Expend4bles
4K
(2023/Lionsgate 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/The
Mandalorian: The Complete First Season (2019)
+
Second Season
(2020/both Lucasfilm)/WandaVision:
The Complete Series
(2021/Marvel Comics/all series Disney Blu-ray Steelbook Sets)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: B-/B/B- Sound: B Extras:
C/C+/C+ Main Programs: C/B-/B-
Next
up are continuations of three successful franchises you have likely
heard about lately. Here's more information on all of them...
Scott
Waugh's
Expend4bles
4K
(2023) is the fourth and possibly final installment of the series,
the most expensive of the four and has been the most commercially and
critically disappointing, though it also has the problem of being
made a little later than it should have been like the Jason Bourne
and Matrix films. Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Andy Garcia, Tony
Jaa, Megan Fox, 50 Cent, Randy Couture and mainstay Sylvester
Stallone make up the latest all-star cast, but yet again one that
very little great is realized from, though this is at least a tiny
bit better than the last film, but that's not saying much.
The
'plot' here has something to do with a super deadly arms dealer
having a super deadly armed fighting force and only these good guys
can stop them. Too bad the screenplay is deadlier than the weapons
of mass destruction. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe with the
huge budget they had here (Stallone was here before with Rambo
III
if you think about it, but that bombed worse and cost way more money
adjusted for inflation) would offer more than just bells and
whistles. Well, forget it.
Maybe
the most hardcore fans will enjoy what they get here, but save some
of the hand-to-hand combat, this is a dull CGI-fest that goes on and
on and on and on and on and on only with variations for star turns,
reminding me of a bad 1970s disaster cycle film. Tony Jaa should be
a much bigger star by now, but everyone here is just picking up a
paycheck and all seem mostly very bored. You will probably feel the
same way, especially after losing a few bucks and few hours of your
life to this. Good luck if you still take it on.
Extras
include Digital Copy, while the discs add a feature-length audio
commentary track with Director Scott Waugh, Bigger,
Bolder, Badder: The Expendables in Action,
More
Than a Team: New Blood Meets Old Blood
and a Theatrical Trailer. For more on the films, try our Blu-ray
coverage of the first film:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11346/Catch+.44+(2011/Anchor+Bay+Blu-ray)/The+Expe
And
the third:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13157/The+Expendables+3+(2014/Lionsgate+Blu-ray+w/
The
Mandalorian: The Complete First Season (2019)
+
Second Season
(2020) has been one of the better post-Lucas Star
Wars
offerings, modeled after the colder, more cynical, sadder, angrier
world of Rogue
One
before being a Jedi went from training and philosophy to some 'feel
good' gibberish that has gone far too astray of the franchise and
original trilogies. This one introduces a new Boba Fett-looking
bounty hunter in the title character and the big surprise here was
the introduction of another classic character: Baby Yoda aka Grogu.
He
is not the Yoda of the original films, but the fusion and union of
these two new characters is compelling enough and the two seasons are
mostly consistent until they get to the final episode of the two
seasons, just wrapping things up enough to work. To say anything
more would be a spoiler, but these initial seasons work better than
expected.
Extra
on each two-disc set includes three Concept Art Cards and features
artwork depicting the titular Mandalorian and Grogu, plus featurettes
Forging
The Covert
(over two parts and the two sets,) Remnants
Of The Empire
on the first set and Designing
The New Republic
on the second. The two steelbooks also have some of the better
artwork I have seen on such releases.
WandaVision:
The Complete Series
(2021) is the kind of risk Marvel was taking that kept therm on top
and in the mode of why Marvel Studios was launched to begin with
before formula and ill-advised politics (being made generic and
thinking a new wave of commercial opportunities and profits were
going to happen when the total opposite happened) ruined the most
impressive commercial run until it did become like a non-cinematic,
generic trip to a shopping mall.
This
is the first time and second time ever the superhero genre has
received black and white TV treatment since George Reeves' massively
successful Adventures
Of Superman
series, in its early seasons, kicked in in 1951. Though this show is
much more bizarre, it is not the most bizarre live action, black and
white superhero material ever made. Just see the awful pilots the
Reeves' Superman producers tried to launch for Superboy
and especially Superpup,
which is so hideous and horrendous that the genre would not see
anything that horrible again until Black
Adam!
Here,
Scarlet Witch Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and The Vision (Paul Bettany)
are suddenly living as husband and wife in a suburban house as happy
middle/upper class suburban residents not very similar to how we have
become accustomed to seeing them as, in love with each other and
happy about everything... maybe too much so. As the show goes on,
things start to slowly change and something is a bit amiss. A few
people sited the overrated Peter Weir hit The
Truman Show
as reference, but the less-seen and more tolerable Peter Hyams comedy
Stay
Tuned
with John Ritter and Pam Dawber caught in a Satanic cable company's
alternative schedule of TV classics revamped in the most bizarre ways
is somewhat more fitting.
Otherwise,
you have to follow the shows from there and I do not want to spoil
anything, but it is smart, clever, elaborate and something special
and unexpected that it will go down as one of the rare twists in the
genre (maybe like Spidey
Super Stories
on the original Electric
Company)
that is a break from the usual genre offerings. It also reminds us
that the superhero genre had yet to fully form for decades before
1978 (Superman:
The Movie)
preceded by great success in movie serial chapter plays and both
animated and live-action TV series. It will also be seen as the end
of the original Marvel wave before it all got played out. It will
take risks and innovative thinking to bring Marvel back, but
WandaVision
shows it is possible.
Extras
include Concept Art Cards, while the discs add a Gag Reel, Deleted
Scenes and two making of/behind the scenes featurettes: Through
The Eras
and Assembled:
The Making Of WandaVision.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Expend4bles
4K is
a bit disappointing for a film with such a large budget, the HD shoot
softer and a little more off than it should be. All four films in
the series are digital lensed, staring with 2K in the early films, so
this is not the best-looking action series in cinema history by any
means, but this should have looked a bit better and the 1080p 2.35 X
1 digital High Definition image of the film extends the blur and
other annoying flaws that should not be here and likely stopped it
from being a bigger hit.
The
lossless Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older
systems) sound on both films is the same and only so good, kicking in
for the action scenes, but still underwhelming overall. The
combination in both cases just disappoints all around. No demo
material here.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on both
Mandalorian
seasons have a nice, consistent looks and the aspect ratio is
supposed to conjure the feature films in the series, which is fine,
but more so the Rogue
One
look than anything else. The show often has a slightly dark look,
but it is not fake like so many other series and feature films in the
genre, offering a solid image that impresses more than you might
expect. Only some bad CGI here and there (including on a major
character in the final scenes of the second season) are off, this
still manages to be the best-looking release on the list.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white and various aspect ratios in color
of WandaVision
in digital High Definition is not bad, but a little soft here, where
I am certain they would resolve better in the 4K edition from clips I
have seen. Cheers to the producers for capturing the look and tone
of those early TV classics (usually shot on 35mm black and white
film, feel good/safe (and non-political) sitcoms did not get to
videotape until the 1980s) and the rest of the shows look just fine,
with decent color too.
Lossless
Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) is on
the 4K editions of the Disney series, all of which we hope to catch
at some point, but all we get here are DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1
lossless mixdowns that are just fine for what they are, but you can
just feel you are missing something, save the early WandaVision
shows that are emulating early monophonic and then simple stereo TV
sitcom classics.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
