Last Resort: The Complete First Season DVD review

Actors: Andre Braugher, Scott Speedman, Daisy Betts, Camille De Pazzis, Dichen Lachman

Director: Michael Offer

Format: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: Chinese, French, Korean

Dubbed: Spanish

Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 3

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

DVD Release Date: July 2, 2013

Run Time: 558 minutes

Last Resort: The Complete Series

 

        “Last Resort” is an action/suspense series with a premise that had promise, but ultimately a single season was enough for the storyline. As it is, this series feels as though it is a storyline meant for a feature film, dragging out a single scenario into a series of surprising twists and turns. Characters are fickle, switching sides from episode to episode as a way of keeping the fixed cast of players more interesting.

 

        In the pilot episode of the series we are introduced to the unrivaled U.S. ballistic submarine, Colorado, which is equipped with new cloaking equipment and a stockpile of nuclear weapons. When Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) and XO Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman) receive an order to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan, they question the order’s legitimacy and are fired on by another American submarine.

 

        Escaping to a tropical island, the crew of the Colorado find refuge and a base to stand their ground. They are seen as enemies of the United States, but the power of the submarine’s weapons keeps other ships at bay. While it becomes clear to some stateside that the current administration is corrupt, Chaplin must fight his own personal war with his own country and the men he is leading. Kendal spends the entire series teetering back and forth between loyalty to his Captain and the urge to return home to his wife.

 

        All thirteen episodes of this brief series are captures on three discs, along with special features. There are thirteen behind-the-scenes featurettes, exploring a wide array of the show’s technical and creative elements.

 

Entertainment Value: 6.5/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 6/10

Historical Significance: 3/10

Disc Features: 7/10