Leverage - Season 4 - DVD

Content: The team from Leverage Consulting & Associates is back: Leader Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) is still doing everything he can, along with genius hacker Alec (Aldis Hodge), weapons expert Eliot (Christian Kane), wily thief and cat burglar Parker (Beth Riesgraf), and actress and con artist Sophie (Gina Bellman), to throw a wrench in the works of the rich and powerful who believe the law doesn't apply to them. In the penultimate season of Leverage, Nathan and his team once again reach deep into their bag of tricks to fight for justice for their clients.

There's even no mountain too high for that, as the squad proves in the very first episode of the season. In Alaska, Nathan wants to recover the notebook of Alan Scott (Eric Stolz), who died in an accident. Before his death, Scott had found out about an extensive mortgage fraud, which he documented in detail in this book. But also the Firme, which could get by these revelations in big trouble, is after the notebook - and thus begins soon in icy height a quite particularly dangerous competition, for which first some fears must be conquered.

But that is truly not the only difficult case in this once again very successful and entertaining season. An attractive marriage swindler (Emma Caufield), a deadly botched building construction, the hunt for a Van Gogh painting or organ smuggling keep the Leverage team on their toes. And then Nathan comes under suspicion of murder. As if that wasn't bad enough, the team also wants to put a stop to the powerful Wall Street kingpin Jack Latimer (Leon Rippy), who enlists the help of an old adversary of Nathan's to get rid of the troublesome justice fanatics. But the Leverage team can also count on some good old friends.

A case told from three different perspectives or an episode staged in the style of the comedy series The Office, the U.S. variant of Stromberg, and plenty of guest stars such as Will Wheaton, Tom Skerritt, Danny Glover or Richard Chamberlain make the 18 new episodes of the fourth season again a treat for all fans of cultivated U.S. crime. The mixture of cases inspired by true events, crook comedy in the style of the Ocean's movies, action, a little drama and kitsch-free romance (the relationship between Alec and Parker provides for some quite wonderful moments) works again quite well in the fourth round. The good actors and the fast-paced, but never overstuffed production are simply fun to watch. If you liked the first three seasons of Leverage, you can't get past this fourth - and unfortunately penultimate - box set. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The technical implementation of the series is again in the third season on a good TV level. The picture is very clean, the sharpness is especially in the brighter outdoor scenes absolutely satisfactory and the colors are pleasantly strong mixed. For a TV series, this is more than adequate.

The sound is dominated in particular by the dialogue and music, but every now and then, thanks to some sound effects such as gunfire or explosions, the surround channels also come into play, which makes for pleasant dynamics, especially in the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Good.

Extras: There is a little bonus material on each DVD of the 5-disc set. DVD 1 offers a brief behind-the-scenes look at the first episode (approx. 2 min.), while the second disc features some unreleased scenes (approx. 7 min.). DVD 3 offers a look at the normal madness in the authors' office (approx. 3:30 min.) and the fourth disc offers a parody of the episode Unter Beobachtung (approx. 6 min.). Like the episode itself, this fake look behind the scenes is presented in the style of the comedy series The Office - although the stars of the series are better actors than the creators, who try to show their comical side here. But the whole thing is still amusing, which also applies to the funny outtakes (approx. 6 min.), which are included on the fifth DVD. Good!

Conclusion: Leverage presents itself also in its penultimate season in its usual entertaining form. Suspense, humor, action, interesting cases and good actors make the series entertaining entertainment, from which fans simply can not get enough. Even if the concept of the series was never fundamentally changed, it is a real shame that after the 5th season is finally over. But until that happens, fans should enjoy these 18 episodes of season 4. And that is really not difficult! Recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp