{"id":5912,"date":"2013-09-17T02:02:35","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T06:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=5912"},"modified":"2013-09-17T02:02:35","modified_gmt":"2013-09-17T06:02:35","slug":"arrow-the-complete-first-season-blu-raydvdultraviolet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/17\/arrow-the-complete-first-season-blu-raydvdultraviolet\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrow: The Complete First Season (Blu-Ray\/DVD\/Ultraviolet)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"arrow-s1\"<\/a>With the CW’s “Smallville” (thankfully) dead and buried, “Arrow” just seemed to be the next step for the network. Green Arrow was one of the most popular elements of the later episodes of “Smallville,” thus Green Arrow is given center stage. Except, the producers make the wise decision of setting aside the bland Justin Hartley for the charismatic and often dazzling Stephen Amell. Fans of DC know the basics of the Green Arrow legend, and the character isn’t entirely an icon, so the writers are free to take liberties. And I’m quite happy that those liberties result in quite an entertaining and exciting Green Arrow adaptation.<\/p>\n

The writers cast aside the Robin Hood costumed hero tropes, and bring in a lot of the reality based ideas that ground this in the realm of the Nolan Batman films. Oliver Queen is a rich spoiled socialite who is shipwrecked and ends up marooned on an island. After spending five years lost on the island, he turns up back in to the world, and his family is shocked to learn he’s alive. The problem is, Oliver is no longer the spoiled rich child from a dynasty of billionaires, but now has become darker, brooding, and has a new outlook on life. After losing his father in the middle of the sea, Queen is very vague about what happened during the shipwreck, and through flashbacks, we’re able to piece together how he went from spoiled rich kid to parkour wielding arrow slinging warrior of the night. Along the way we meet the residents of Starling City including the Queen family, Queen’s former girlfriend Laurel Lance, and a number of old friends, many of whom have moved on with their lives or built new ones.<\/p>\n

Queen is forced to figure out how to balance out this re-appearance, all the while pursuing his mission to seek out mob bosses and corrupt city officials during the night and bring them to justice. Though he’s never called it, Oliver does don the dark green hood and apply bow and arrow tech to his suit that allows him to become Green Arrow. He also garners the blond goatee ever so subtly. What I love about “Arrow” is that the third tier and less fantastic villains are being applied to the arcs that allow Queen to tackle them and find a way to work around their skills. In the beginning of the season, Queen meets a marksman with equal range and skill called DeadShot who is assassinating crime bosses with poison laced bullets.<\/p>\n

And during the season, there’s build up to the revelation of the DC villain Deathstoke, a brilliant one eyed assassin who has a run in with Queen’s mentor on his island early in his life, and seems to have re-appeared once again. Like Nolan’s “Batman” films, the story repeats the beats of the Nolan arc. Rich spoiled kid, learns about survival and fighting through a mysterious mentor, returns to his crime ridden city, tries to evade the law, and helps his law abiding friends fight crime through the legal system while he poses as a vigilante at night. But the series is able to salvage the derivation by offering some wonderful writing and wicked nods to the DC lore that signal future events. In one episode Green Arrow has to delve in to Bludhaven prison to free a suspected murderer, and Queen’s ex-girlfriend Dinah Lance shows she’s not a damsel in distress when she helps Oliver and his friend fight off a group of thugs in a nightclub.<\/p>\n

“Arrow” can occasionally falter, especially with Oliver Queen who is often so brooding it can be irritating, but much of his actions are calculated and have a reasoning toward them that shines on his efforts to fight crime, in the end. The sub-plots are also quite good as Oliver’s little sister hits a downhill slope, and his relationship with his mother is tested. I also really enjoy Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance, the police detective who hates Oliver Queen and Green Arrow, and will stop at nothing to bring them to jail. “Arrow” is a fine successor to “Smallville” taking that goofy shades donning snow boarder version of Green Arrow and improves upon it with a more grounded and entertaining formula. This is a definite pick up for a series I’ll be following religiously.<\/p>\n

Featured in the first season release is a series of deleted scenes, as well as a gag reel. There is “Arrow at Paley Fest 2013” that includes highlights from the cast and crew panel for “Arrow.” There’s “Arrow: Fight School\/Stunt School” about the choreographed fights and shoot outs that occur on the series. Finally, there’s “Arrow Comes Alive!” a documentary about the history of Green Arrow and Oliver Queen, for folks interested in how he differs in the comics and the live action adaptation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now In Stores. Buy It Here!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the CW’s “Smallville” (thankfully) dead and buried, “Arrow” just seemed to be the next step for the network. Green Arrow was one of the most popular elements of the later episodes of “Smallville,” thus Green Arrow is given center stage. Except, the producers make the wise decision of setting aside the bland Justin Hartley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[58,64,240,268,302,874,1013,1087],"class_list":["post-5912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","tag-action","tag-adaptation","tag-crime","tag-dc-comics","tag-drama","tag-romance","tag-suspense","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}