8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Vikings follows the adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking adventurer seeking to fulfill his destiny as a conqueror, alongside his ambitious brother Rollo and loyal wife Lagertha. Throughout his quest, Ragnar faces a path of betrayals and temptations to protect his freedom, family and life.
Starring: Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick, Clive Standen, Jessalyn Gilsig, Gustaf SkarsgårdAction | 100% |
History | 99% |
Adventure | 90% |
War | 67% |
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
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
20th Century Fox and Metro Goldwyn Mayer haven't exactly been providing fans with a nonstop array of Vikings releases, as evidenced by the fact that Vikings: Season 5, Volume 1 came out just about exactly one year ago. In my Vikings: Season 5, Volume 1 Blu-ray review, I mentioned how this now long running but perhaps still relatively unknown (or at least unrecognized) series might be able to fill in the sense of loss fans of Game of Thrones might have been feeling in what was a year ago the imminent demise of that series. My same review started by mentioning what was then (again a year ago) the hotly anticipated Game of Thrones prequel which was slated to star Naomi Watts, and in a kind of serendipitous if for some disappointing turn of events, just as I was preparing to write this review, a Variety breaking news article came across my news feed announcing that HBO was passing on the Watts prequel series. That may actually have portended well for Vikings, since it ostensibly removed one potential competitor for fans wanting a sprawling, mythically infused story that involves a feudal setting, but in a "plot twist" delivered shortly after the Watts announcement, yet another breaking news article from Variety appeared in my newsfeed trumpeting a non-Watts Game of Thrones prequel which is now set for HBO's Max service. That said, there's obviously going to be an interim period for a while where no "new" Game of Thrones content is going to be available, and while Vikings probably doesn't consistently rise to the heights of the George R.R. Martin inspired series, it's often surprisingly visceral, with a decent dose of supposedly "actual" history (probably questionable on at least some counts), involving storylines and some nicely energetic performances.
Vikings: Season 5, Volume 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox and Metro Goldwyn Mayer with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Despite an appropriate emphasis on ice cool blues, grays, and whites, this is often a remarkably well detailed presentation, one that afford more than adequate fine detail in any number of elements like the often quite striking costumes, or even in some of the scenes of wintry outdoor environments. There are some interesting pops of color along the way in what is often a kind of blanched, spare palette, and when bursts of red or purple intrude, they can be quite vivid. As with the first half of the season, occasional dimly lit sequences, or those with "artier" framings, can sometimes look relatively soft in comparison to the bulk of the presentation. I noticed no anomalies in terms of compression issues.
Vikings: Season 5, Volume 2 continues the first half this season's fine audio presentation with another sometimes raucous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. There are the expected battles in some of this volume's episodes, and the soundstage tends to be filled with realistic effects, including everything from flying arrows to fires being set. The series also has a nicely rendered score, which often wafts through the side and rear channels and helps to establish a suitably propulsive mood. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.
All three discs offer both the original and extended versions of all episodes. I didn't have time to watch every episode in both versions, but some of
the extended versions I did watch actually provided some interesting additions to either characters or storylines.
Disc One
Maybe the relative lack of new Games of Thrones episodes on cable recently gave me a deepened appreciation for this series, but I actually found myself quite caught up in the developments of this second half of the fifth season of Vikings. I'm not quite sure the amalgamation of supposedly real life characters with fictionalized folks totally works all of the time, but you do get at least a bit of a history lesson in this series, all within the context of the kind of amped up emotional ambience that often made Game of Thrones destination television viewing. The series continues to exploit a rather interesting visual aesthetic, and technical merits on this release are solid. Recommended.
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