W DELTA Z: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
New York cop Eddie Argo (Stellan Skarsgard) and his new rookie assistant Helen Westcott (Melissa George) are called out to see two horribly mutilated bodies near the docks one night. One is gang leader Jemal; the other is an electrocuted woman with W?Z carved on her pregnant belly. Eddie suspects rival gang leader and all-around crackhead Pierre Jackson (Tom Hardy), since the woman was the girlfriend of Wesley, one of Pierre's gang members. But Wesley's found slaughtered, as well as his twin brother. Only when the cops track down the anesthetic used in the executions do they hear about the Price equation from lab scientist, Dr. Gelb (Paul Kaye): in each pair of victims, one was forced to kill the other (a loved one) to stop being tortured. That's the Price equation, which begins with W?Z . . . (The title is written with the Greek letter delta - ? -has been simplified for everyday usage as WAZ.)

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Gritty and gripping, WAZ is a great feature debut by TV director Tom Shenkland, who uses the best of TV and cinema techniques in a killer combo of tension, action and psychological drama. Clive Bradley's screenplay is as tough as Se7en, despite some gaps and some lost dialogue due to an imperfect sound mix.

But Stellan Skarsgard delivers a characterisation that bulldozes over any plot weakness with a grisly, gravel voiced cop whose secret is revealed near the end to great effect. His performance and the production design make this a dark blend of film noir and thriller with horror elements, based on a revenge motif. New York never looked more menacing and sleazy, the cops never seemed so callous and the crims never so evil. Yet the film is never stereotypical and the story has enough bells and whistles to keep thriller fans glued.

Selma Blair has a pivotal role, even though she doesn't appear until well into the second half, and she manages to use her on-screen likeability to create assort of melancholy character whose revenge scheme is both bloody and bold. She invokes the geniality of the reluctant killer with chilling ease.

Aussie actress Melissa George excels as the rookie detective who may be new but stupid she ain't. Morten Soborg's cinematography shows how you can shoot night scenes and dark interiors without losing cinematic grip, and the score is insidiously effective. It's a film worth buying on DVD because you'll want to see it more than once.

Published October 16, 2008