'Into The Badlands - The Complete Third Season'
(Daniel Wu, Orla Brady, Aramis Knight, Emily Beecham, Nick Frost, et al / 4-Disc Blu-ray / NR / 2019 / Starz - Anchor Bay - Lionsgate Films)
Overview: AMC’s groundbreaking martial arts drama comes to an end when 'Into The Badlands - The Complete Third Season' arrives on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD August 27th, 2019 from Lionsgate.
Sunny’s son contracts a mysterious illness that pressures him to join forces with Bajie. They journey back into the Badlands, where The Widow and Baron Chau are entrenched in a drawn-out war that has destabilized the entire region.
Blu-ray Verdict: Well, this third season of 'Into The Badlands' is the final season so this is now a chance for all you collectors to complete your series sets (or wait for the inevitable "complete series" box-set at, I assume, Christmas, of course!).
Thinking aloud, colorful, greatly choregraphed, I simply don't understand why this great series never quite received the praise it fully deserved.
The action scenes and fights are really original and well done by the actors. The story is rather interesting and captivating, despite it taking a strange development here in the third season and it turned out to be a must-see for anyone who likes battles and medieval fantasy universe scenarios.
Again, and for the record, this series has excellent direction, writing, cinematography, choreography, score, special effects, settings and acting with all of the actors delivering exceptional performances.
In particular Wu, Knight, Beecham, Ionnides, Frost and Csokas stand out for me, but all the others held their collective own too.
As a quick series summary to those not initiated, the plot is set in a futuristic medieval civilization known as the Badlands. The world is ruled by a feudal system consisting of barons, viceroys, regions and clippers A.K.A. assassins.
One of the most feared and notorious clippers is Sunny who has gone rogue after the murder of his wife. Sunny soon meets up with a young man M.K. who becomes his protégé.
Eventually the two take separate paths and M.K. learns that he possesses a power known as the gift. There are other clippers in the Badlands who also possess this most wanted gift as it enables them to overpower any opponent that stands in their way.
For decades the Badlands had been ruled by the most powerful baron Quinn who was always able to outmaneuver his rivals until he is eventually confronted by a new baron The Widow who proves to be a much more cunning and powerful ruler than Quinn.
Barons come and go as the series continues and the battle for control of the Badlands continues. There are also many characters that are introduced.
There is Badji who is the only somewhat of a friend that Sunny has. Badji seems to know more about the Badlands then any other character even though he navigates the world in a whimsical manner always finding himself in precarious positions but somehow always surviving.
The most recent character is Pilgram who is vying for control of the Badlands using a different powerful approach based on faith. While this is going on baron Chau has risen and is proving to be a contender for control over The Widow.
As the battle continues Sunny and M.K. are eventually reunited under not so welcoming circumstances. Sunny is also reunited with his son and is trying to save him as he possesses the black gift which is killing the infant.
Sunny still refuses to bow to any man and simply put wants to live as a free man with his child. As Sunny is seeking a cure for his son with the help of Badji by traveling to Azra and eventually feeling he needs the help of Pilgram, he learns that he has always been the catalyst of the black power which he possesses deep inside.
At this point enters The Black Lotus who have been seeking out Sunny since his disappearance as a child. So the battle for the Badlands continues on.
Will it be The Widow, Chau, Pilgram or could ironically Sunny end up ruling the civilization. Time will tell, within it's own cinematic world only though, of course.
The plot is clever, witty, action packed, has unparalleled martial arts, is consistent, artistic, formidable and addictive. Sure, it's no big secret about AMC's decision with the series so the ultimate savior of the Badlands may come down to another network adopting the series in order to let the saga continue!
Regardless this is a magnificent series in it's genre and it will be sorely missed. This is a Widescreen 1080p High Definition 16x9 Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced an August 27th release date for AMC’s 'Into The Bandlands - The Complete Third Season' on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD August 27th, 2019 from Lionsgate.
www.LGF.com
'Into The Badlands - The Complete Third Season' Official Trailer