Human Target – The Complete First Season (2010/Warner Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B Extras: C Episodes: C
There are
a ton of great series on television right now, so many that I think my DVR may
explode. No longer do I have to sit
through blabbering commercials and I am blowing through television series at
record speeds. Even at that Human Target escapes me, as the series
is ‘blah’ at best and brings little excitement to the table. Yes, it is filled with hot girls, suave
heroes and fast paced action, but in the end it is all too artificial and not
worth the time. So even with my DVR in
super-drive there are too many other good television series on today (Dexter, Always Sunny, Glee) to
even fill that minor void with uninspiring dribble that is attempting to cut
and past other series to make its own. I
see what Human Target for what it
is, a slick means of drawing in Joe public with Booms, Bangs and Babes.
The
series (i.e., the main character Christopher Chance) was created by Len Wein
and Carmine Infantino of DC Comics in the early 1970’s, but quickly fell off
the radar. Human Target appeared in comics here and there over the years and
there was even a desperate attempt to make it into a series once before;
starring Rick Springfield nonetheless.
Honestly the ‘new’ Human Target created
by Jonathan E. Steinberg is more forgettable than the PI, bodyguard comic hero
himself; and that is hard to do.
Essentially,
Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) is a PI/bodyguard that integrates himself into
his clients’ lives in order to become “The Human Target;” this being a
derivation of the original premise of him taking on the identity of his clients
in order to protect them. Good concept
right?! Not so much. The problem is not
in the Human Target concept that Wein
and Infantino created all those years ago, the problem exists in the series
execution. Yes, I am all for creativity,
rebranding and reinventing BUT here the original concept was stripped away (for
Steinberg to make it his own) and in turn destroyed the brilliance that was Human Target.
The
actors are fun and you will recognize them from other series; like that of Mark Valley,
Chi McBride and Jack Earle Haley. The
series has been renewed for a second season, but I don’t know how long it can
go. I may eat my words with this one,
but I think it would have faired much better with the over the top antics of
taking on the clients identity; rather than this whole integrating thing. And I much more preferred Jack Earle Haley in
Watchmen.
Unlike
the series itself this Warner Blu-ray is BEAUTIFUL! The picture is a 1080p High Definition 1.78 X
1 Widescreen that projects brilliant colors, inky blacks and an overall crisp
image. It is certainly some good TV and
Blu-ray as it offers a major upgrade from what DVD would offer and again proves
Blu-ray is the way to go. The sound is
somewhat of a step back and not so forgiving in its Dolby Digital 5.1
track. Love it or hate it, this is a
fast paced action series with all the boom and bang mentioned previously; but
unlike the series the soundtrack just doesn’t have that BOOM factor. The bass is weak and the panning is
adequate. I never felt fully immersed
and while I thought there was some atmosphere there was a certain weakness
there as well.
The
extras are blah! There is a pilot
commentary that where as somewhat informative I found dry. Also included are 2 ~15-minute series
featurettes entitled Human Target:
Confidential Informant and Human
Target: Full Contact Television; both again were informative, but when I
thought the series was weak to begin with the featurettes were not all too
impressive. The unaired scenes were
actually nice and seemed that they were more cut for time than content as they
were full of sequences that could have added to the episodes.
Human Target was certainly not my cup of tea,
but was far from the worst series out there.
I hope for its new season it steps up the content and stays away from
formulaic mush.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
