8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Action | 100% |
War | 47% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 2.0
English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Digital copy
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Does anyone other than the diehard television trivia junkie remember Dan Briggs? For those of you who aren’t diehard television trivia
junkies, Dan Briggs was the name of the first leader of the Impossible Missions Force on the premiere season of Mission: Impossible, but when Steven Hill, the actor portraying the character, raised objections
to
the shooting schedule, one that often interfered with his observance of the Jewish Sabbath beginning at sundown on Friday evenings, Hill left the
show, and from the second season on the new if arguably not that improved leader became Jim Phelps, portrayed memorably by Peter Graves.
This particular example remains one of the more interesting examples of a hit show weathering a rather substantial cast change, one that
Mission: Impossible was perhaps able to do because when you got right down to it, the “characters” of the Impossible Missions Force
weren’t all that important, it was the “sting” of the mission and each episode’s often labyrinthine plot dynamics, that made the show really work.
There’s something perhaps even more dramatic with regard to Strike Back, which goes into its fifth season with a whole scale cast
change, though longtime fans of the series might be at least a little used to this strategy, since the show has shorn itself of supposedly major
characters
over its previous seasons with a somewhat surprising regularity.
Reviews of Strike Back’s previous seasons can be accessed by clicking on the following links:
Strike Back: Season One Blu-ray review
Strike Back: Season Two Blu-ray review
Strike Back: Season Three Blu-ray review
Strike Back: Season Four Blu-ray review
Strike Back: Season Five is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is another really sharp and well detailed looking season, though one kind of peculiar stylistic choice actually started to kind of bother me after a while. For some reason, the creative crew has decided to really aggressively grade a lot of the desert and/or Libyan material in a rather sickly yellow-green shade that makes the Section 20 operatives look positively jaundiced (you can make this out in several of the screenshots I've uploaded to the review). In fact the grading is so aggressive that facial tones can almost posterize at times. Apart from that intermittently off putting approach, the rest of the season really pops extremely well, with typically excellent detail and fine detail levels, perhaps surprisingly even in some rather dark and/or dimly lit moments. Some of the CGI is a little soft looking at times, but it sure appears that the series used practical effects for many and maybe all of the major explosions that erupt through any given episode.
Strike Back: Season Five features another boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers consistently forceful LFE and regular immersion in any number of exciting action sequences. The wide open spaces of desert locales are contrasted rather nicely with more urban moments supposedly in Libya, both of which offer opportunities for well placed ambient environmental sounds. Dialogue, effects and score are all mixed well and prioritized smartly on this very enjoyable and problem free track.
Disc One
There are probably some fans who thought Mission: Impossible took a big downturn late in its run after some of the icons of the show like Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were replaced by the likes of Leonard Nimoy and Lesley Ann Warren, but the underlying strengths of that show were arguably not that materially affected. The same can probably be said for Strike Back, and the good news is this "new" cast segues into their roles and the often chaotic situations the series offer without missing a beat. Technical merits are solid, and even without much in the way of supplements, Strike Back: Season Five comes Recommended.
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