Prison Break: Season Three – Blu-ray Disc Review

August 19, 2008 – 4:08 pm - Posted by: Brendan Surpless

Tags: Dominic Purcell, FOX, Wentworth Miller, William Fichtner

has an average rating of 9.1 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on FOUR 50gb discs
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include a total of 4 featurettes
–
– 2008
– 568 minutes
– FOX
–

Overall Verdict – Recommended

Buy it for $53.95 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

The TV Show Itself is the third season (read the first season review here) of the hit show. In this season Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) finds himself BACK in prison after the conclusion of the second season. For those of you that don’t remember the end of the second season I’ll recap it just a bit. Toward the end Michael and Sara Tandcredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) thought they had escaped from Bill Kim (Reggie Lee), an insane man working for “the company”, and Alex Mahone (William Fichtner) an FBI agent. Obviously they were tracked down eventually leading to Mahone being tricked by Michael and his brother Lincoln (Dominic Purcell). Mahone is soon sent to the prison simply dubbed Sona. But once Kim catches up to them soon Sara ends up shooting and killing him. Instead of allowing Sara to take the wrap, Michael claims he killed Kim and, once again, ends up in jail. With none other than Mahone in Sona!

So that brings us up to Season Three. In this season, as I mentioned, Michael is in Sona with a few familiar faces. Arriving in the prison as well are Brad Bellick (Wade Williams, Mahone and Theodore Bagwell (Robert Knepper). On the outside working to get Michael out are his brother Lincoln and Fernando Sucre (Amaury Nolasco). Soon though Michael finds himself involved with a man simply known throughout Sona as James Whistler (Chris Vance), quite the mysterious person who Michael is told to break out or else Sara and Lincoln’s son LJ will be killed. It’s up to Michael to try to figure out how to escape from ANOTHER prison only this time he had nothing to do with the structural design.

The full 13 (total) episodes for The Complete Third Season are included:

• Episode 1 : “Orientación“
Writer: Paul T. Scheuring — Director: Kevin Nooks
Original Air Date: 09/17/07 — 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 2 : “Fire/Water“
Writer: Matt Olmstead — Director: Bobby Roth
Original Air Date: 09/24/08 — 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 3 : “Call Waiting“
Writer: Zack Estrin — Director: Milan Cheylov
Original Air Date: 10/01/07 — 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 4 : “Good Fences“
Writer: Nick Santora — Director: Michael Switzer
Original Air Date: 10/08/07 — 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 5 : “Interference“
Writer: Karyn Usher — Director: Karen Gaviola
Original Air Date: 10/22/07 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 6 : “Photo Finish“
Writers: Seth Hoffman — Director: Kevin Hooks
Original Air Date: 11/05/07 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 7 : “Vamonos“
Writer: Tony Graphia — Director: Charles Beeson
Original Air Date: 11/05/07 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 8 : “Bang & Burn“
Writer: Nick Santora & Christian Trokey — Director: Bobby Roth
Original Air Date: 11/12/07 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 9 : “Boxed In“
Writer: Karyn Usher — Director: Craig Ross Jr.
Original Air Date: 01/14/08 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 10 : “Dirt Nap“
Writer: Matt Olmstead & Seth Hoffman — Director: Michael Switzer
Original Air Date: 01/21/08 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 11 : “Under & Out“
Writer: Zack Estrin — Director: Greg Yaitanes
Original Air Date: 02/04/08 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 12 : “Hell or High Water“
Writer: Nick Santora — Director: Kevin Hooks
Original Air Date: 02/11/08 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 13 : “The Art of the Deal“
Writer: Matt Olmstead & Seth Hoffman — Director: Nelson McCormick
Original Air Date: 02/18/08 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com

While this season did end up being shorter (13 episodes vs. the normal 22 or 23 due to the writer’s strike) I will say that what is present is entertaining and will please fans. Surely the bulk of the season doesn’t match the excellent first season or very good second season, but the third season still proves worth a watch. A bulk of the remaining characters still provide fine drama and action. The new plot while similar to that of the first season knocks the concept out of the park that “Prison Break” can take place anywhere and still be compelling TV. In a day and age of mostly terrible TV it’s really refreshing to see shows like “24“, “Prison Break“, and “Heroes“.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on FOUR BD-50′s (50GB Blu-ray Discs). Something I noticed about these transfers is that interior shots (take a look at any real sequence where Michael is inside) have a slight layer of film grain to them. Exterior shots on the other hand are excellent showcasing a solid color palette and great detail. Speaking of the color palette every single color had a kind of golden tone to it. I suppose this was done to achieve the feel of being down in Panama. Blacks are solid as well with even the darkest scene have great depth to it. The show, having just been shot last year using 35mm, makes a fine transfer to hi-def with an equally good transfer as found in season one. (Please note that even though this season is receiving a “4 Star Rating” while the first received a half star higher, I’ve viewed more HDM since.

Audio Quality on this release is in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. Dialogue is excellent as its presented perfectly through the center channel. LFE is solid as well. Mostly creeping up during the score crescendos, I found the bass to be deep providing a nice low subtle boom throughout the room adding to a great overall atmosphere. As I mentioned in my season one review I’ve always found the series music to be one of the shows highlight experiences. Composer Ramin Djawadi created an eerie score that captures each and every emotion in the type of manner that really works with the show.

Surrounds were also quite active as well. I particularly loved how well each and every effect bounced from left to right adding to an all around great atmosphere. All in all this was just as good as the video. “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented on each disc as they pertain to episode specific content. All featurettes include Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound with High Definition video.

• Season 3: Orientacion Featurette: This feature has a few cast interviews. Mostly covered is how everyone felt about this season from shooting to planning.
• Breakout Featurette: This details how the final episode was shot.
• Director’s Takes Featurette: Here 13 different director’s takes are looked at.
• Between Takes Featurette: This focuses on 7 different cast members speaking on what they do between episodes.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

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