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 enlarge | Actors: Dominic West, Idris Elba, Michael K. Williams, Sonja Sohn
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £39.99
Buy New: £14.98
You Save: £25.01 (63%)
New (7) Used (3) from £14.75
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 30
Format: Pal
Languages: Dutch (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled), Greek (Subtitled), Hungarian (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Number Of Items: 5
Running Time: 780
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.7
EAN: 7321904825692
Release Date: February 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
The best show on TV continues October 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
With its third year, The Wire heads back to the streets and unfinished business. As with the second year, the third season opens up another dimension of the city, this time City Hall and the civil and police administration, but the focus is squarely back on the Barksdale organisation and Lt. Daniels' unit trying to bring them down and finish the job begun back in Season 1.
Season 3 opens with Avon Barksdale still inside, but his parole hearing is coming up. His friend and collaborator Stringer Bell has guided the crew through some lean times and formed a 'co-op' with several other gangs which has led to them making some serious money but at the cost of sharing each other's turf. However, a new player, Marlo Stanfield, is on the way up and is not interested in sharing his territory with anyone else. The stage is set for a series of bloody showdowns and bodies dropping on the streets, to the growing discontent of the police. Lt. Daniels and his unit are forced to drop their investigation into Bell (begun at the end of the second season) to concentrate on the war, unaware that the two are connected. This war is complicated by the re-emergence of Omar Little, who has sworn to bring down Bell for manipulating him into shooting an innocent man in the second season.
At the same time, an ambitious white city councilman, Tommy Carcetti, is planning to run for mayor, although his prospects in a city with a majority black population seem poor. Connecting these two storylines is a highly controversial initiative launched by police Major Colvin to move the drug dealers off the street corners into three abandoned city blocks where the police will turn a blind eye to their activities so they can concentrate more on murders and crime prevention elsewhere. The 'Hamsterdam' storyline, apparently inspired by the 'legalise drugs' movement, is a stunning and surprisingly even-handed piece of social commentary. There is also an ongoing subplot following the attempts of former Barksdale enforcer Dennis 'Cutty' Wise to go straight after spending fourteen years in prison.
Season 3 is tighter than the second season, as it is able to link the storylines together more effectively than the second, where the trials of the Barksdale gang were largely removed and separate from events on the docks. The new characters, both on the streets and in the city hall, are also more directly tied to the storylines that have gone before and are stronger as a result.
Thematically, the idea behind Season 3 appears to be that of failed reform. The failure of the city's drug prevention strategies encourage some radical, out-of-the-box thinking from Major Colvin. Whilst his policy is initially successful, it leads to a whole host of knock-on effects which are beyond his powers to address, and give a rather depressing impression that, indeed, no one man can make a difference to the system. The breathtaking cynicism and corruption of the political wing of the city is depicted, with Carcetti determined to reform the system from the inside, again with apparently little hope of success. Stringer Bell's attempts to reform himself and his friend Avon on his release from prison into respectable businessmen provides the season with its main narrative spine, but again does not have a happy ending. That said, there are moments of hope, with Cutty's attempts to go straight finally garnering some success and McNulty's attempts to straighten out his personal life ending on a positive note.
The ending of the season seems to be a little more definitive than the prior two, but the writers take care to leave enough loose ends untied to be pursued into the fourth year, with the candidates for mayor squaring up, several of the gang leaders still very much at large and the police unit once again finding themselves heading off in separate directions.
The Wire: Season 3 (*****) follows up on the first two by being just as dramatically intense with some superb characterisation, brilliant acting and some finely-judged moments of comedy to balance the darkness elsewhere.
back in the game August 28, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Take a close look at the cover of the season three dvd and you will notice something: Avon and Stringer, together in the same car, but looking in different directions. That tells you all you need to know about these two 'brothers' in season three of The Wire. Whilst Stringer is greasing palms to make the most of the properties they control Avon is glad to be back in the game, keeping control of the corners, and regaining his place on the street. Season three brings us back to the problem of drugs in Baltimore and one man's plan to combat the problem. Major Colvin jokes at one stage that to meet the crime reduction targets he has been set he is going to legalise drugs. But his throwaway comment isn't too far from the truth. By creating zones where a blind eye will be turned on drug dealing and use, he hopes to clean up the corners, concentrate the problem in specific areas and make it easier to target those wrongdoers when the time is right. What it allows the series to explore is the wide web that drugs cast in society, how it affects those directly involved in their production, selling, use and abuse; everyone from the kids used as lookouts to the lone elderly woman who finds herself the only resident in one of these 'free zones'.
Daniels and his now permanent detail have a much harder task to gain any useful information from a wire as the drug crews have become far more cautious about how they use phones, and with their communication in general. This means that we get to enjoy the complications of the police work again, just as in the first series, but with added layers. In fact layers are being added in all aspects of the programme allowing the series to show what TV can do better than any other medium. Given the extended time of several hour-long episodes we are seeing characters rendered in the kind of detail which is usually the reserve of the novelist. It isn't simply time that allows this, but the amazingly high standard of writing and performance. Characters aren't given vast speeches to show personality, just the right words; and the actors deliver them perfectly. Relationships within the police team and the implications of the work on their personal lives (and vice versa) create wonderful tensions. These are mirrored on the other side of the legal divide with the drug crews.
On top of all of that we have the character of the city itself. Baltimore is depicted in great detail; the various districts feel very different to one another, requiring differing approaches from the police. The interplay between politics, policing, media and residents is given great prominence in this series. Everyone is checking their back, as an air of intrigue and suspicion worthy of Shakespeare hangs over proceedings. The introduction of Aiden Gillen (another actor from this side of the water) as Tommy Corcetti, a young and ambitious council man, is significant. I just hope he relaxes into his role. His reptilian stare is right but he looks a little nervous at the moment, like he's really concentrating on getting the accent right. He's a fantastic actor though so I'm not too concerned. The skullduggery is also obvious amongst, and indeed within, the drug crews too of course and it is that increasing body count which keeps the heat on the police and the wind in the sails of this superlative series. Bring on season four.
"Adjourn your asses" May 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having watched the first three series, I would say that this one is my favourite and series 2 is my least favourite (although still worthy of five stars). Having said that, without a lot of important build up in series 2, especially within the Barksdale empire, series 3 couldn't have had the same impact. On a general note, and this applies to all the series, the viewing experience is extraordinary and I think a lot of that is down to the fact that we've been blessed with so many hours with these characters. A particular standout scene for me was when McNulty confronts D'Angelo's mother. Amazing acting, with the emotional force that only plot markers planted long before can create. Just watched the first 3 episodes of series 4, and if it stays on the same form it's going to be my favourite of all the series.
Great but Sad &True March 26, 2008
On a recent visit to one of the Caribbean islands I say a lot of kids dressed in white T-shirt and denim trousers in an area near the city wondering what it was all about only later to find out this is how the drug dealers pawns are identified. Turf control I suspect. I saw exactly the same thing here in the 3rd series. It's like reality TV. There are few honest people in this show but my gosh its the best thing you will ever watch. Have an open mind and think deep and tell me if this is not real life situations.
"This look like the dawn of a new day to you?" March 26, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
After watching the frst two seasons of The Wire (which is essential to understanding the third) I was prepared for a further excellent season with the third, what I wasn't prepared for was that this season is not only the best of the three but that it's by far the greatest season of any cop show I've ever seen.
All the series' staple characters are here, with lots more screen time for Omar and Bubbles (both sadly absent for much of season 2) as well as a more McNulty-centred plotline which grounds the season well while still managing to keep track of an extraordinary number of characters all of whom are given a great deal of depth normally so missing in modern TV police drama.
Season three concerns itself primarily with two things; firstly with an exploration of the political structure which has previously been little more than a looming malevolent presence in the background as well as the upper ranks of the police force, secondly with trying to round off some of the series' long-standing conflicts. That second point makes this by far the most dramatic season of The Wire so far.
The new characters this season are absolutely brilliant, particularly Major Colvin and ex-con Dennis. They lend an enourmous amount to the show and are magnificently acted, written with a great deal more depth than was given to the dockyard workers in season two.
Season Three of The Wire is not just the best season of the show, but is the most incredibly dramatic and powerful cop show ever made. I've yet to see season four, but if it's even half as good as this one then it should be absolutely brilliant.
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