Product description

The Wire: Complete HBO Season 4

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Binding : DVD
EAN : 7321902173429
Label : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Release date : 2008-03-10
Title : The Wire: Complete HBO Season 4
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : PAL
Languages : Array
Number of items : 5
Region code : 2
Running time : 749
Studio : Warner Home Video

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Even if you missed the first three seasons (the character guides and thorough episode recaps on HBO's website are recommended), and with only one season left, it's not too late to get in under The Wire. In fact, season 4 is an accessible introduction for those who know The Wire only by its street cred as arguably the very best show on television. For them especially, this season will be, as befitting its theme, a real education. Without resorting to melodramatics that other ratings-challenged series employ to gain that frustratingly elusive audience, The Wire shakes things up this season in a way that is true to the series and its characters. A major character, Dominic West's McNulty, plays a minor role as a contented street cop and family man, while a former supporting player, Jim True-Frost's Roland Pryzbylewski, goes to the head of the class as a new eighth grade teacher at beleaguered Edward Tilghman Middle School. It may take a couple of episodes to orient yourself to the Baltimore backrooms, squad rooms, classrooms, and street corners where The Wire's intense dramas play out, and new viewers may miss something in character nuance, but they will easily grasp the big picture. A politically motivated shake-up sends Major Crimes detectives Freamon (Clarke Peters) and Greggs (Sonja Sohn) to Homicide. The gloves come off in the mayoral race between black incumbent Clarence Royce (Glynn Turman) and idealistic white challenger Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen). Gang leader Marlo (Jamie Hector) quietly and deliberately becomes the city's new drug kingpin, managing to subvert all surveillance efforts. Meanwhile, while "Prez" tries to reach his students, four highly at-risk kids will be drawn into the drug trade.

Mere synopsis does not do The Wire justice. The series deftly juggles its myriad storylines and characters, all of whom make an impression, from Marlo's cold-blooded enforcers, Snoop (Felicia Pearson) and Chris (Gbenga Akinnagbe), to boxing instructor "Cutty" (Chad L. Coleman), determined to keep his young charges off the corners. There is not a false note in the performances or the writing. Richard Price (Clockers) and Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) again contributed episodes. That this series has only been nominated for only one Emmy (for writing) is a travesty. As engrossing as the finest novels and in a class by itself, this isn't television; it's The Wire. --Donald Liebenson

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-10-08 rating:

"Omar comin'!"
In the opening scene of the first episode, the most terrifying female villain on TV, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson is listening to a hardware store clerk explaining the advantages of buying a high calibre nail gun. The Wire being The Wire, you just know she won't be using it for any home improvement. And so begins another audacious season of the finest drama on the box, this time with the emphasis on Baltimore's failing educational system.

Disgraced ex-cop "Prez" features highly in his new role as a high school maths teacher trying his best to reach students who have no interest in anything outside corner life and earning a quick dollar slingin'. McNulty is back on the beat and off the drink whilst Kima, Bunk and Freamon work homicides when the major crimes unit wire taps are no longer renewed. Thomas Carcetti learns some harsh lessons in Baltimore politics and Daniels continues to move up the ladder. On the street, youngster Marlo Stanfield has taken over the drug corners of West Baltimore after the collapse of the Barksdale organization. Lots of rival dealers are missing but the police have no bodies on their hands. On the East side, Proposition Joe, new right hand man "Slim" Charles and the co-op are eager to get Marlo onside to take advantage of his real estate. Doing his own thing as usual, Omar and new protege Reynaldo tire of robbing small time dealers and decide to go after some of the big boys.

It's a testament to David Simon's skills as a writer that each highly complex series of the wire has continued to be so brilliant. The emphasis shifts to a different aspect of Baltimore's troubled criminal justice system each time and in season 4 we see the familiar themes of political one-upmanship, back stabbing and frustration within the same high school that educates the new generation of gangsters and slingers. As a teacher myself, I was very pleased to see the amount of research that had obviously gone into making Prez's experiences realistic. A lot of the problems he faces with his disaffected students are right on the money and the shows authenticity is what makes it so great. That as well as the writing and acting. I once read a review of The Wire in which it was described as "the greatest novel never written" which is a good way of looking at it. You can't just tune in and watch the odd episode, it's all or nothing. The story is so ambitious from season 1 to the end of season 5 that it's probably best to buy the whole lot on DVD and take a week off work. The sheer number of well written characters is phenomenal and the quality never dips in season 4. It is pretty heavy going at times and several characters meet their end but the final episode sets up nicely for the fifth and final season.

Like this? Try: The Wire: Seasons 1-3

review by: date: 2008-09-25 rating:

miss it and miss out
I never thought a series about drug dealers could have me hooked, but laced with politics, the police system and characters like Freeman, Bunk, Marlo, damn every character is addictive. I sat in a cinema watching Batman but longed to get home to watch The Wire. In fact, The Wire is the only filmatic experience worthy of a new six-star rating. I won't spoil it for others but there are characters I came to love in series 1-3, but the beauty of The Wire is that any character can take the limelight. Having invested over 40 hours to the series, the in jokes were appreciated, every Omar scene is a classic and there is one involving a satin dressing gown which was a satifying fix. But the four young actors who are introduced in series four were strong, sensitive, and believable. The Wire will have you debating with the screen, blowing out friends, laughing, damn I nearly called up my old secondary school to get this on the curriculum. Get it, your life will improve.

review by: laurence_p_williams date: 2008-09-23 rating:

The Bar is raised even higher - Magnificent TV Drama
Anyone who has seen previous Seasons may not have thought it possible, but Season 4 of 'The Wire' has raised the bar even higher in terms of quality viewing.

It continues to be an excellent drama which is gritty, involving and believable - but this time the storyline is expanded to areas rarely covered in ANY TV series before....

*** My review of this programme is again intentionally vague about the story as I don't want to spoil things for first-time viewers !

As is the norm, the story follows-on from previous seasons to cover a multi-layered plot surrounding a specific group of drug-dealing criminals, and the detectives within the Baltimore Police Department who are trying to catch them in the act and bring down their operation. Therefore, to fully understand developments you have to be familiar with the main characters and (more importantly) the internal politics and general plot played-out earlier.

A new branch of the drug-dealing empire takes centre stage and includes several significant characters, some of whom are surprisingly ruthless and extremely unpleasant; the body count reaches new heights in this season and some of the murders are really quite gruesome. Police operations continue, but are less concentrated, with the lead-character (McNulty) from earlier seasons barely getting a look in this time. They are really playing catch-up against a typically 'professional' crime organisation.

However, things really focus on school life and the city mayoral election fight. These 'new' areas of coverage not only open fresh storylines (including corruption, scandal and difficult working practices) but also allow the lives and influences of new and existing characters to be depicted in a more varied way.

Internal feuding and politics appear in ALL areas and are the real driving force behind plot developments. This season is very 'dark' and frustrations within the educational system, police force and political world come to the fore. The mayoral race gets dirty, revealing the worst side of all those involved....

The familiar coverage of individual strife (featuring many familiar characters) continues to present an overall picture of despair and there are few moments of encouragement for those hoping that Baltimore is getting 'cleaned-up'; nevertheless, it remains compulsive viewing.

The series trademarks of an excellent screenplay and an (EVEN better than before !) stock of actors, many of whom are juveniles, strengthens the desire to watch the next Season (which I have already seen) further still.

The Season continues to be filmed on location (even including those scenes which are indoors). The lack of an accompanying music soundtrack also remains a theme of the production (which contributes to the feeling of reality).

If you've already seen Seasons 1-3 (and you should have really) you might, like me, not have found the need for subtitles this time - but I must say that understanding everything that characters such as the chilling 'Snoop' (who I didn't immediately realise was a girl !) was quite a challenge....

review by: justwilliamsluck.blogspot.com date: 2008-08-31 rating:

education, education, education.
Well, season four has completely blown me away. Building on the achievements of the previous three seasons it adds a new dimension which you might say was previously lacking: genuine emotional involvement. As I've said before the writing and the detail contained within it had made us interested in the characters and to care about them too. But by focusing on the education system, and a group of eighth graders in particular, it forces us to really worry about a group of children growing up in a city which has already shown that for some people the only opportunities available are different ways to ruin your life.

A hotly contested mayoral election is the main event in Baltimore.Tommy Carcetti may be the wrong colour to be mayor but by speaking to the right people and genuinely trying to engage with the voters he puts himself in a real position to challenge that. Aiden Gillen, looking immediately more comfortable in his role this series, shows with lip-smacking relish the contortions necessary to move ahead politically in a town with a black majority. Spin, sleaze and backhanders abound. It's a bit like here in England. For the police meanwhile, with Barksdale back inside, Marlo Stanfield is the target and the question that plagues them is how he has managed to wrest so much control of the corners without stacking up bodies. Stanfield's two enforcers, Chris and Snoop, are genuinely frightening with their cold detachment and in much the same way as Javier Bardem terrorised those he met in 'No Country For Old Men' whilst carrying a pneumatic cattle gun, they stalk anonymously through the vacant houses armed with a nail gun and a tub of lime.

Jimmy McNulty is almost entirely absent from the series (maybe Dominic West was busy doing one of his theatre jobs in the UK) which is a bit of a shame. Even in the scenes he is in he is a changed man, on the wagon and working hard to be a family man. Bunk keeps us going with his inimitable wisdom but the focus of this series really is with the children. Prez and Colvin having both left the police department are working in the school system; Prez as a teacher and Colvin working with a special group of corner kids to find the way to integrate them back into the classroom. It is a rude awakening for both of them and for us as viewers too. Lt. Daniels later says that he 'had a good education now that I think on it'. I found myself very grateful for mine as I watched these children struggle.It isn't just within the school system that we see the importance of mentoring and nurture. On the street the entrepreneurial Bubbles is trying to help a young boy himself, but there's a reason why they call it the school of hard knocks.

As I've said, it really is all about the children, and the four main actors (pictured above) are a credit to the series. Each have their own problems and seem to be following a trajectory. As a viewer I found myself desperately trying to change the course of that trajectory by thought alone, like a horror movie fan screaming 'don't go back into the house'. I really cared, and that is due largely to the performances. It isn't that these children are innocent and deserve our protection; it's precisely because they aren't innocent and yet still deserve our help and protection that shows the maturity of this series. I've barely scratched the surface here, you'll just have to watch it and educate yourself.

review by: Carly Brant date: 2008-07-20 rating:

outstanding! 6 stars
Quite simply the finest drama I have ever seen, I thought series 3 could not get any better but the writers/cast proved me wrong. If I could give it six stars I would. I have never felt so involved in a series before, my only complaint is I watched it too quickly.

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