Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Arrow: The Complete Fifth Season

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Forum Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

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Movie
“You have NOT failed this city!”. Well, at least they didn’t fail us this time. I have made it abundantly clear over the last couple of years that Arrrow took a big nose dive after the incredible first and second seasons that kick started the whole combined Arrowverse comic book universe. Season 3 was really REALLY week from beginning to end (Ras al Ghul was a great idea, but very poorly handled), and season 4 actually started out really good, but fizzled in the second half when they had a hard time figuring out what Dhark was going to do, as well as piles and piles of drama with Oliver and Felicity. This season started out good, and actually got better as time went on. There were some huge character change ups at the end of the previous season, and those changes allowed the show to make some decent alterations to the pattern of the show and gave us a whole new lease on Team Arrow. It wasn’t PERFECT, but I drastically enjoyed Season 5 more than I expected to.

Last time we left things, Damien Dhark had been defeated, but Team Arrow was disbanded. Diggle no longer wanted to be a part of the team, and left to join the military once more after his brother was killed. Oliver had been sworn in as Mayor, and Thea decided that she was going to give up life as a vigilante after her bloodlust had been satiated. All that was left of the actual team was Oliver and Felicity, which left the Green Arrow once more a near one man show, much like how he started out as. However, Star City isn’t a one man hero worth of villains, and Olly decides to recruit a new group of heroes to protect the city. This requires being the mentor to a bunch of unruly wannabees who have their hearts in the right spot, but a distinct lack of experience and training.

The show still maintains the same basic pattern that it has held the last 4 years. A major super villain is lurking in the background, pulling strings, while Oliver and his crew have to take down the standard, run of the mill, villains that plague the streets. Oliver’s stint as Mayor is fraught with problems of it’s own, but it becomes clear that there is someone new in town. In this case it happens to be a mysterious new archer with a heavy face mask who calls himself Prometheus. This mysterious archer is manipulating the scenes and villains of Star City to bring himself towards one goal. Taking out the Green Arrow once and for all.

At the same time, the change up of Diggle being partially gone, and Thea no longer taking on the mantle of speedy, allows for a new “feel” to the show. Olly’s motley crew of super heroes is much different than the family and friends that he has wrangled in before, and it brings the show to a grittier and darker place at times. I’ve always felt that Arrow has been a little less The Green Arrow and more “Batman with a Green Arrow costume” at times. The moping around, the rasping voice that’s reminiscent of Christian Bale’s dark knight, and the general harsh outlook of the character is starkly different than the light hearted Oliver Queen of the comics. As such, the addition of the darker “B team” for season 5 only solidifies that assertion for me.

The new change ups added some life and flair into the show, but the series has still not been able to regain it’s status as the very best of the comic book TV shows like it was during the first two years of its existence. There’s a sense of staleness at times, but even I have to admit that 4 years of a long running superhero show will do that to you as there’s only so many villains to take down before a repetitious pattern is formed (look at how stale Smallville became after a while). However, Arrow: The Complete Fourth Season is a big step up from the last two seasons and actually got me excited about next year once again. And don’t forget, it has Dolph Lundgren in it. That alone adds half a star to the rating in my books!




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Arrow has maintained a very strong and very solid look to the series over the last 5 years, and this season is really no different than what has come before it. The series is bathed in LOTS of dark and gothic looking night time shots of Star City, and our heroes are also decked out in mostly black as well. Said black levels are deep and inky, with plenty of fine detail in the leather soits, and across masks and other background items. They're never washed out and grey, and I couldn't detect very much banding at all over the course of the season. Colors are very much on the black and green spectrum, with splashes of reds and blues here and there (except for the flashbacks to Russia, which are a washed out green meant to imply a time jump). Arrow has always looked great on home video, and this season is no exception. Outdoor shots and can show more clarity and color than the majority of the shrouded and moody looking show, but overall this is your grim darkness bathed world of the Arrowverse.



Audio:

The 5.1 mix for Arrow has likewise been very stable and incredibly well done over the years. The show has a lot of action and adventure, so lots and lots of bass, as well as the all famous theme song flowing all around the crew. Arrows whistle by and clank off of stone walls, bullets ricochet and bounce across the sound stage, and the kicks and punches make for a rather enveloping action centerpiece of the show. LFE is pulsing and energetic, adding a lot of weight the action as well as accentuating the score quite nicely. Luckily last years digital anomoly where I would hear a crackle and a hiss with some dialog is long gone, and the vocals are all clean and clear this year. The track is impeccably balanced, and proves once again the Warner does fantastic work with their superhero shows.





Extras:

• Arrow: 2016 Comic-Con Panel
• The New Team Arrow
• Allied: The Invasion Complex (Arrow)
• Returning to the Roots of Arrow: Prometheus
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel

Final Score: ​

Arrow REALLY got a kick in the pants this year, and I'm super glad that it did. With how badly the Fourth Season was received by fans and the downward trend from the previous years, I was really worried that Arrow had jumped the proverbial shark and was now on a downward spiral to cancellationville. Changing up the team drastically was a much needed breath of fresh air, and the reduction of Oliver and Felicity from the melodrama of the last couple years felt like a weight had been lifted off the shows shoulders. The series is not AS good as it was the first 2 seasons, but it is a lot closer than it has been for quite a while. I thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace, and look forward to next year if the creative writing team can keep the upward trend going. Audio and video are excellent, and the extras mirror the standard extras that Warner is throwing on all of their DC shows. Definitely a fun watch if you're into the superhero genre.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Steve Amell, Willa Holland, David Ramsey
Created by: Andrew Kreisberg, Greg Berlanti
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Portuguese, Spanish DD 2.0
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: NR
Runtime: 970 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own on Blu-rayTM and DVD 9/19

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I still have to catch seasons 1 thru 4.. Eventually, one day.