On Target
Mark Valley plays Christopher Chance, Chi McBride stars as Winston, and Jackie Earle Haley is Guerrero. Chance is the can-do-everything special agent who can think on his feet and MacGyver his way out of any situation. Winston sets up the clients for this very unusual business — he finds the people that need themselves or their items protected, or have a mystery that they need solved quietly. Guerrero is the go to hacker and decrypter, expert with all things gadgets who helps Chance get through a variety of barriers and obstacles.
Each show is a case in this on going clandestine business. In each case, there is a client who needs the unique assistance and talents of these gentlemen. The adventures take place all over the world, involve some sci-fi gadgetry, plenty of CG, and lots of action. The action blends empty hand fighting with guns nicely to create some explosive scenes. Fast moving trains, poison, parachutes, gondolas, infiltration, foreign interests, automatic weapons, it’s all here.
The first several episodes give the viewer some immediate action-satisfaction but around episode four, we start to learn a little more about Chance’s mysterious past. You know this guy had to be trained by someone, somewhere, right? Probably made some bad blood along the way? That ideal starts to bear fruit in the second half of the season and is the over-arching story behind the ‘typical’ cases that the team takes on.
Getting back to a more general view of the show, it’s a fun ride. The action and stories are interesting and it definitely reminds me of Leverage, but it’s not quite as ‘busy’ with so many characters nor does it always seek to fulfill a morally good ending, if you know what I mean. It’s nice that Chance isn’t afraid to do what it takes to get the job done, even if that means dispatching the bad guys permanently. At the same time, the show manages to sneak in some humor to go along with all the action and subtle story telling too.
On Blu-ray
Human Target on Blu-ray arrives in a two disc package with the first six episodes on disc one, and the remaining six episodes on disc two. A nice color booklet is included with a synopsis for each episode, too. Each disc contains a few extra features as well that I will breakdown shortly. As for the presentation quality, I was impressed. Sometimes a TV show just doesn’t really ‘pop’ on Blu-ray, but Human Target really stands out with its vivid colors and crisp edges. I didn’t notice any technical problems with the image quality. The 5.1 audio packs a punch too, and it better given the amount of gunfire and explosions in this first season.
For extra features, here’s what to expect:
Disc 1:
-Deleted Scenes (HD, 3m46s) – A total of five deleted scenes. There are four deleted scenes from one episode and one from another episode.
Disc 2:
-Deleted Scenes (HD, 2m47s)
–Human Target: Confidential Informant (HD, 15m45) – Cast and crew talk about the characters and the comic book while viewers get to watch clips from the show.
–Human Target: Full Contact Television (HD, 15.5m) – This is a behind the scenes look (along with clips from the aired cut) of a lot of the action from the show. The crew talks about how it was necessary to keep the action scenes to around one and a half minutes per scene, trying to keep it realistic even though they are working off of a character from the comics, and so forth.
With that, let’s get to the summary…