Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		5.0

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 18, 2023

The Last of Us was released in video game form long enough ago that it debuted on the Playstation 3, which in and of itself may offer comforting memories of a bygone age when things like global pandemics seemed like either ancient history (as in the so-called "Spanish Flu") or some kind of, well, apocalyptic doomsday prophesying by some cable television madman. Well, as anyone can tell you, cable television madmen still abound by the scores, but any "blather" about a worldwide disease wiping out millions of people may not seem quite as "ancient" in the history department nowadays. That intervening time span and all that occurred within it between the video game's premiere in 2013 and this HBO television adaptation no doubt only added to the visceral intensity of a series that may flirt with some aspects of The Walking Dead, but which is undoubtedly its own singular creation.

With that referent in mind, it's kind of interesting to chart the course of so-called "zombie movies" (and/or television shows) from, say, Night of the Living Dead to The Walking Dead. The George Romero effort looks positively primitive to modern day eyes, and yet it had a rarely matched visceral intensity, despite some of its sillier aspects. But when you think about it, Night of the Living Dead had really very little if any emotional content. Yeah, sure, there were marauding monsters and some apparently innocent people were going to meet their fates at the zombies' hands (and/or mouths), but did you really care all that much? That's one of the singular differences that The Walking Dead added to the mix, and it may be why Troy Baker, who was the original Joel in the video game, mentions in a supplement that The Last of Us is not really about zombies.

The basic premise of the series sees a fungal infection with a name seemingly deliberately designed to be hard to pronounce, which has turned large swaths of Mankind into feral beasts. Joel (Pedro Pascal) is a hardscrabble survivor (with a past, of course), who is tasked with escorting an apparently immune young girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) on a heartbreaking "road trip" through a ravaged United States. As completely bizarre as this may sound, that gives The Last of Us the chance to kind of post-apocalyptic riff on a format exemplified by Route 66 or The Fugitive, where a traveler or travellers, either by choice or through the vagaries of fate, is/are forced to deal with a variety of "special guest stars" who populate individual vignettes.

And it's in these varied stories where an already emotionally adept tale featuring an ersatz father and daughter really delivers the goods, in some frankly devastating at times developments. That awesomely heartfelt aspect is played against some of the more generic horror elements, including the absolutely terrifying "clickers", the remnants of humans who have been completely subsumed by the infection. Perhaps amazingly, The Last of Us manages to balance it all rather flawlessly, supported by some pitch perfect performances and a production design that emphasizes the steady onslaught of Mother Nature after Man isn't able to keep things properly "organized".

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO and Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa Mini and a 4K DI as relevant data points. Longtime readers of my reviews know that Arri Alexa captures are not always my favorite, at least when compared to some other cameras that I simply seem to prefer for some reason, but this is one stunning looking series in high definition (and for those of you who are interested, perhaps even more so in 4K UHD. The 1080 version may actually help with the believability of some of the CGI elements, since the increased resolution of the 4K version probably adds to their artificiality, and here it's at least arguable they perhaps blend in more organically with the practical elements. Detail levels are appealing throughout the series, even though there are still some moments of what I've repeatedly termed "Alexa murk" in some dimly lit scenes (the third episode is a notable example). That said, the palette in the brightly lit outdoor moments pops splendidly and fine detail is routinely excellent throughout the season.

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season offers an impressive Dolby Atmos track that consistently employs all of the surround channels with really nicely rendered "real" ambient environmental effects, coupled with some of the more frightening effects concocted for the series in terms of some of the clicker activities and other quasi-zombie material. The wealth of outdoor material lends itself to some nicely spacious sound design where the Atmos track can "breathe". Gustavo Santaolalla, who also scored the original video game, contributes an effective score which also populates the surround channels quite winningly. Dynamic range is very wide throughout the season, and all dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. A few forced subtitles can appear during some non-English speaking moments, but there are optional subtitles available in a glut of languages.

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All four discs offer some really interesting Inside the Episode featurettes, most of which include interviews with the principal cast and crew. Many of these do have spoiler material, but they also are rather informative on any number of issues.

Disc One

• Inside the Episode #1 (HD; 5:14)


• Inside the Episode #2 (HD; 4:17)

Disc Two

• Inside the Episode #3 (HD; 3:24)


• Inside the Episode #4 (HD; 4:30)

Disc Three

• Inside the Episode #5 (HD; 6:15)


• Inside the Episode #6 (HD; 5:11)


• Inside the Episode #7 (HD; 5:16)

Disc Four

• Inside the Episode #8 (HD; 7:02)


• Inside the Episode #9 (HD; 8:26)


• Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us (HD; 11:44) is an interesting look at some of the challenges faced by the team doing the adaption, some of whom worked on the original video game.


• From Levels to Live Action (HD; 11:51) is a somewhat tangentially related look that gets into some of the connections between the game version and the tv version.


• The Last of Us: Stranger than Fiction (HD; 23:44) focuses on some of the perhaps uneasy parallels between our "real" world and the world of the series.


• Ashley Johnson Spotlight (HD: 2:23) profiles on the actress, who played Ellie in the original video game.


• Get To Know Me offers brief profiles of other performers:

  Gabriel Luna (HD; 3:46)

  
  

  Merle Dandridge (HD; 2:25)

  
  

  Nick Offerman & Murray Bartlett (HD; 4:41)

  
  

  Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey (HD; 4:45)

• Is This a The Last of Us Line?

  Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey (HD; 5:12)

  
  

  Merle Dandridge & Gabriel Luna (HD; 2:40)

• The Last Debrief with Troy Baker offers The Last of Us podcast host and the video game's original Joel answering various questions:

  The Last Debrief with Troy Baker #1 (HD; 5:10)

  
  

  The Last Debrief with Troy Baker #2 (HD; 6:12)

  
  

  The Last Debrief with Troy Baker #3 (HD; 6:01)

  
  

  The Last Debrief with Troy Baker #5 (HD; 7:04)

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of The Walking Dead who may have gone into a bit of a withdrawal situation when that series ended may find more than a suitable alternative with The Last of Us, even if this show is not really about zombies, per Troy Baker. I'm frankly not that big of a fan of your everyday zombie story, but I have to say The Last of Us totally captivated me and provided both scares and heartbreak in about equal measure. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements very enjoyable. Highly recommended.