The Wire – Season 4
Reviewer: Tom Leins
Issue 101 March 2008
(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10)
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Wiretap Scars.
The Lowdown: After three series concentrating on the Avon Barksdale/Stringer Bell narcotics empire, Season 4 changes tack with the introduction of a new drug gang muscling in on the newly vacant territory. On top of that we meet adolescents Michael, Namond, Randy and Dukie, who struggle to get a foothold in deprivation-saturated Baltimore.
Review: Critically acclaimed cop drama The Wire began its fifth series Stateside in January, and this newly released Season 4 box set lets you play catch up and get up to speed with the dealings over in West Baltimore. The Wire has long been regarded as one of the most criminally ignored masterpieces in television, but no amount of superlative-filled column inches seems to be able to redress the balance. Cop dramas don’t get much subtler than The Wire, and people seem daunted by its understated approach. Fortunately, with crime-writers like Richard Price and Dennis Lehane joining George Pelecanos and the other regular staffers for this series, the scripts are still top notch.
The show has often been panned for its underwhelming DVD releases, and Season 4 endeavours to redress the balance with more cast and crew audio commentaries than ever, and an interesting two-part HBO documentary that was screened as ‘It’s All Connected’ and ‘The Game Is Real’. Bizarrely, alongside the glowing testimonies of cast and crew there are also baffling but effusive contributions from cult bad-taste filmmaker John Waters (!), a Baltimore resident who marvels at the show’s quality. It may not be the mouth-watering DVD package that anxious fans were hoping for, but these respectable extras complement the series just fine. The Wire – Season 4 is a new beginning of sorts after the rise and fall of the Barksdale/Bell drug empire that dominated the first three seasons. Regardless, cop dramas (or any other dramas for that matter), don’t come much more intelligent than this. Impressive stuff.
FILM: 8 EXTRAS: 7
DVD Info:
Certificate: 15
Starring: Dominic West, Aidan Gillen, Lance Reddick, Wendell Pierce
Directed By: Various, 2006
Distributor: HBO
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Visuals: 4:3 Fullscreen
Running Time: 643mins
Price: £39.99
Film supplied by: Premier PR
Special Features:
Episode Selection
Audio Commentaries With Cast & Crew On Episodes ‘Boys Of Summer’, ‘Refugees’, ‘Margin Of Error’, ‘A New Day’, ‘That’s Got His Own’ & ‘Final Grades’
‘It’s All Connected’ & ‘The Game Is Real’ Two-Part Documentary
