The Wire - The Complete Fourth Season | 
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Director: Daniel Attias
Actors: Dominic West, Wendell Pierce, Sonja Sohn, Lance Reddick, Aidan Gillen
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $31.48
You Save: $28.51 (48%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  117 reviews
Sales Rank: 296
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Greek (Original Language), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 4
Running Time: 780
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.7 x 1.1
MPN: 93927
UPC: 026359392726
EAN: 0026359392726
ASIN: B000QXDJLI
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: December 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW!/SHIPS FAST!;
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Product Description
With the fall of Barksdale and the ascent of young Marlo Stanfield as West Baltimore's drug king the detail continues to "follow the money" up the political ladder in the midst of a mayoral election that pits the black incumbent Clarence Royce against an ambitious white councilman Tommy Carcetti. The theme of urban education is explored through four new characters ? Michael Lee Namond Brice Randy Wagstaff and "Dukie" Weems as they traverse adolescence in the stunted drug-saturated streets of West Baltimore. The world that awaits these boys and the American commitment to equal opportunity are depicted brilliantly in the edgy all too realistic Season 4 of The Wire.Running Time: 780 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/HBO UPC: 026359392726 Manufacturer No: 93927
Amazon.com
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 112 more reviews...
So dark.............. August 11, 2008
The fourth season of The Wire is different to the other seasons as they have gotten away from the wire tap angles and are now straight out drama.
The series exposed the problems with Baltimore's schools and the political pressures that come from dealing with the citys issues.
There is no melodrama in this series and there is no glossing over of issues. People looking for an answer can look someplace else as the series does not give answers, it just poses questions.
Great, great series.
 After three years, this season is yet another disappointment from Simon and Co. July 25, 2008
0 out of 9 found this review helpful
The Wire in its forth season suffers from both new and recurring problems from past seasons. While the forth season can be a smart docudrama with its numerous nuances of reality and the references to past seasons, it still fails to be a effective TV show; completely lacking dramatic effect. A educational drama, yes, but not great Tv show, not by a long shot.
In this latest season of HBO's The Wire, David Simon and Co. try to follow the footsteps of the past seasons into the schools and largely fail. Why?
First off, the Wire main case of the the school's ails is flawed and doesn't have the same dramatic execution of last season's legalization of drugs. Additionally the "hidden bodies" case that is exposed at the end of the season, does not match up to the great intrigue of past season's single investigations. Also, the school story is simply too complicated of a story to cover in a single TV season.
Secondly, as with the last seasons, the show never really delivers the satisfying emotional punch of a hit TV show which is sad considering this is the forth season of the show. Admittedly, dealing with kids provided plenty of heart wrenching moments, but they were far too few and between the usual babble of inner city politics and talking fare the show is notorious for.
Finally, if there was one thing I did love about the forth season of the Wire it was the new kids that single handedly carried the whole season; I just wish I loved the show nearly as much.
No Doubt! July 21, 2008
The Wire, meaning the drug lords of the ghetto get their throwaway cell phones tapped. Much like Deadwood, the revisionism of the old West, Baltimore, a microcosm of modern urban myth gets its star turn. McNaulty, Bunk, the cops and DA's on one side, dance with the defunct Barkesdale's and the emerging Marlowe gang in an embrace of odd comradeship. The young white pol, Tommy Carcetti , wins the mayoral race over the Black huckster, Royce only to get his eyes opened, the city is in chaos and he has no chance to put his idealistic ideas in play.
Over the last seasons, the drug problem in the black community is shown realistically, the young street hoppers, cash bulging in their street clothes, they end up corpses soon enough along with the zombie-like addicts. Episodes of quasi-drug legalization in Season 3 actually reduce crime, a HBO experiment that says hey folks, violence will decrease, but your junkies are going to die. Well, they are anyhow, but that's what our moral leaders cannot face.
Oh, Omar, the gay murder machine, living between hell and devastation, what greater character and acting in all of television, no doubt.
Better understadings of the ailing, dysfunctional and complicated American urban systems July 20, 2008
I stayed a little more than a year in Baltimore as a [foreign] postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins Hospital between the period of 1993-1994. Back then I just used to commute from the suburb to the campus without knowing what's happening in the inner city area as depicted in this TV show. Of course I heard about drug problems and prevalent drug-related violences as in every American urban region. When I first watched episodes of the 1st season of the Wire, I immediately realized how narrow-sided and superficial my view of the city has been. As the series went on, I became to feel that America still has hope and promises, judging based on the fact that this kind of masterpiece TV seires could be produced to illuminate people in the real world. This drama also seemed to have succeeded in revealing the broadest spectrum of African-American characters. I wonder why not-so-many American viewers watched [initially] this epic, and I think hopefully as many people in the world as possible should watch this series to appreciate the reality of human society in general.
Sopranos fan? Buy the Wire NOW June 24, 2008
This season of the Wire is writing, acting and execution at its best. The cast is absolutely incredible. The inner city is revealed, every crevice, ever shadow is wide open to the viewer. This really demonstrates the lives on inner city children, their day-to-day, how inner city kids are used by the school systems and then discarded, it also brings to light that these kids aren't any different. They are still kids, but what they are having to deal with on a daily basis would change any one of us. This series of episodes is riveting television. What was most interesting to me was also the politics of the police department and the school system. It is absolutely corrupt, at a level that I would never have suspected. This series stands with the Sopranos on every level. If you haven't seen the Wire, buy this volume and begin your journey. Each season is a complete story line, so you can begin anywhere. Believe me when I tell you after seeing this season, you will want to own them all.
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