodes spread across two BD-25 discs:

• Great White Invasion: Great white sharks, in large numbers, are now suddenly being found swimming among surfers and vacationers just off beaches from South Africa to Australia, and up and down the coast of California. Just why they're there and just what they're doing is a mystery that Chris Fallows and an international team of sharks scientists are trying to figure out.
• Jaws Comes Home: Follow passionate shark expert and U.S. Fisheries scientist, Greg Skomal, as he documents six remarkable months following five great whites with names like Curly and Ruthless. His mission: to understand more about their recently discovered, 1,200-mile journey up and down the eastern seaboard and to reveal all he can about these much-maligned hunters.
• Rogue Sharks: It was the central premise of the hit movie Jaws that still haunts people today: that certain sharks may "go rogue" and decide to go after humans. But does the science back this up? In this hour, witness stories of some of the most horrific shark attacks in history with the larger scientific detective story of whether or not individual sharks ever develop a taste for human flesh and go rogue.
• Summer of the Shark: In the summer of 2008 an unprecedented wave of shark attacks sweeps the eastern coast of Australia. Australian shark experts and fishery managers scramble to understand what is happening. Could it be that that the gradual dwindling of the sharks' natural prey due to overfishing has brought man to the top of the shark's food chain? Will the summer of 2008 be a prelude of things to come?
• Killer Sharks: December 1957: the height of tourist season in South Africa. Merry vacationers from around the globe descend on an idyllic resort town along the sunny coast to enjoy the summer. It's not long until the white sands are clogged with dead bodies and the sapphire waters are red with blood. The culprit? The authorities suspected a single, massive rogue shark with a taste for human flesh.
• How Sharks Hunt: Dave and Cody of Dual Survival dive in to investigate why no two species of shark attack in the same manner. Through a series of groundbreaking tests and the use of innovative high-tech camera technologies, they'll examine the shark's unique savagery and specialized methods of killing, revealing exactly why they're so deadly.
• Shark City: Most of us think of sharks as blank-eyed killing machines, but in Shark City, we'll get to know a handful of them as individuals. Follow the sharks of the Bahamas through their days and nights to find out how they size each other up, what they like to eat and what it is that they're afraid of. Features the talents and hilarious insights of Chief Shark Officer Andy Samberg.

Shark Week: Fins of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

With more source shifts and changes than anyone will care to count, both HD and SD, Discovery/Gaiam's AVC-encoded video presentation is a hit-or-miss affair through and through, although those familiar with the series shouldn't expect anything more. Mild to moderate anomalies lord over each episode, above the water and below: macroblocking, banding, stairstepping, noise, aliasing, ringing, horizontal 3:2 pulldown lines, clarity inconsistencies, crush, color blooming... you name it, you'll find it somewhere and to varying degrees of severity. However, aside from Fury's inherent source troubles and not-so-inherent compression problems, it's a decent five-hour presentation, and certainly not the unwatchable mess it could be. Colors are generally strong, skintones typically lifelike and black levels quite good. Detail is all over the place, of course (with a few scenes per episode that really swim and a few more than really sink), but there's no mistaking the telltale HD upgrade offered. All told, Shark Week fans will shrug their shoulders and dig in unassuaged. Newcomers lured by the low pricepoint, though, will probably be disappointed... at least at first.

Shark Week: Fins of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The same can be said of Discovery/Gaiam's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track, which is faithful to the episodes as conceived but all too ordinary. Narration, interview responses and dialogue in the series' dramatic recreations all fare well, with minimal air hiss or distractions. There's no LFE or rear speaker support to speak of either, and yet each episode still has some bite, with notable weight and presence despite the use of just two channels. Will it be remembered? Hardly. Does it get the job done? Yep, and without any major mishaps to point to.

Shark Week: Fins of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray edition of Shark Week: Fins of Fury doesn't include any special features.

Shark Week: Fins of Fury Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Shark Week: Fins of Fury delivers a solid selection of seven 2011 shark specials, with enough toothy delights, blood-soaked recreations and scientific investigations to engage, entertain and educate fans of the annual series. The 2-disc Blu-ray release isn't quite so reliable, with a problematic video presentation and an underwhelming DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, but at a low price point, it has plenty to give and plenty more to praise. Ignore the inherent shortcomings and dive in. There's no week like Shark Week.