Black Sails: The Complete Fourth Season [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Toby Stephens, Hannah New, Luke Arnold

Release Date: August 29, 2017

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 7/10

 

Synopsis:

It’s war in the West Indies, and the shores of New Providence Island have never been bloodier. While Eleanor Guthrie and Woodes Rogers hold Nassau, Captain Flint sails to strike the final blow . . . and from the interior, an insurgency builds, fueled by the legend of Long John Silver. But the closer civilization comes to defeat, the more desperately, and destructively, it will fight back.

The fourth and final season of ‘Black Sails’ begins with war having finally truly arrived, and the result is a world more dangerous than ever for pirates, yet also far more promising in many aspects. With Woodes Rogers now in relatively firm charge of Nassau thanks in part to his evolving relationship with Eleanor Guthrie, Flint and Silver must attempt to hold their shaky alliance if they are to stand any chance of combating the threat and once again reclaiming Nassau, but when Silver vanishes and is believed dead it results in some unneeded complications. While the blood steadily runs and bodies continue to pileup, unexpected alliances are formed and friends can become enemies in a heartbeat. As the final confrontation builds, Flint and the rest of his associates must hold true or their failure just may result in the end to piracy as they know it.

The final season of ‘Black Sails’ provides a tense, wild and action-packed conclusion to the series that pretty solidly concludes the show’s ongoing events and provides a quite satisfying end that albeit slightly more happy than expected (although that’s not to say the final season lacks its share of bloodshed and even heartbreak), it fits beautifully and allows fans more than adequate closure and as a massive fan of ‘Black Sails’ I certainly didn’t find myself disappointed. The fourth season also offers a great deal more action and some of the most exceptional, brutal and just downright gorgeous action sequences the show has offered in its run which will easily leave fans with a grin frequently plastered on their face. Keeping things continually on edge and taking some key characters in some unexpected directions, it never sacrifices the drama, heart and deliciously twisted backstabbing so prominent throughout the show in favor of spectacle, instead finding a fitting middle ground that adequately allows both aspects to truly flourish. Fellow fans of this spectacular series who haven’t yet had the chance to check out the final season will certainly want to do so when you’re able. It’s a satisfying end to a consistently wonderful series that takes the gorgeous action and insanity to new heights fitting of the final ten episodes. One thing is for certain, any fan of ‘Black Sails’ won’t want to dream of missing out on this explosive final season.

Overall, fellow hardcore fans of this outstanding pirate-themed series that have been collecting the show’s previous Blu-ray season releases will probably want to make sure to pick up a copy of ‘Black Sails: The Complete Fourth Season’ on Blu-ray in order to complete their collection. The Blu-ray release of the fourth and final season provides quite fantastic high definition video and audio presentations on every episode, in addition to a few decent extras that series fans will likely enjoy.  Those who enjoyed the previous seasons of the show yet haven’t had the opportunity to check out the final season will also want to make a point of attempting to at least find a rental option if possible; there isn’t a better way currently available in which to experience this wonderful show than with the impressive video and audio quality offered on the Blu-ray releases, and even with Lionsgate taking over the rights this year, the fourth season is no exception when it comes to the quality.  Many fellow fans though will definitely be somewhat disappointed by the absence of the digipak style packaging on this set considering it was featured on all three previous Blu-ray season releases.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Black Sails: The Complete Fourth Season’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the show’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on all of the fourth and final season’s episodes. The video presentations each look fantastic as a whole and provide sharp, colorful and richly detailed presentations on every episode of the final season with no notable faults to be uncovered within. They hold up remarkably even during the numerous darkly lit and heavily populated sequences and never allow anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible at any point throughout. Overall, these are wonderful high definition video presentations that should have no trouble whatsoever thrilling the fellow fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a lossless 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack on all 10 Season Four episodes. These lossless multichannel soundtracks once again serve as one of the most noteworthy aspects of the Blu-ray release and deliver crisp, clean and incredibly aggressive audio presentations on every episode. Constantly taking full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send bullets, canon fire and debris, along with dripping water, crowd activity and plenty more regularly zooming throughout the various channels, and always making certain that any dialogue that may be occurring simultaneously remains clean and fully audible at all times. Overall, these are outstanding 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtracks that contribute a great deal of additional fun to the overall viewing experience and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Black Sails: The Complete Fourth Season’ includes a few bonus goodies in the way of some brief behind the scenes Featurettes that include behind the scenes footage, interviews/comments and roundtable discussions with members the cast and a crew, plus more. The included Featurettes are: ‘Inside the World of Black Sails’ episodic Featurettes for all ten of the final season’s episodes (running approximately 2 minutes in length apiece), along with ‘Creating the World’ (running approximately 3 minutes), ‘Roundtable: Women in Piracy’ (approximately 2 minutes), ‘Roundtable: The Legends of Treasure Island’ (2 minutes) and ‘Roundtable: Fearless Fans’ (1 minute).

*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: 7/10

‘Black Sails: The Complete Fourth Season’; The Final Season Sails Home onto Blu-ray & DVD August 29, 2017 from Starz & Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

You can purchase ‘Black Sails: Season 4’ by clicking on the Amazon Cart Icon immediately below!