Flashpoint – The First Season (2008 – 2009/CBS DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Episodes: C+

 

 

In an attempt to have a hit in the mode of 24, CBS greenlit Flashpoint, a now semi-hit series about a Strategic Response Unit (ala S.W.A.T.) with a team of expert shooters called for to resolve the toughest of situations.  Each show begins with the deadliest situation, then as someone might have to deliver a fatal gunshot, the image goes into digital rewind, stopping at a few hours prior so we know how things got so bad.

 

The approach has possibilities, but they are not taken advantage of enough, in part because of the lack of character development.  All 13 nearly hour-long shows are included here over 3 DVDs in a nice single case.  Most of the cast are unknowns (though some may recognize Enrico Colantoni from the hit sitcom Just Shoot Me) and it is produced in Canada.  Far from the worst show of its kind, it still manages to be another police procedural and plays it safe too often.  At least it is somewhat ambitious and energetic, so we’ll see if it goes anywhere in later seasons.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is stylized down a bit, has some motion blur and other flawed approaches that hold the picture back, though we believe an HD version would only be so much an improvement.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is more restrictive than expected with surrounds undermined by limits in dialogue recording, yet the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is even weaker than it should be.  Extras include two making of featurettes and an audio commentary by Director David Frazee on the “Scorpio” episode.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo