Ballers: The Complete Third Season [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, John David Washington, Rob Corddry

Release Date: April 3, 2018

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 6.5/10

 

Synopsis:

This season, Spencer, along with longtime colleague Joe Krutel (Rob Corddry), return with a new outlook and fresh goals, hoping to forge bonds with new players across the country while improving his relationships with existing clients. In an ever-changing business where the shelf life for stardom and multi-million-dollar contracts are short, Spencer is intent on proving that the key to successful sports management isn’t just about making money and having fun – it’s about delivering on the promises you make. John David Washington, Donovan Carter, and Omar Miller also return this season, with guest appearances by sports stars Stephen Curry and Eddie George.

The third season of ‘Ballers’ rejoins Spencer (Johnson) and his loyal associates as he dares to attempt the seemingly impossible and bring professional football to Las Vegas. But first, he must manage to catch the interest (and hopefully financial backing) of a smug, Vegas tyrant whose influence with the right people would mean the key to getting things truly moving. Meanwhile, as Spence finds his latest cause taking up the majority of his time, his friends back home each start to find themselves in plenty of questionable situations such as investing in businesses that quickly lead to more trouble from the league, among other headaches. Now Spence must decide what’s truly most important and give it his all before both sides potentially crumble and end up leaving him and those who rely on him with nothing.

Season three of ‘Ballers’ is another thoroughly enjoyable and frequently hilarious season of the HBO series which seems to have really started to find its pace and mature into a consistently fun, funny and occasionally mildly moving set of misadventures revolving around the world of pro football and ex-player Spencer Strasmore along with his friends and associates. Having allowed us ample time to better get to know each of the characters over the previous two seasons, the third sets many of them on very different paths as each has begun to truly find their intended place within the difficult world revolving around the massively popular sport. The result of such is both good and bad as while it allows a wider scope, more ideas to explore and a more realistic approach to the material, it also detracts from the overall carefree fun of the show which has always felt like a key element of ‘Ballers’; similar in many ways to the tone of HBO’s ‘Entourage’. Fans of ‘Ballers’ that have been collecting the previous season releases on Blu-ray will almost surely want to make sure to purchase a copy of ‘Ballers: The Complete Third Season’ on Blu-ray at some point (if you haven’t already done so). The switch-up from the previous two season’s 2-disc Blu-ray set releases to a single disc release this time around may make some folks understandably nervous, but they can rest assured that the quality still remains surprisingly outstanding nonetheless and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest, although the lack of any supplemental material at all is admittedly somewhat disappointing and certain to bum out many fans.

Overall, the third season of ‘Ballers’ is another batch of entertaining and funny episodes that deliver plenty of humorous, carefree fun in addition to some tense and important moments that are sure to leave viewers getting a bit anxious on occasion. The series has really managed to mature into a well-crafted and consistently enjoyable ride, although the higher stakes this time around and the distance between familiar faces does take away from some of the simple fun at times which was always one of the show’s most powerful elements. This latest season release is unfortunately entirely absent of any extras, yet the Blu-ray release of ‘Ballers: The Complete Third Season’ still delivers impressive high definition video and audio presentations on every episode that should have no trouble satisfying fans. Even with the entire season being included on a single Blu-ray disc instead of the 2-disc set format of the previous season releases, the difference in quality is nearly nonexistent surprisingly.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Ballers: 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 season’s episodes. The video presentations look outstanding as a whole, and even with all ten episodes on a single disc this time around instead of split between 2 discs such as prior seasons; the quality surprisingly holds up in nearly every possible way. They deliver sharp, detailed and clean presentations on every episode with no substantial faults to be found throughout. Overall, these are wonderful high definition video presentations that should have no trouble pleasing 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 provide crisp, clean and often fairly aggressive audio presentations on each episode. They regularly take advantage of all five available channels in order to send music booming throughout every speaker, along with crowd chatter, nature elements and more contributing plenty of consistent surround activity; while always making certain that any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible. Overall, these are great 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtracks that deliver across the board and certainly contribute their share of additional fun to the overall viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Unlike the previous two season releases of the show, the Blu-ray release of ‘Ballers: The Complete Third Season’ doesn’t include any bonus content whatsoever.

*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.

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Disc Rating: 6.5/10

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‘Ballers: The Complete Third Season’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from HBO Home Entertainment

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You can purchase your copy of ‘Ballers: Season 3’ by clicking on the Amazon Cart icon immediately below!