Powers:
Season 1 (2015/Sony Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: C+ Episodes: C-
In
the wake of Hollywood capitalizing on every comic property possible,
one such failure has been the new show Powers, which stars
Sharlto Copley (District 9, Chappie) and is based on the
graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming.
Taking a page out of Watchmen
or even Kick Ass,
the film ponders the question of "what
if the world was full of superheroes who aren't actually heroic at
all"? "What if all their "powers" were just one
more excuse for mischief, mayhem, murder, and endorsement deals?"
Enter the men and women of the Powers Division, the brave people in
charge of protecting humans like us and keeping the peace over
commercialized, god-like men and women who glide through the sky
imposing their power over the mortals who both worship and fear them.
Powers follows the lives of two homicide detectives, Christian
Walker (Sharlto Copley) and Deena Pilgrim (Susan Heyward), who are
assigned to investigate these cases and ultimately try to bring
peace.
The
pilot episode, directed by Twilight:
Eclipse
director David Slade, is laughably bad with some of the worst green
screen/CGI that I have seen in recent years. The remaining episodes
of the seasons get better with progression, but ultimately the only
thing separating this series from a fan-made series is the appearance
of Copley, Eddie Izard, and Noah Taylor - the filmmaking is average
and not very innovating. It quickly becomes apparent that this story
worked better on page than it does on screen. Perhaps the show is
just a bit on the ambitious side, yearning for a bigger budget.
Spanning
over three blu-ray discs, the episodes include the
Pilot, Like a Power, Mickey Rooney Cries No More, Devil in a Garbage
Bag, Paint it Black, The Ranconteur of the Funeral Circuit, You Are
Not It, Aha Shake Heartbreak, Level 13, F%*k the Big Chiller.
The
1080p digital High Definition transfer is crisp and clear throughout
with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossless, beautifully
mixed DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 track. Captions in English,
English SDH, and French are also included.
Extras
include Policing the All Powerful:
Envisioning and Filming Powers, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes,
and From One Visual Medium to
Another: The Art and Adaptation of Powers.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
