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 before
I 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, and
he follows not long after, so who's doing all the killings and giving horrendous burns to their victims? And what does the
inscription '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 nasty
deed. Plus, as things go on, it turns out not to be 'WAZ' or even something to do with the name 'Wes', but the Delta symbol
in the middle means something else altogether and they end up even more confused. Some light on this is thrown when there's
an explanation on the Price equation and how it relates to the genetic code within creatures, as comes from laboratory animal
experimenter 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've
stuck that unwatchable 'film-effect' on them). As well as trying to solve the murders and their associated torture, she
also 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 (Ashley
Walters), the latter of whom is a police informer for Eddie and both of them, as well as their associates are connected
by the rape of a mother and her daughter. And to mention that hasn't even scratched the surface of just how gross this film
can become at times, so it's definitely not one for the faint-hearted. Also hooked up with the cast of the bad guys is
junkie Elly Carpenter, played by Sally Hawkins, in a role far removed from her performance as Ping in the wonderful
Radio 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 along
at a comfortable pace and the complex way in which the victims are discovered to be meeting their fate is one I won't
reveal here as it's very well done. It's a tale of redemption, with touches of The Vanishing and Misery
thrown in, but with enough of it's own style to maintain it's uniqueness. There are revelations I didn't expect and even
though it's very gory in places, it never overdose things. Also, even though I've seen many films in my life, there are
a number of big, shocking moments in this one. Wonderful stuff. It's only really the overly-analysed piece in the film that
relates 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 process
while using handheld cameras so is not a problem with the DVD. The film is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 and, given that
only Channel 4 are currently showing such films properly, while BBC are refusing to do this on their main channels (as the
May 2008 broadcast of the Indiana Jones trilogy proved, opting to show the crappy 4:3 prints on BBC1 whereas only BBC3 viewers
saw 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 by
caged animals, and it'll almost deafen you in places if you've got it too loud... but you don't have the luxury of advance
warning 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 deliberately
very quiet as the current character we're following wouldn't be able to hear them either, even though they can see things
that we can. The subtitles play a part, here, in fleshing out some of the dialogue, although occasionally they're not quite
right so, 65 minutes in, the word "cavalry" is put in subtitles as "cowboy".
The sleeve on the right is the 'Extreme Sleeve' Edition which can be bought at the Amazon link above and the extras are as
follows. None of them have subtitles and the following may contain some minor spoilers so do not read on if you haven't seen
the 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 letterbox
and don't go on for long. The cropping to 16: shows the problem with people falling out of the edge of the scene, and pity
poor 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 one
does seem very OTT. I can understand the torturer's motives - as you will once you see the film - but sometimes these
things are better left implied rather than shown. The third scene last ten seconds and is totally pointless without any
context. It's a pain to have to watch the commentary version to understand these clips in full, rather than have a brief
intro. 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's
set 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 not
chaptered. 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 does
go 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 filming
crew 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. Certainly
seems worth a look. This trailer is stuck away in a separate 'Further Attractions' menu. Still, that's better than the trailer
for Rec which is stuck on the disc prior to the main menu showing up in the first place. Contender, we are not still
in 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 minutes
as 'adequate'.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
The sleeve on the right is the 'Extreme Sleeve' Edition which can be bought at the Amazon link above and the extras are as
follows. None of them have subtitles and the following may contain some minor spoilers so do not read on if you haven't seen
the film:
DVD: 
