The Wire: Complete HBO Season 1-5 [DVD] [2002]
The Wire: Complete HBO Season 1-5 [DVD]
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Product Description
The Wire is one of those programmes where the increasing number of people who seem to passionately recommend it are simply not wrong. For buried underneath a mountain of praise, and talk of it being one of the finest television shows of all time, is a staggering piece of work, one that slowly but surely takes a look at the many facets of the drugs trade, centred in the city of Baltimore. Series by series, we spend time with the cops, the dealers, the media, local politicians, the education system and more, as The Wire gives each careful treatment, and a three-dimensional portrayal. It also paints a picture of a city in real trouble, with Baltimore one of The Wire’s uncredited stars. But where the show really delivers is in the characters it creates and moulds, and the very real troubles and challenges each of them must face. The show’s detailed strokes are even more compelling than the broader picture it paints. Enhanced by a series of non-showy performances in front of the camera, and some immaculate writing behind, The Wire really is that proverbial real deal. It’s genuinely unpredictable (characters of all sizes find themselves ruthlessly bumped off when you least expect them to), fearless in its tackling of certain subjects, and is that very masterpiece that an increasing army of champions of The Wire suggest it is. The five series contained here are genuinely American television at its very finest, right through to the final scene. Mesmerising television. --Simon Brew
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Rating
On the surface, The Wire is generically a cop drama, focusing on the attempts of a dedicated team of specialists to take down a drug kingpin. If that were simply the case, The Wire would stand as the best cop show ever made. However, it is so much more than that. The Wire is a dissection of a modern North American city, cutting through the socio-economic strata, depicting the lives of kids selling drugs on the corner, the bureaucratic management of police and their target-driven policies, the politicians attempting to balance what should be done against what needs to be done, school kids trying to walk a fine line betwixt education and the temptations of the corner and the drug barons organising their empire.
Even that description omits numerous other characters, plot threads and entanglements. More importantly than the Dickensian scope, The Wire has such a vivid sense of authenticity: much is shot on location in Baltimore, Maryland aka Bodymore, Murderland, that its depiction of life in an urban ghetto, the images of whole blocks of derelict slums, shattered lives, the poor and the desperate seem reminiscent of footage of Baghdad, post-U.S. invasion.
This authenticity might be derived from the fact the programme has two principal creators, David Simon, who worked for many years as a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun newspaper and Ed Burns who is a former homicide detective who worked extended drug surveillance cases. Such is The Wire’s authenticity, that one real-life dealer from Baltimore commented in an interview that the only unrealistic thing about The Wire is that no m*f* in it watches The Wire!
The Wire is another phenomenal HBO drama. Previous dramas from that station have included Oz, which had quite a few cast members that ended up joining The Sopranos or The Wire. Oz has an immediate brutality quite distinct from anything else. The Sopranos has a witty overt intelligence that is instantly recognisable. Deadwood has such sophisticated linguistic construction. The Wire shares the complex multi-levelled plotting of these great series but is a more slower-burning affair.
As with the above-mentioned dramas, the ensemble cast of The Wire is outstanding and it could be inappropriate to highlight any one person in particular. Omar, a guy who makes a living robbing drug dealers has garnered some media attention but for me, The Bunk brings some much needed humour to the series.
Never winning many awards, having much commercial success or any high profile media interest, The Wire has nonetheless come to be regarded as quite possibly the finest drama series ever made. That’s a big sell but entirely justified. There has never been anything approaching The Wire’s depth before. Watch this series and all others seem one dimensional in comparison.
Rating
Having watched all 5 series in a very short space of time (over the past 2 months)this might colour my review slightly, however as of writing I can safely say that there has never been anything better I have seen, and that probably extends to movies as well as previous television series.
In a programme of great, great characters (the list is endless, Omar, Avon, D’Angelo, Bubbles, Daniels, Bunk, Rawls – not exactly likeable but certainly brilliant, and of course Stinger Bell) Jimmy McNulty rises just about to the top – quite simply one of the best and most enjoyable characters you are likely to see.
‘Multi-layered’ is one of those descriptions that you read and often it doesn’t mean that much, but is some critics attempt to sound intelligent, but in this case the definition is spot on. This can be viewed on so many levels and each series brings something different. The story regarding Bubbles in itself is a masterpiece, they could take out all his scenes from across the 5 series and put them into a film, and it would win oscars across the board. To an extent Omar’s story runs parallel, and whilst this doesn’t pull on the heart strings in quite the same way, it is still exceptional.
My only slight criticism would be the level dips slightly in my opinion in series 2 (although people do disagree with that, so maybe is just how I see it and how I loved the storyline and characters of series 1 and 3) but 3,4 and 5 are exceptional. In a very, very (very) sad way by the end these characters felt like your friends, and it was pretty emotional that last episode montage.
Before it was the Soprano’s, which I loved and was fantastic, but ultimately it didn’t sustain it too well over the whole period, and don’t think it had the depth of the Wire and did focus on one character a lot more, even if Tony Soprano was one hell of a character. I certainly don’t remember as feeling as ‘involved’ in that as with the wire.
Films I have seen since, even very good ones, have felt slightly odd and light – how can a film develop a character over 2 and a half hours in the way this has done over 60 hours. Impossible.
One word of warning, if you’re expecting a Prison Break / 24 / Lost type series, you’re in the wrong place. This isn’t cliffhanger television, or popcorn television in the way those programmes (much as i enjoy the first 2, not seen lost) they are fun and enjoyable, but ultimately there is no real depth to them.
And another – pay this the attention it deserves, you need to sit and watch this properly, not be doing other things whilst its on, it requires, and deserves, your full concentration. You will be rewarded.
One tip – I needed subtitles for a lot of it, it does help.
Enjoy.
Rating
The thing that worries me when I see a load of 5 star reviews is “has this just been written by a bunch of undemanding fan boys?”. I have certainly come across this in other areas of Amazon.
However there’s no getting away from the fact that after 2 or 3 episodes of the Wire you realise you are watching something special. This is the Band of Brothers of urban crime shows. I will do my best to try and summarise why these series are so special into 3 main themes.
Firstly each series covers just one case. Unlike something like CSI things aren’t neatly wrapped up in 1 hour. It shows the methodical nature of police work with police officers hardly ever touching a weapon…you know like real life. The series are happy to take their time, characters slowly develop sometimes over many series much like a great novel. This makes you care about the story, and you start to really care about the characters.
It also means the characters are rounded. Detective McNulty is the closest the series comes to a lead and the idea of a hard drinking cop isn’t new, but it’s the layers to him that count. At times he’s the most reliable cop on the case at others acting like a self destructive animal because he’s human and very, very drunk. But the story doesn’t just dwell on the cops, the drug dealers have full blown characters too and you start to care for some of them like Michael in series 4 and 5 or of course the economics lecture attending Stringer Bell who wants to make the drug business more like a business using real economic models- now that is genius!
Indeed as the series continue they don’t bin characters they add more so each series has a theme, the first is about the cops and the drug dealers, the second has all that plus the economic decline of a once great port city and how this effects the dockers, the third adds politics with the race to become mayor and how that makes police jobs harder, the fourth shows the decline of the inner city schools and the fifth adds the media into this heady brew.
Secondly the series are uncompromising, good people do bad things, bad people some times do the right things and there are no quick fixes to anything. Some episodes leave you shocked when a random act of violence can change a whole character’s story. The Wire is certainly thought provoking.
Finally there’s the change of tone. In the hands of the lesser writer this would all be unwatchably down beat, but the makers know this and so add light and shade to the whole thing. Characters laugh and silly things happen (I love one scene where the police trick one low level street dealer into thinking a photocopier is a lie detector machine) and at times when people do get a bit of luck or do the right thing, because they’ve been through hell it makes the happy moment even sweeter.
So if you’ve never seen them you really are missing out and if you have seen them then it’s time to watch them again.
Rating
Another HBO masterstroke. David Simon and Ed Burns creation The Wire is so good it literally spoils other TV for you. You watch CSI and Criminal Minds and it feels like an insult to your intelligence.
Each series takes on a different “theme” or institution; in the first series it examines the workings of the drug trade and the police in Baltimore. “Bodymore Murderland” says the graffiti.
From the very outset this show is palpably different, the characters are complex with good and bad sides. The lines of what is good and isn’t are blurred you don’t root forthe cops. The casting is inspired and the characters plausible due in no small measure to the fact that they are either Baltimore characters or an amalgam of a number of characters. Bunk and Bubs really existed.
Series two moves into the crumbling docks and deals with the economics and the death of the port in this once great and proud harbour town.
Series three centres upon town hall and the corruption and the importance of demographics in deciding who runs the town.
Series four goes into the public education system – where the parallels between the statistics over real results in the education system and the police resonate with much of what is going on in the UK.
Series five closes this great drama by examining the role of the press and its effects upon perception in the city – where what goes in the front page is not the most important story. The death of honest investigative reporting in favour of sensationalism. The heart breaking series closing montage demonstrates that life goes on. There are no fairytale endings. Life goes on.
The storylines and characters are inventive and brave. This series is made for DVD it’s complex and rewards the patient and intelligent. David Simon himself describes it as a visual novel – which is a great analogy, once you get past the scene setting early episodes and you can’t put it down. Without the irritation of commercial breaks you can get with the narrative thread and the pace of the story lines. In amongst this seemingly bleak background there are stories of hope and despair but there is a humanity to the whole thing.
60 hours of absolute gold. It says much for how subversive this show is that irt has been continually overlooked by the Emmys. I think David Simon must be proud.
Rating
The Wire simmered for years and some may still not yet have discovered it – hard to believe I know. Series one is the challenge because what is an apparently nerve stretchingingly slow intro to life on the streets of Baltimore, is actually ever so clever. Taking time to set up a drama is rare but The Wire shows how it pays off. Just when you think you can take it or leave it, the disc pops out and desperation for season two kicks in. If you’re looking for cops and robbers, CSI procedurals or the Sopranos your time is wasted here. This is an incisive look at the rotten core of police and political culture and the inevitably endless war on drugs, played out against the backdrop of a city divided on ethnic lines, its very fabric crumbling under the strain. The Wire uses some of the best writers around and is a skilled, forensic social commentary for our times and near perfect TV drama. I visited Baltimore in October 2008 and there’s lots of bright shiny regeneration but in the areas where The Wire is filmed – believe me they chose to show the good bits!
Rating
Simply stunning. The best drama I’ve seen ever. The authentic dialogue, the intricate plot, the characters, the acting – everything is superb. It is totally convincing in its portrayal of the complex inter-relationship (and similarities) between drug slingers, cops, politicians and the media.
It will stand many many viewings as it is easy to miss so much the first time round. Absolutely addictive, the trouble is going back to watch other TV – even the best TV now seems predictable, stale and cliche’d in comparison.
Rating
There are a few absolutely remarkable series (often coming from HBO) but “The Wire” stands in a category of itself. It is purely and simply a masterpiece of the visual arts, rich in so many ways that structuring a comment requires an effort.
At the beginning is the concept of a serie dealing with police – mob relationships in the style that could be called absolute realism, including the broader context of the American society. Viewing this has more efficiency than reading 100 PhDs on the American urban society (and frankly – pace to PhDs’ writers – is a little bit more entertaining). This should be mandatory viewing for each candidate mayor in a big city, to enligthen the difficulty of guaranteeing security and fighting against drugs.
After this comes the script, incredibly sophisticated. Each season goes in a sligthly different direction, and this increases the global power of the serie. In each season, there are ten different intrigues, which sometimes converge according to the logic of individual behaviour and sometimes diverge again. Each character is provided with his/her own pulsions, contradictions, falls. And this is done without losing – ever – the viewer’s attention, which is a narrative miracle.
Then come the dialogs. Sharp, raw, sometimes highly cynical. The political sequences are absolutely amazing from this point of view.
Then come the settings, remarkably authentical. One needs to see how the discovery of slum houses is visually subtle (angle, light, colors, objects).
And finally come the actors. The competition in excellence between them is so tough that it is impossible to isolate one of them. One thinks about some characters long after having turned the television off. The power of the young actors is especially mesmerizing. They never overact, which must be difficult at their age and with such characters.
In conclusion, the more one sees this serie, the more one gets the impression that it will appear in the future decades as an essential stage in the history of television. Its creators can rightly feel proud.
Rating
Got this for my husband for christmas and it’s by far the best present I ever got him ( or so he bravely says).We watched the complete box set 1-5 in three weeks and enjoyed every minute of it. The first 2-3 episodes took some effort to tune into the language and accent and characters but after that it’s non stop fantasic television. At least 10 other people at work have either watched the wire or are currently watching it so it makes great water cooler conversation discussing our favourite bad boys. Am even tempted to watch it all over again as I’m suffering from withdrawal symptons. Television at it’s absolute best.
Rating
I bought this box set last month and after just finishing the final episode of season 5 i have to say its one of the greatest shows i have ever seen if not the greatest. The characters are compelling and the story could only come from lots of research. There are may times through out the series where i was shocked that this kind of corruption would happen on such a large scale but at the same time are pretty sure it does. The extra features also show an interesting look into the real world we live in and how it has influenced the show but what makes this show what it is is how it treats its audience with respect believing that we can work things out for ourselves with out being force fed the facts countless times as most other television shows. Quite simply a masterpiece that should be watched by everyone old enough to.
Rating
I got into the wire after listening to the hype and expecting very high grade stuff. It did not disappoint.
I had high expectations for anything to rival sopranos but if there is anything which edges it, it is this masterpiece.
Right from the start you have to hit the ground running in terms of being introduced to the dense culture of inner police politics and street conduct. It is more than just about a clever plot, it is very much about the interactions of the characters, the motivations and how they respond to their less than inspiring environment.
What actually makes the Wire the best show is its ability in every series to introduce a new perspective of the game and make it so relevant to the main plot that you feel that it is not only a natural evolution to the show but a necessary one.
Come around series three the scope of greatness is realised