Human Target: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Review

• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  
• Video Codec: VC-1
  
• Resolution: 1080p/24
  
• Audio Codec: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (640kbps)
  
• Subtitles: English SDH, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish, Swedish
  
• Region: ABC (Region-Free)
  
• Rating: Not Rated
  
• Discs: 2
  
• Studio: Warner Home Video
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: September 21, 2010
  
• List Price: $49.99

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Purchase Human Target: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray at CD Universe

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Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG  thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

The Series

[Rating:4/5]

Cross Jason Bourne with 007 and you end up with Human Target’s risk taking hero Christopher Chance (Mark Valley). The DC Comics-based series from Warner Home Video, which runs on the FOX network, is a high octane, action filled ride that would be right at home in the cinema, rather than on television, with its barrage of special effects and nail-biting suspense.

Christopher Chance is a mercenary for hire, a sort of private detective-cum-bodyguard. When someone is in extreme danger, they go to Chance to get them out of it. With the help of his operations manager Winston (Chi McBride), a former police detective, and the tech wiz Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley), Chance puts himself in dangerous places right next to his clients, putting them in danger’s way to draw out the killers.

From flying jumbo jets to fights on high altitude cable cars, there’s no adventure too dangerous for Chance, true to his name. But Chance has a mysterious past, one that he and his partners struggle to keep hidden, and one that slowly reveals itself, bit by bit, over the course of Human Target’s 12-episode first season.

Video Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

The 1080p/24 VC-1 encoding from Warner offers a definite upgrade from the 1080i broadcasts of Human Target, but the picture has an odd, smooth look about it that I found to be distracting. Skin textures look a bit waxy and overall detail varies from strong to a bit soft.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3/5]

Warner continues their policy of crippling TV-on-BD titles with Human Target by supplying no more than a DVD-era Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.  It offers not much of an upgrade in sound over the broadcasts of the series. Again, ambience sounds tight, there is some detectable distortion in the dialogue and high frequencies are a bit on the harsh side. Otherwise, it’s a relatively good mix for a television show, with good use of the surrounds and a wide spread of activity across the front channels.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:2.5/5]

All the supplements are in high definition and the pilot episode come with an audio commentary, making this release a good value on supplements given the short length of the season.

The supplements provided with this release are:

Disc 1:

• Commentary on Pilot with Executive Producers Jonathan E. Steinberg and Peter Johnson and Cast Members Mark Valley and Chi McBride
• Deleted Scenes (1.78:1; 1080p/24):
  • Embassy Row
  • Sanctuary

Disc 2:

• Human Target: Confidential Informant (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 0:15.45) — A behind-the-scenes look at the series with cast and crew.
• Human Target: Full Contact Television (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 0:15.32) — A look at Human Target’s action sequences.
• Deleted Scenes (1.78:1; 1080p/24):
  • Christopher Chance
• BD-Live

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3/5]

FOX Network has renewed Human Target for a second season and I think they made a good decision. This show is an adrenalin rush of action with a likeable hero and bigscreen production values. The Blu-ray release is a definite step up from the broadcasts of the series, despite the DVD-era audio.

Additional Screen Captures:

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BestBuy.com:

Purchase Human Target: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

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