Waz on DVD review

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Dom Robinson reviews

CoverLove doesn’t hurt. It kills.
Distributed by
Contender Entertainment GroupCoverDVD:
DVD with ‘Extreme Sleeve’:

  • Cert:
  • Cat.no: VER 51211
  • Running time: 100 minutes
  • Year: 2007
  • Pressing: 2008
  • Region(s): 2, PAL
  • Chapters: 16 plus extras
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
  • Languages: English
  • Subtitles: English
  • Widescreen: 2.35:1
  • 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
  • Macrovision: Yes
  • Disc Format: DVD 9
  • Price: £15.99
  • Extras:Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary), Interviews with Crew, Making of Feature,Online trailer, Torture Featurette, Trailers for The Escapist and Rec.
  • Vote and comment on this film:

    Director:

      Tom Shankland

    (Bait, Bubbles, The Day, Going Down, No Night is Too Long, WAZ, TV: Clocking Off, Family Business, Hearts and Bones, Jericho, Marple)

Producers:

    Allan Niblo and James Richardson

Screenplay:

    Clive Bradley

Music :

    David Julyan

Cast :

    Eddie Argo: Stellan Skarsgård
    Helen Westcott: Melissa George
    Daniel Leone: Ashley Walters
    Pierre Jackson: Tom Hardy
    Dr Gelb: Paul Kaye
    Jack Corelli: John Sharian
    Jean Lerner: Selma Blair
    Alice Jackson: Barbara Adair
    Elly Carpenter: Sally Hawkins
    Sharon Williams: Lauren Hood
    Jamal Osman: Sean Brian Jordaan
    Alison Lerner: Sheila Kerr
    Wesley Smith: Michael Liebman
    Dominic Carpenter: Joshua O’Gorman
    Capt. Maclean: Robert Philips
    Hassan Harbi: Marcus Valentine
    O’Hare: Michael Wildman
    Trucker: Peter Ballance

When I first heard about a film with the title WAZ,I thought – who’s going to see a ten-a-penny serial killer with a daft title that sounds like ‘spaz’? That was beforeI watched it and saw that the middle letter isn’t a letter it’s actually the Greek symbol ‘Delta’.

Okay, now I know you’re still none the wiser after me telling you that, so let’s begin at the beginning. Wesley Smith(Michael Liebman) is a big-time drug dealer known to all the police. His pregnant girlfriend turns up dead, andhe follows not long after, so who’s doing all the killings and giving horrendous burns to their victims? And what does theinscription ‘WAZ’ onto her stomach mean?

And given that other victims start turning up, that puts the kaybosh on the cops’ theory that it was Wes who did the nastydeed. Plus, as things go on, it turns out not to be ‘WAZ’ or even something to do with the name ‘Wes’, but the Delta symbolin the middle means something else altogether and they end up even more confused. Some light on this is thrown when there’san explanation on the Price equation and how it relates to the genetic code within creatures, as comes from laboratory animalexperimenter Dr Gelb (Paul Kaye). Still, it doesn’t provide all the answers they need to crack the case.

The key cast consists of world-weary cop Eddie (Stellan Skarsgård on fine form), breaking in his new recruit,Helen (Melissa George, looking gorgeous even in a movie more darkly lit than episodes of Neighbours now they’vestuck that unwatchable ‘film-effect’ on them). As well as trying to solve the murders and their associated torture, shealso has to deal with a stack of in-house police politics that she’d rather leave alone, including the arrogant Corelli(John Sharian).

Gang member ne’er-do-wells, who always seem to be hanging around, are led by Pierre (Tom Hardy) and Daniel (AshleyWalters), the latter of whom is a police informer for Eddie and both of them, as well as their associates are connectedby the rape of a mother and her daughter. And to mention that hasn’t even scratched the surface of just how gross this filmcan become at times, so it’s definitely not one for the faint-hearted. Also hooked up with the cast of the bad guys isjunkie Elly Carpenter, played by Sally Hawkins, in a role far removed from her performance as Ping in the wonderfulRadio 4 comedy Ed Reardon’s Week.

WAZ has a clever style in that it’s mostly filmed on handheld cameras and occasionally with in-car ones. It moves alongat a comfortable pace and the complex way in which the victims are discovered to be meeting their fate is one I won’treveal here as it’s very well done. It’s a tale of redemption, with touches of The Vanishing and Miserythrown in, but with enough of it’s own style to maintain it’s uniqueness. There are revelations I didn’t expect and eventhough it’s very gory in places, it never overdose things. Also, even though I’ve seen many films in my life, there area number of big, shocking moments in this one. Wonderful stuff. It’s only really the overly-analysed piece in the film thatrelates to the title which doesn’t quite get pulled off.

Picture quality is excellent, sometimes looking like it could be washed out but this is an effect of the filming processwhile using handheld cameras so is not a problem with the DVD. The film is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 and, given thatonly Channel 4 are currently showing such films properly, while BBC are refusing to do this on their main channels (as theMay 2008 broadcast of the Indiana Jones trilogy proved, opting to show the crappy 4:3 prints on BBC1 whereas only BBC3 viewerssaw them properly – two of them without the dreaded pink logo) and that ITV and Five have no chance of doing this properly,hopefully Channel 4 have bought this one to be broadcast as the ratio cannot be compromised.

There are brilliant surround sound effects, whether for gunshots or a moment early on as Melissa George is surrounded bycaged animals, and it’ll almost deafen you in places if you’ve got it too loud… but you don’t have the luxury of advancewarning for any of these, so… just enjoy it anyway, especially with the DTS 5.1 option.

I’m a man who likes to have the subtitles on, even though I’m not deaf, and there are times when the dialogue is deliberatelyvery quiet as the current character we’re following wouldn’t be able to hear them either, even though they can see thingsthat we can. The subtitles play a part, here, in fleshing out some of the dialogue, although occasionally they’re not quiteright so, 65 minutes in, the word “cavalry” is put in subtitles as “cowboy”.

CoverThe sleeve on the right is the ‘Extreme Sleeve’ Edition which can be bought at the Amazon link above and the extras are asfollows. None of them have subtitles and the following may contain some minor spoilers so do not read on if you haven’t seenthe film:

  • Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary) (4:16): There are a few extras on this DVD, starting with three Deleted Scenes (4:16), which are presented in 16:9 letterboxand don’t go on for long. The cropping to 16: shows the problem with people falling out of the edge of the scene, and pitypoor Michael Wildman (as cop O’Hare), who also appeared in Extras as Maggie’s temporary boyfriend in the Samuel L Jackson episode, as the first of these is the only time he got to say anything and it’s been cut out of the main film!

    The second clip is a very gruesome torture scene, and even though I have no problem with violence in films, this onedoes seem very OTT. I can understand the torturer’s motives – as you will once you see the film – but sometimes thesethings are better left implied rather than shown. The third scene last ten seconds and is totally pointless without anycontext. It’s a pain to have to watch the commentary version to understand these clips in full, rather than have a briefintro. Turns out the last one is an alternate intro, but even then there’s a comment that it’s too short as it stands.

  • Interviews with Crew (18:42): The title is explained in full by scriptwriter Clive Bradley and director Tom Shankland tells us that it’sset in New York, but mostly filmed in Belfast. Co-producer James Richardson also gets to say his piece.

    What’s really odd, is that this segment is split up into individual pieces for what is essentially a Q&A, but it’s notchaptered. Who wants to fast-forward through nearly 20 minutes of unconnected things if you don’t want to watch it all in one go?

  • Making of Feature (19:41): Like the one above, this is also broken up into several pieces. Like the one above, this is also not chaptered.However, it does feature chat from key cast members from time to time, as well as some on-set filming. However, it doesgo on longer than is necessary to convey what is required.
  • Online trailer (1:54): Presented in 2.35:1 letterbox and contains many spoilers, so don’t watch this first!
  • Torture Featurette (4:47): Gore explained in this part, and Make-up artist Tania Hodge does her best, but by mixing her speech with the on-set filmingcrew shouting at the same time totally drowns her out!
  • Trailer for The Escapist (1:36): This is prison drama with Brian Cox, Steven Mackintosh, Seu Jorge, Liam Cunningham, Joseph Fiennes and Damian Lewis. Certainlyseems worth a look. This trailer is stuck away in a separate ‘Further Attractions’ menu. Still, that’s better than the trailerfor Rec which is stuck on the disc prior to the main menu showing up in the first place. Contender, we are not stillin the age of the rental video!

The disc also contains subtitles in English, a segment of video and audio that’s in keeping with the film that repeats endlessly,and there are 16 chapters to the film, although it could use some more. Personally, I work on a count of one every five minutesas ‘adequate’.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2008.

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