That Dirty Black Bag: Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

That Dirty Black Bag: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

High noon head hunter.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 21, 2022

The AMC+ original series That Dirty Black Bag is a genuine Spaghetti Western show that, while riddled with plenty of noticeable genre tropes and clichés, spins a pretty watchable yarn during eight 50-minute chapters. Filmed on location in Italy, Spain and Morocco, it takes place over a roughly week-long stretch as bounty hunter Red Bill (Douglas Booth) scours the land for for a mysterious knife-wielding man who killed his mother 15 years ago. Red collects the heads of various connected accomplices and keeps 'em in... yep, you guessed it, and it's not long before his unconventional but perfectly legal spree provokes a response from sheriff Arthur McCoy (Dominic Cooper, AKA Jesse Custer from Preacher) as he passes through the town of Greenvale, a former gold-rich territory that's now populated by farmers, travelers, and a house of prostitution called "The Red Lantern" that's run by former town leader Eve (Niv Sultan).

Gold still exists in Greenvale, as pitiable farmer Steve (Christian Cooke) -- yes, "Steve" -- has unearthed a veritable mine full beneath his property that's otherwise as barren and useless as the rest of the town. No one else knows about Steve's discovery, not even his perpetually put-upon wife Michelle (Zoe Boyle) or mute son Dorian (Lorenzo McGovern Zaini)... although town bully Thompson (Paterson Joseph) strongly suspects it, and alternately offers to buy Steve's land or bully him into leaving. But it's probably for the best: gold and greed all but destroyed Greenvale years ago, and Steve also claims that God has promised him that rain will eventually fall on the town and make it prosperous again. Other treasure is also unearthed when Sheriff McCoy and his right-hand man Kurt (Ivan Shaw) discover a trunk full of money from a botched stagecoach robbery, and the otherwise straight-and-narrow lawman decides to use it to help his friends -- including Eve, his former lover -- and possibly, finally escape a town that has no real future.

These treasures may or may not come back to haunt their finders, but That Dirty Black Bag has plenty of side roads and detours on its largely linear journey, playing mostly chronologically except for a few stray flashbacks and the fourth episode, "Genesis", which rewinds a decade or so while expanding on many of the expected and surprise relationships between key and supporting characters. From the real identity of ruthless gang leader-turned gubernatorial candidate Bronson (Guido Caprino), the violent avenging of perpetually abused Red Lantern girl Symone (Rose Williams) and its fallout, a seemingly supernatural cult and, of course, Red's pursuit of his mother's killer, That Dirty Black Bag has no shortage of proposed ideas about where its eight-episode journey will lead. Sadly, a good portion of its characters are given little to do in the home stretch, with some fading away or outright killed off in increasingly predictable fashion. But that's nothing compared to those tropes and clichés, along with plot elements and even entire scenes borrowed wholesale from new and old Western classics including 3:10 to Yuma (either version, technically), Firefly, Unforgiven, No Country for Old Men, High Noon, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (you'll know it when you see it).

Whether in part on as a whole, That Dirty Black Bag is not as good as any of those listed titles and, in some respects, even feels like a store-brand version of its most obvious influences. But it's certainly watchable and entertaining to the point where you'll want to see how everything turns out and, while season finale "The Great Duel" -- their words, not mine -- more or less eliminates some of the series' most interesting dynamics, its throw-everything-at-the-damn-wall approach (bolstered by more than a few campy elements, including the appearance of steampunk-inspired guns) is all but expected for a show just finding its legs. But if its as-yet-unannounced second season never materializes, That Dirty Black Bag will be nothing more than the answer to a really tough TV trivia question in about 15 years.

Episode List

• Disc One

• "Chapter One: A Head Weighs Less Than a Body"
• "Chapter Two: Prisoner"
• "Chapter Three: Alliances"
• "Chapter Four: Genesis"

• Disc Two

• "Chapter Five: Justice"
• "Chapter Six: To Hell"
• "Chapter Seven: The Plan"
• "Chapter Eight: The Great Duel"

That Dirty Black Bag: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

That Dirty Black Bag may look a little cheap from a production design standpoint but RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray, for the most part, is a respectable effort that plays to its modest visual strengths. Unsurprisingly, its numerous sun-baked exterior shots look flat-out flawless with crisp image detail, strong textures, and an overall appearance that fits its dry and dusty palette. Interiors, most of which are dependent on natural light save for exceptions like "The Red Lantern", likewise look quite good with mostly smooth shadow detail that doesn't suffer from extraneous levels of posterization, banding, or other compression artifacts. Mid-range values are another story, as some of the show's underlit moments reveal slightly mushy grays and an obviously smoothed-down appearance meant to tame excess noise. But the good clearly outweighs the bad here, resulting in a largely pleasing 1080p presentation that doesn't exactly carve out new visual territory for the genre but still gets the job done with no major exceptions. If nothing else, it easily surpasses all available streaming versions and that alone should make it appealing to new and established fans.

That Dirty Black Bag: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although it's not consistently ambitious, That Dirty Black Bag's sound design does make attempts to venture outside normal genre boundaries to deliver a fitfully stylish and atmospheric presence during its most intense moments. Much of this arrives via the original score by Mick Giacchino (son of famed composer Michael Giacchino), which ranges from more predictably string-driven to experimental fare with strong electronic and ambient touches that reach well into the rear channels. Everything else, for the most part, is fairly straightforward, from the mostly front-and-center dialogue to discrete and echoing gunfire, as well as louder reverberations from stray sound effects in cavernous rooms and the claustrophobia of closed-in spaces. Volume leveling is somewhat reined in for smaller home theaters but may require occasional volume adjustments between normal conversations and sporadic action scenes.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during all eight episodes.

That Dirty Black Bag: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc set ships in a standard dual-hubbed keepcase with a promotional insert and no slipcover. The cover artwork, while certainly dynamic and attention-grabbing, makes absolutely no sense within the context of the story. Unfortunately, no bonus features are included on either disc, which is more than a little disappointing.

That Dirty Black Bag: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

That Dirty Black Bag is an appealing Spaghetti Western series on the surface, with a solid premise and characters that intersect with each other in interesting ways, past and present. But some of them are given precious little to do as this modest eight-episode first season unfolds, and its somewhat lackluster ending -- combined with a heavy reliance on genre tropes and clichés -- doesn't spark a lot of excitement for the as-yet-unannounced second season. Even so, it's well worth a run-through and RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray offers a solid A/V presentation but no extras. This may limit potential blind buys, but those who have streamed and enjoyed it already may want to purchase a copy.