The Unit – Season Four/The Final Season (2008 – 2009/Fox Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: C- Episodes: C
The semi
war-porn action storyline is so played out that you can hardly tell one such
show from another. The reason The Unit lasted as long as it did is
because the cast brings this somewhat above the usual formula with Dennis
Haysbert, Robert Patrick, Scott Foley, Regina Taylor and Rebecca Pidgeon among
others. So with a likable cast and even
David Mamet working on the show at one point, why did this show only stay a
steady hit, instead of a phenomenon? The
show is now concluding on Season Four
and now seems like the time to quit while on top.
The
problem is that he use of the military in fiction has been so strained,
formulaic, screwed-up and played for shallow propaganda since the 1980s
anti-Vietnam Syndrome revisionism that the genre has been stuck in a rut (think
Top Gun, JAG, Schwarzenegger films) that it is stuck their long past the end
of the Reagan Era and the Bush Years when this show began. Though this show mixes things up and may be
seen as a transitional work of some kind, the whole genre remains to jingoistic
for its own good and even undermines a show like this with more intelligence
than usual.
Of
course, to tell for sure for yourself, you should not watch this season until
you’ve seen the first three in chronological order. That it is being released on Blu-ray before
the first three will irk some fans and those who would like to see the show in
High Definition all the way through.
However, those season should arrive sooner or later. That it is folding during a season with a
significant change of U.S. Presidents says something.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 AVC @ 18 MBPS+ digital High Definition image is on the soft side throughout
with motion blur and not a very memorable presentation, but hit sis what you’d
expect from a sitcom. The DTS-HD Master
Audio (MA) 5.1 mixes are also underwhelming throughout, since this is
dialogue/joke-based and is not going to be sonically great. Extras include deleted scenes and three
featurettes: Into Hell: A Brotherhood
Divided, Shadow Riders: A Western
Come Undone and Snake Doctor: A
Leader Among Us.
- Nicholas Sheffo
