|
|||||
Product details
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding - just get beyond the first episode,
By
This review is from: The Wire : Complete HBO Season 1 [DVD] [2002] (DVD)
I watched the first episode of the Wire a few months ago and wasn't sure what to make of it and allowed the box set to gather dust on the shelf. However, while on holiday I started watching 2 or 3 episodes at a time and suddenly it had a rhythm that wasn't there before. This isn't some quick fix TV like Lost or 24, this unfolds like a novel (unsurprising as the show features writing from the likes of Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos) and rewards the viewer who follows the simple instruction on the cover of the box 'Listen Carefully'. I'm now on series 4 and it gets better and better - I envy those who haven't yet discovered this brilliant series - they have such an treat in store for them.
191 of 201 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real Art,
By
This review is from: The Wire : Complete HBO Season 1 [DVD] [2002] (DVD)
Over the last few years the quality of the US dramas have been outstanding. The shortned List -: 24, West wing, Battlestar Galactica Rome, Deadwood and of course The Sopranos.
I borrowed The Wire on the strength of this and it was very hard going at first. It had a gritty and unappealing setting(inner city Baltimore). The Pace was pendantic and there was so much street slang and police jargon, it did not seem to be going anywhere. I had not even read the reviews. I was truly going to return it. But at about the 6th or 7th episode. I began to understand the reason for the earlier seeming directionlesness.They were laying the foundations, indeed there was line I think the character Lester made about building things piece by piece till all the characters fit. I aslso began to realise what the writers had done they had created a whole universe, I simply had to see things in thier context. Now having watched all 3 Seasons on DVD. I concur with the other viewers is saying that this is truly an extraordinary piece of work, A tale of an American city taken from different perspectives as an allegory for something that is happening in the society at a more profound level. Kudos to the writers for the complexity and depth and to HBO for being so bold (as they have always been). The acting is simply seamless, you could be forgiven for thinking you are watching a documentary. The show scope is breathtaking. It has truly raised the bar on what televison can produce
91 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The greatest cop show of all time.,
By deadgehog "deadgehog" (Dukinfield) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Wire : Complete HBO Season 1 [DVD] [2002] (DVD)
The Wire was made by HBO an american cable network. By being on cable HBO avoids the censorship and popularism that makes much of the american TV that we receive bland (if polished), this has allowed it to create series of the quality of the Sopranos and Deadwood. The Wire has failed to "break out" in the way that those series have and was only shown on FX289, a little watched SKY channel, in the UK. This does The Wire a grave injustice as it is arguably superior to either of the aforementioned shows as it possesses an ensemble cast as strong as either of them with fantastic performances from Idris Elba and Andre Royo among others. However, it is in plot that The Wire surpasses any other show I can recall, most detective shows are episodic containing one or two crimes at the start of the hour that are solved in the last 5 minutes. The Wire breaks this mould following a team of detectives trying to catch Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell two dealers who control the drug trade in East Baltimore over a whole series rather than an episode. This perhaps accounts for The Wire's lack of success on TV as one missed episode means you fail to see the jigsawlike case completed and fully understand what happens. The show is also unusual in that it shifts perspective between the police, criminals and addicts and in doing so becomes more than a CSI style whodunnit, and more a show about institutions and the people within them. In short the most fantastically clever thing on telly.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|
|
|