Wire In The Blood: Prayer Of The Bone DVD Credits:

Region: 1

Wire In The Blood: Prayer Of The Bone DVD Release Date: 4th August 2008

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Wire In The Blood: Prayer Of The Bone DVD Review:

Clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green) travels to America to give his psychological diagnosis on Darius Grady (Brad Hawkins) who is on trial for the murder of his wife and children. Hill gives his diagnosis to what seems like an open and shut case for the prosecution, but starts to investigate the crime himself when some things just are not adding up. Hill suddenly finds himself switching from assisting with the prosecution to assisting with the defense. He soon gets caught up in several conspiracies and cover-ups involving the case, including another murder and attempts at his own life.
This film is an episode from the British Television series Wire in the Blood (which has been on the air since 2002). It was not released nor aired on television until 2008, yet the DVD cover has a release date of 2007. Having never seen nor heard of the television series, it is difficult to use it as any point of comparison. From looking into the series a little more it seems that all episodes are 60-90min TV movies. The DVD features include a trailer for the seasons released on DVD introducing Hill’s supporting characters and also insinuating that what makes Hill unique is his psychic ability to “get in the head” of both the killer and the victim The theme of the show indicates he works with different serial killers each episodes. The supporting characters are absent from this episode, given that this episode takes place in Texas as opposed to England. The psychic connection to the killer and the victims is touched upon, but it seems more accurate to declare that Hill solves his cases via his investigation rather than the psychic connection. It is unknown if this is touched upon more in the TV Series or not.
Overall I thought the storyline was decent, not necessarily predictable, but not groundbreaking either. I felt it functioned the same as American crime TV shows like Law and Order, with the investigations/interviews taking up the length of the show with the audience being subjected to plot twists and several “red herrings” to try trick the audience as to who is behind the crime.
Unfortunately this episode, despite being longer than an America crime television show, seemed to all fold together to quickly at the very end just like any crime television show. If it were given a little bit more time, the ending might not have felt as rushed as it did. Another criticism I had is with the jump cuts. They seemed inappropriate and attempted to give make the episode a little more edgy. I just didn’t feel it was necessary. Also, I think they could have played up the whole “fish out of water” angle a little bit more with Hill not being used to being in America. I found it hilarious with the scenes of him entering the car from the wrong side several times and the scene where he splashed water on his face and dipped his feet in a cow trough. I felt the film could have used more humor like that.
Robson Green was great playing Dr. Tony Hill, but it helps if you’ve been playing the same character for 6 years. He was extremely believable and competent in his role. Brad Hawkins was a good choice for Darius Grady considering in a split second he could go from calmly speaking with Hill to suddenly losing control and attempting to kill him. Naima Imani Lett (Anita Anderson) kind of slept walked through her role. I also didn’t buy the attraction/teasing between her and Hill. I wish that Tom Nowicki (Lee Burrill) would have been in the film more. He reminded me of Sam Elliot and had the psychology of his character nailed down to a tee, especially when he spoke about his snakes.
The DVD extras include a trailer for the television series- that’s it.
The target audience of this episode would be fans of the television show or fans of crime television shows.

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Wire In The Blood: Prayer Of The Bone DVD review written by: Ralph Eichenlaub