"Leverage" DVD Review: The New "A-Team"?

Last year, I called “Leverage” the best new show of 2008 and there’s nothing on the first season DVD set that proves me wrong…

My connection with the show lies in its resemblance to “The A-Team”—a resemblance that even the shows stars cite in the behind the scenes documentary. A group bands together to pull off cons to help the little guy. But unlike the “A-Team,” the only common bond this group has is being a thief. And sometimes that bond just doesn’t seem like enough…

The leader of the group is Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton), a former insurance investigator whose job was to bring down thieves and recover valuable property. But after the company he worked for allowed his son to die, Nate jumps at the chance to lead a group of thieves to seek revenge. But that one act of revenge turns into helping even more people who have suffered injustice by leading this unlikely team…

Elliott Spencer (Christian Kane) is the muscle, Sophie Deveraux (Gina Bellman) is the grifter who can play just about anyone, Alec Hardison is the expert hacker and Parker (Beth Riesgraf) is the master thief with more than a few screws loose.

Even though the idea of being a team doesn’t sound appealing at first, the group soon realizes that working together is the most fun they’ve ever had. And you’ll have a lot of fun watching them.

The cast is fantastic and the cons are so intricately planned, you can’t help but get sucked in to try and find out what exactly is happening. The show has great guest stars as well, including Kari Matchett (“Invasion,” “24”) who appears late in the season as Nate’s ex-wife. And executive producer Dean Devlin (“Independence Day”) provides his big screen touch by directing several of the episodes.

The DVD provides an interesting behind the scenes feature that shows us why the cons are so beautifully planned—the show has a thief as a creative consultant. We also see the staging of a fight scene, and the moment when Devlin told the cast the show had been renewed. But the real gem in the bonus features is “Parker Can’t Lose,” a parody in which Riesgraf asks for Parker to be turned into “Sharker,” a half-woman, half shark. Plus you can hear commentary from the producers and writers on each of the 13 episodes.

If you’re looking for the new “A-Team,” forget a big screen movie. Check out the gang on “Leverage.” Because as Nate says, sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. They certainly do in this case…

“Leverage: The First Season” is available now…

Photo Credit: Paramount Home Entertainment