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The Shield - Season 1 [2002]
![The Shield - Season 1 [2002]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4128FPWKZAL._SL160_.jpg)
The series invites viewers to form their own judgments regarding Mackey's volatile behaviour, which includes killing an undercover cop in the electrifying pilot episode. While each episode stands alone, the arc of the series incorporates Aceveda's campaign to end Mackey's career, the self-loathing of a homosexual rookie (Michael Jace) whose partner (Catherine Dent) is Mackey's occasional mistress, a straight-laced detective (Jay Karnes) yearning for respect, Mackey's compassionate attempt to rehabilitate a crack whore (Jamie Brown, giving the season's finest guest performance), the autism of Mackey's young son and the recklessness of his closest partner (Walton Goggins) and the vigilant stoicism of Det. Wyms (CCH Pounder), who's as sensibly upright as Mackey is corrupted. The Shield is excellent TV for those who can grasp its complexities; all others beware. --Jeff Shannon
RRP: £34.99
Our Price: £8.41 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Teeming with gang-bangers, perverts, rapists and killers, The Shield is unabashedly adult TV drama; and even liberal viewers may flinch at plots involving child pornography and serial murder. The first series of this uncompromising police drama focuses on pugnacious detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), whose amoral Strike Team employs dubious tactics in the crime-ridden (and fictional) Farmington district of Los Angeles. Mackey and his maverick partners are at odds with seasoned detectives and beat cops, escalating tensions with precinct Captain Aceveda (Benito Martinez), a Latino with flexible scruples and a political agenda.
The tv equivalent of a good airport holiday book
Review date: 2008-06-26 Rating: 6 out of 10
I started watching The Shield since it was on the shelf in my library. At first I thought Vic Mackey was just a poor man's Grant Mitchell, not that I think much of Grant Mitchell. The filming also seemed horrible, meant to be in the style of independent films and also to make it seem more real, like a fly on the wall documentary. To me it just seemed amateurish (like many independent films).
However the supporting actors were believable and likeable and the stories were interesting and gradually I got drawn in to the series and quite enjoyed it. I still think the strike team are a bit naff but they work ok in the piece and the series as a whole is worth a watch. 3.5 stars less .5 for the camerawork.
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Reviews
THE BEST EVER ON TV
Review date: 2008-06-20 Rating: 10 out of 10
Nothing ever made - be it for TV or the big screen - is as intensive, realistic and brilliant as this cop show. Michael Chiklis's character even make Dirty Harry look like a whimp. Most of his actions are highly illegal - sometimes even just as bad as the criminals he tracks down. And still you can root for this character. Each episode contributes to the storyline, there are no "senseless" episodes as in other series. In fact every episode is crucial even for all the other seasons. All the characters can easily compete with Oscar-winning Hollywood stars. The stories are simply brilliant and well thought-through. There is so much happening, the Strike Team is targeted from all sides, giving the show a unique atmosphere and more suspense than anything I have seen before. THE BEST YOU CAN BUY ON DVD.
Low Budget TV show
Review date: 2008-06-15 Rating: 8 out of 10
The Shield and its main character Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis from Miami Vice season 5) shows the dark, seedy underbelly of police work in a multi-ethnic district of Los Angeles. The show uses the real-life, scandal of the LAPD's Rampart Division and runs with it. Instead of South Central, the show primarily uses the fictional LA district of Farmington as their base of operation. It is an area rife with gang activity, violence and drug-dealing and prostitution. There's also the racial divisions between the Latino and black communities always in danger of bursting into open violence.
Through all this lies Vic Mackey and his Rampart-like Strike Team. Right from the pilot episode we see that Vic and his men are the true power in Farmington as they try to hold the peace between rival gangs and drug dealers. The Strike Team's intentions are noble, but they've also become so much a part of the problem that they do not see their amoral and corrupt tactics as anything bad. They see things in their district on the verge of anarchy and decided that the only way to save it is to use any means necessary.
The Shield pushes the boundaries of basic TV shows and teeters right over the edge. All the episodes are well-written with stories and topics seemingly ripped from the headlines. The first season runs the gamut from police corruption, child pornography, rapes, murders, gang violence and cop-killing. These stories are not doen with the aim of titillation and gratuitous violence and sex just for its sake. Ryan and company create the stories to show that all the news of downtrodden neighborhoods and Wild West-styled policing are all too real and can be ignored.
The ensemble cast surrounding Michael Chiklis also needs to be commended for keeping the gritty and realistic tone of the show from ever becoming over-the-top and sensationalist.
I can't say enough about The Shield to convey how good a show it is. The show doesn't pull its punches in dealing with its characters and its controversial topics. Instead Shawn Ryan and his actors infuses the show with realistic grit and uncompromised storytelling. A new series usually grows on me overtime as the early episodes tries to find the show's personality, but the pilot and its shocking cop-killing by a major character hooked me from the start and I have been a loyal devotee of Vic and his Strike Team. The Shield and Vic Mackey have become the Dirty Harry of the new millenium.
24 this ain't!!!!!
Review date: 2008-05-11 Rating: 2 out of 10
Total pants!!!!! I was really disappointed with The Shield, I couldn't even finish watching the first episode of the first series! If you like 24, prison break, spooks, you really won't like this! The main character is no Jack Bauer, he's just annoying. I bought this after reading the good reviews and seeing the ratings, but I really wished I hadn't taken a gamble and wasted my money. I can't get over enough how bad it really is. I would have given it a zero but the rating doesn't seem to go that low!
Gritty realism..my ass.
Review date: 2008-04-20 Rating: 2 out of 10
Guys you are blowing this show out of all proportion. Having read all the good reviews and being a fan of good cop dramas I decided I had to get the first series. It is incredibly disappointing. The acting is so bad that it is laughable at times. It's so wooden and quite frankly I have no desire to see Chiklis strutting around in skin tight t shirts. The interrogations are absurd and the writing weak. I can't even think of a memorable line from the whole first series. I would allow for the poor script if there was some good action scenes but even that is at a minimum. To compare this to The Wire is almost blasphemy. Guys, if you want good thriller action get 24 or if you want the best characterised drama on TV get the Wire but you're not missing anything with The Shield.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Michael Jace
C.C.H. Pounder
Catherine Dent
Benito Martinez
Michael Chiklis
Recording label: Columbia Tri-Star Home Video
Manufacturer: Columbia Tri-Star Home Video
EAN: 5035822119819
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 4
Format: Box set, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2003-07-21
Number of discs: 4
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 575 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2002-03-12
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)