Why So Blu?

Strike Back: The Complete Third Season (Blu-ray Review)

Cinemax’s first scripted primetime drama series returns. A high-octane, globe-spanning thriller, Strike Back focuses on two members of Section 20, a secret British anti-terrorist organization: Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester), a consummate British soldier still struggling to overcome tragedy in his life, and Damien Scott (Sullivan Stapleton), a disgraced U.S. Delta Force operative who has found redemption with S-20. In Season 3, the series will have a true global canvas, opening in Colombia – with parallel missions in Beirut, Budapest, Russia, and Germany – and following a trail of drug money that is funding terrorists in the Middle East.

 

The Series 

Wow, it’s already been 2 years or so since season 2 premiered. As started watching the beginning of season 3 it took me a few minutes to get my proper footing. The reason there was a large delay in getting season 3 completed was due to star Sullivan Stapleton getting seriously hurt in an accident during a break in Thailand – production shutdown, etc. Well, now the boys are finally back and they’re not taking names.

Sgt. Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester) and Sgt. Damien Scott (Sullivan Stapleton) are back on duty again trying to stop a global terrorist organization that will take them all over the world. From Columbia to Beirut, and back again, the boys are ready to lay down the law of the machine gun and grenade. What also separates this show and season from the norm is that it really doesn’t take any prisoners. We’ll have major characters, good and bad ones, that have been on the show since the very beginning get snuffed out in blunt and graphic detail, with no questions asked before moving forward with any given story arc. That’s ballsy. No, I won’t tell you who bit it either.

One of the best parts of the show is the chemistry between our main two leads. Stonebridge and Scott work great together as a tactical team and are equally hilarious as they bounce humor off of one another while trying to stay alive. It’s just another day at the office and Scott still ends up with a different woman at the end of almost every episode. Dude is a mad man! That’s the show’s charm. You have dire scenarios peppered in with some sex appeal (Rhona Mitra is in this season looking great) but then you have the lads talking crap while trying to not get killed. It’s not necessarily the type of show that is all mindless action and no depth.

The show had gotten a reboot once Richard Armitage left the show to film The Hobbit films, so I’ve pretty much lost track as to what season this actually is since IMDB has it filed weird. This third season is also known as Strike Back: Shadow Zone. It is worth your time to start from the beginning, if you must, so that you can get to know the characters and to see how the sow is structured. HBO/Cinemax continue to impress with their slate of original programming. Oh, I should also mention that we do have another season coming soon – or it may have already premiered. The scheduling has had its ups and downs. Check your local listings.

 

 

Video 

Encoding: AVC/MPEG-4

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Clarity/Detail: These HBO/Cinemax television series really amps up the video specs and make no apologies. Clarity is superb, as are details. You will feel as if you’re side by side with the lads on a covert mission yourself.

Depth: It may not be a 3-D image but the level of depth and realism is pretty unreal.

Black Levels: Crush is absent.

Color Reproduction: The color palette is bold and beautiful.

Flesh Tones: Everyone looks nice and natural.

Noise/Artifacts: Bring the noise but not on this release.

 

Audio 

 

Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS Spanish 2.0

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Dynamics: You won’t hear a peep out of me in terms of sound quality. This third season of the show blows the roof down with a very dynamic soundtrack. There will be lots of explosions and gun battles for your viewing and listening pleasure.

Low Frequency Extension: There’s plenty of LFE bass during action scenes and there are too many action scenes utilizing the LFE to keep track of.

Surround Sound Presentation: Bullets, vehicles, etc., all whiz by your head at a breakneck pace. Luckily none of to drowns out any of the action in the front.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is crystal clear and free of all anomalies.

 

Extras 

The extras on this Blu-ray set are made up of a several audio commentary tracks featuring our main actors and director Michael J. Bassett. There are a total of 3 commentary tracks. The featurettes are very short but fun. They’re spread out through the Blu-ray set and feature Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester talking about their roles on the show and the many stunts that they did themselves.

•  Audio Commentaries

• How To Strike Back featurettes (HD)

Summary 

Strike Back is such a cool show. As far as I know, it will return for a fourth season. The Blu-ray for this third season set is dynamite in terms of video and audio. The special features are quaint in that our main actors discuss the terrifying stunts involved. The featurettes are short, though, but the added commentaries are nice. Strike Back: The Complete Third Season is recommended.

 

 

 

Strike Back: The Complete Third Season is available on Blu-ray & DVD!

 

 

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