Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Criss Angel's stage show, magic
Likes: Stunts
Dislikes: The awkward set-ups
Hates: That friggin' beard

The Story So Far...
Criss Angel combined traditional stage magic with dark and dramatic imagery to create a unique and highly entertaining show that earned him a cult following and the respect of the magic community. He then parlayed that success into a series on A&E, resident gigs in Las Vegas, and a spot as one of America's top magicians. The show, "Mindfreak," follows Angel as he performs his magic and travels the country. A&E has released five DVD sets of his shows so far, and DVDTalk has reviews of each available here.

The Show
The show is generally the same from season to season, as Criss Angel does his tricks and larger stunts, but the big difference here is obviously the way Angel has Joaquin Phoenix'd, growing a big bushy beard that he's complimented with a bandanna and cane to create his latest character, Criss the Magic Hobo. It's so odd to see him in flashback, where he was a '80s metal-band holdover, then a goth gangsta, and now dirty and homeless-looking, despite wearing enough jewelry to qualify to be a Boca bubbe. After season three and the increase in bling and attitude, I didn't think it possible for him to get more aggravating, but this new persona does the trick.

The big stunts are as unsolvable as ever, but as he ups the ante on earlier bits (like swapping a wine barrel for an oil barrel, walking on a lake instead of a pool, and substituting catching an arrow with a nail fired from a nail gun) and does twists on themes (escapes from an imploding building or dangling over a crowd), there's a real sense of been there, done that. Sure, he's amping it up a bit, but it's not as awe-inspiring as it was the first time. When it is something new, frequently it feels a bit too over the top, like his "cremated alive" segment, which feels like a deleted scene from Eyes Wide Shut. Oddly, it's a return to an earlier part of his career, digging his "Tronik" robot out of the mothballs, that's one of the most memorable moments of the season. I saw him perform this act less than a foot from my face six years ago and I still can't figure out how it's done.

The usual elements of "Mindfreak" are all in place, including interaction with his fans, "The Loyal," heavy utilization of the Luxor, reminding you of who's keeping him in diamonds; and a bevy of Vegas-grade celebrities. That includes his previously-seen pals like Carrot Top, Penn Jillette and Ted Nugent, along with some new friends, like Anthony Michael Hall, Louie Anderson and Gene Simmons (and oddly, Elvis Costello.) These appearances usually are a bit lame, resulting in even cheesier set-ups than those involving his crew (which got so bad this season that even when it seems Angel gets seriously injured, it's hard to believe it.) In one episode, they even get to perform the magic, which isn't at all awkward, nuh uh. After seeing the guest list for his birthday episode, Vegas fame doesn't seem so glamorous. It just gets worse when he dresses up like some of his well-known fellow Vegas residents to wish himself a happy birthday.

Also once again present though, and consistently the best part of the show, is Angel's close-up sleight-of-hand magic. There are few acts who can perform street magic with the skill and variety that Angel exhibits, whether it's "simple" card tricks, mentalism, or spitting a woman's ring and forcing it to link with another woman's belly-button ring from about five yards. In one episode, he tosses a mixed-up Rubik's Cube in the air and it comes down solved, just before he demolishes it into individual squares with his bare hands. It's adapting his bits to his surroundings, like showing off his card skills in a Vegas casino, that makes this part of his act so much fun to watch, and it's obvious he knows it's a bit part of him, as he even devotes an entire episode to it. They probably could have done another 17 of the same and come out ahead of the game.

The DVDs
This three-disc set includes the 18 Season Four episodes of "Mindfreak" (three of which are double-length) in the same packaging set-up as the last two sets, with three clear slipcased ThinPaks with one-sided covers. The discs feature a static full-frame menu (following a short video clip), with options to watch all the episodes, select individual shows and check out bonus features (where applicable.) There are no subtitles, closed captioning or audio options available.

The Quality
The video quality on these full-frame transfers is excellent, offering a clear image with good color and no obvious issues with dirt, damage or compression artifacts. It comes off as nice as it did when airing on A&E.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks recreate the show's audio very well, delivering the music and dialogue via a center-balanced mix that has no problems with distortion. There's a lot of driving rock music in the series, and it all sounds great.

The Extras
There are two extras on this set, both found on the third disc. Up first is an 11-minute behind- the-scenes featurette, made up of interviews with Angel's "magic team," the group of assistants that help him design and set up his tricks, a stop by Lance Burton's green room, and a look at the making of Season Four's opening titles. The interviews didn't do much for me, and there's not a lot about the titles we hadn't seen in extras in previous sets, but hearing from Burton was a treat.

The other extra is 14 minutes of additional footage, which is non-magical in nature, including sit-downs with Angel's family, clips of talented kids from the magician's appearances, and pieces on his MF13 motorcycles and the Mindfreak store at the Luxor. This is the kind of stuff I didn't really like in earlier seasons, so having it on its own is not a big draw.

The Bottom Line
The magic train just keeps on running for Criss Angel, and the fourth season captures more of his big events and sleight-of-hand, but thankfully less of his behind-the-scene life. That said, it is more of the same, the problem with any highly-visible magician who makes regular TV appearances. The DVDs look and sound very nice, but offer up a slim amount of extras to enhance the series. If you like Angel's act (and since he's so good, it's easy to) you'll want to give this a look, but don't expect to be thrilled the way he has in the past.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.