[Blu-Ray Review] ‘Banshee: The Complete Third Season’: Available On Blu-ray & DVD April 5, 2016 From Cinemax & HBO

Banshee: The Complete Third Season [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Antony Starr, Ivana Milicevic, Ulrich Thomsen

Release Date: Available On Blu-ray & DVD April 5, 2016

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 9.5/10

Synopsis:

Season 3 picks up a month after the Season 2 finale, when Carrie’s father, gang kingpin Rabbit (Ben Cross), finally met his demise after a climactic church shootout. Carrie, now exposed and estranged from her husband and kids, remains in Banshee, working as a waitress by day while moonlighting with Lucas, Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison) and Job (Hoon Lee) on a variety of local heists. As Lucas finds it harder and harder to keep his true identity from his deputies – especially Siobhan Kelly (Trieste Kelly Dunn), now his romantic interest – he and the Banshee police force become embroiled in a new conflict between Amish gangster Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) and Chayton Littlestone (Geno Segers), the vicious, vengeance-minded leader of the Redbone wing of the Kinaho tribe. And as fists and bullets fly in and around Banshee, Lucas concocts a new scheme that could net his thieves a fortune – by robbing a decommissioned Marine compound housing millions of dollars.

The third season of ‘Banshee’ picks up shortly after the events which concluded the second season; with Rabbit removed from the equation permanently, Hood’s relationship with Siobhan begins to grow more serious, while Carrie has drifted apart from her husband and now works days as a waitress. When the monstrous Redbone leader Chayton arises and along with his criminal associates robs a plethora of weapons from a military transport, the investigation into which leads Hood, Carrie and their team of graveyard shift thieves the opportunity of a huge new score, a safe overloaded with cash located on the military compound. Aside from the typical security measures, the most notable concern may be getting past the sadistic and short-tempered head of the unit who Carrie has also been intimately involved with and who will stop at nothing to protect what is his. Now, as issues between the Kinaho tribe and Proctor’s enterprises escalate in addition, the town begins to erupt into a full out war which may only be the beginning.

The third, and as fate would have it also the penultimate season of ‘Banshee’ certainly doesn’t bother pumping on the breaks, kicking off with a bang and escalating into full on insanity by the third episode, frequently allowing the viewer nary a moment to breath. As intense and action packed as ever, including what is almost surely one of the most notable fights in the entire series to date occurring in and out of a car parked in a driveway and never letting up until the gory final moment, while also upping the ante significantly on the emotional aspect with the third season delivering some gut-wrenching and truly heartfelt moments. Fans of the series that haven’t yet had a chance to check out the third season will definitely want to make certain to do so as soon as they’re able, especially with the fourth and final season having just begun its 8 episode run this previous Friday on Cinemax. Those who might not have ever had the pleasure of this series and merely happened to come across this review by chance may want to give it a shot. If you are a fan of gritty and intense action films, ‘Banshee’ is right up your alley and almost guaranteed to impress action fans; it remains one of my absolute favorite current running television shows.

Fellow fans of this continually impressive original action series will likely want to be certain to pick up a copy of ‘Banshee: The Complete Third Season’ on Blu-ray to add to their collections. Thanks yet again to the ten episodes being spread out between the four discs the Blu-ray release delivers exceptional high definition video and audio presentations on every episode that should thrill fans, along with an impressive collection of great bonus content including ‘Audio Commentary’ tracks on half of the episodes, Deleted Scene(s) for a number of episodes and much more (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) which combined will surely make this release a definite must own for many fellow fanshees intent on collecting the entire series on Blu-ray to relive time and again.

Overall, fellow fans of ‘Banshee’ (or fanshees) will almost certainly want to make sure to pick up a copy of ‘Banshee: The Complete Third Season’ on Blu-ray. This fantastic 4-disc Blu-ray release delivers phenomenal high definition video and audio presentations on each episode in addition to a solid collection of extras that are sure to make this a definite must own for many ,especially those who have already been collecting the previous season releases on Blu-ray. Fans of the series that haven’t yet had a chance to check out the penultimate season will definitely want to make sure to at least rent the episodes if they are hesitant with a blind purchase of the Blu-ray. This is one brutal, action-packed and downright thoroughly entertaining season of television you won’t want to miss out on.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Banshee: The Complete Third Season’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the show’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on all of the third seasons episodes. The video presentations look outstanding, delivering sharp, detailed and gorgeous video presentations on every episode with no notable faults to be found within and complimented with more than sufficient bitrates. They hold up impressively even during the numerous fast moving and/or darkly lit sequences which are quite frequent in the series, never resulting in anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, these are wonderful high definition video presentations that should easily thrill the fellow fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on all 10 Season Three episodes. These lossless multichannel soundtracks sound magnificent, providing clean, crisp, discrete and often incredibly aggressive audio presentations on each episode. Frequently utilizing all five available channels in order to send everything from explosive debris, bullets, cars and plenty more whirring throughout the channels at any given time, along with some  room shattering bass in some of the more explosive sequences; all the while never causing any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted, let alone rendered inaudible. Overall, these are impressive 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtracks that contribute even more fun to this outstanding series and should likely leave fans with a grin plastered on their face while viewing.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Banshee: The Complete Third Season’ includes an impressive collection of supplemental material spread throughout the four discs. Included on the release are ‘Audio Commentary’ tracks on five of the episodes, along with ‘Deleted Scene(s)’ from four episodes (running approximately 7 minutes altogether), as well taking you deeper into what happened before the events seen in the show with the eight part ‘Banshee Origins’ (running approximately 24 minutes altogether), and the two part ‘Banshee Origins Saga’ which also features optional Audio Commentary (approximately 55 minutes altogether). We are also treated to a number of behind the scenes Featurettes exploring different aspects and events within the season, they include: ‘Zoomed In’ Behind the Scenes Featurettes for nine of the ten episodes (approximately 20 minutes altogether), ‘Making of the Episode 2 Title Sequence’ (2 minutes), ‘Burton vs. Nola Stunts’ (4 minutes), ‘Burton vs. Nola Camera Movement’ (1 minute), and ‘Genoa Rehearsal’ (5 minutes). Perhaps one of the most unique extras on the release is ‘The Heist’ (20 minutes) which allows the viewer a multi-perspective revisiting of the breathtaking heist sequence from the seventh episode in the season, offering both the option of watching the sequence via all four camera viewpoints simultaneously or selecting between them individually. Lastly, a ‘Sins Promo’ (1 minute) for the season is also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Disc Rating: 9.5/10

‘Banshee: The Complete Third Season’; Arrives on Blu-ray & DVD April 5, 2016 From Cinemax & HBO

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