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| Wed May 21, 2008 Intelligence, Season One -- Acorn Releases | |
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / Scripps Howard News Service (Wire) May 1, 2008 Intelligence
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08122/878030-120.stm
'Intelligence' 4 stars = Outstanding Ratings explained
The underworld is a dangerous yet intriguing labyrinth. Most of us would rather observe the dark doings of that realm from the safety of our living rooms. Canadian writer Chris Haddock's "Intelligence: Sex, Drugs & Spies, Season One" (Acorn Media, $59.99) lets us do that. Featuring relistic writing and precise acting, the pilot was first broadcast on the CBC in 2005. In 2006, when regular weekly broadcasts began, "Intelligence" was nominated for 16 Gemini Awards, Canada's Emmy equivalent. The show explores the life of a fictional marijuana dealer, Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey). Reardon, a third-generation crime boss, owns a Vancouver strip joint and an international shipping business. But he is actually a likeable guy and a loving father to boot. The other major player is Mary Spalding (Klea Scott, "Millennium"), the lonely but ambitious and brilliant head of the Vancouver Organized Crime Unit. As she positions herself to move up, she is forced to play cat-and-mouse with Ted Altman (Matt Frewer, "Max Headroom"), her conniving second in command. When Reardon and Spalding strike an alliance to share information, writer Haddock skillfully reaches in and examines their prickly union. A veritable edge-of-the-seat chess match results. Rough street talk, racy strip club scenes, allusions to sexual trysts and lots and lots of alcohol drinking and dope snorting make "Intelligence" quite gritty. Overall, however, the four-DVD set is worth the 60 bucks.-- M.T.
MSN Entertainment April 29, 2008 Intelligence
*Lead Review with box art and image Link: http://tv.msn.com/new-on-dvd/tv/
New on DVD: TV
To say that Chris Haddock's Canadian TV series "Intelligence" is as good as any American crime show is unfair to Haddock. It's better, smarter and more sophisticated than its American counterparts, more clever in its tangle of narratives and less showy in a visual style. Set in the shipping hub of Vancouver, British Columbia (the home of Haddock's previous series, "Da Vinci's Inquest"), "Intelligence" is a domestic espionage show about the groundwork of intelligence agents after the kind of international crime that Jack Bauer is too busy to bother with: gun running, drug smuggling, human trafficking. It's also about the working of local crime with international reach, in particular Vancouver crime boss and marijuana smuggler Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey, of "Da Vinci's Inquest"), who plays informant for the ambitious head of the Organized Crime Unit, Mary Spalding (Klea Scott) in a quid pro quo exchange of information. Mary is making a play to step up to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and discovers more intrigue inside the office than on the streets: What she thinks is a mere leak turns out to be a sieve. This is more "The Wire" than "24," admittedly not as ambitious or sprawling or dense with characters and stories, but just as methodical and full of shades of gray and levels of compromise on both sides of the law. The tricky symbiotic relationship between Jimmy and Mary centers it all. John Cassini is Jimmy's loyal partner, Bernie Coulson his screwup brother who actually gets smarter and more focused through the season, and Matt Frewer is a rogue Organized Crime Unit officer who conspires against Mary and helps the CIA target Jimmy. Features the two-hour pilot film and the 13 regular episodes of the first season in a box set of four discs in four thinpak cases. The season ends on a fabulous cliffhanger, but fear not: The show's second season completed its run on Canadian TV earlier this season. Also features 13 "Behind the Scenes" promotional featurettes, which all run about or under two minutes, and text-only character bios of the major players, a Chris Haddock bio and cast filmographies.
The Boston Globe April 27, 2008 Intelligence
Link: http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2008/04/26/dvd_report/?page=full
DVD Report
Excerpt
"INTELLIGENCE": SEASON ONE (2005-07) Canadian TV's answer to dual-perspective fare like "The Wire" is decently crafted, although you'll easily take greatest interest in familiar face Matt Frewer ("Max Headroom") playing a morally squirrelly police op. His boss, he grouses, is "too soft" on nasty Vancouver crime. (Again, who knew?) From the creator of "Da Vinci's Inquest."
Extras: Behind-the-scenes clips. (Acorn Media, $59.99) Capsules are written by Tom Russo
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) April 27, 2008 Intelligence
By Chris Ball Plain Dealer Reporter
Intelligence Matt Frewer Acorn Media
Fans of HBO's "The Wire" will connect with this smart Canadian crime series. It shows the nasty business behind both sides of the badge in Vancouver. Cops and crooks scramble to get ahead by making deals and trading information. Mobster Jimmy Reardon has his hands full keeping his expanding operations from imploding. Mary Spalding, the ambitious head of the city's Organized Crime Unit, needs more informants. They form an uneasy alliance that threatens to bring them both down. This four-disc set of the first season (2006-07) is 14 episodes, 676 minutes.
Metro Newspapers (Silicon Valley) April 30, 2008 Intelligence
Link: http://www.metroactive.com/metro/04.30.08/dvd-intelligence-0818.html
Intelligence, Season One Four discs; Acorn Media; $59.99 By Michael S. Gant
In the 14 episodes of the first season (2006--07) of the Canadian drama Intelligence, big-time drug dealer Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey) makes a deal with Mary Spalding (Klea Scott), the head of the Organized Crime Unit in Vancouver. They both needs tips that can help them keep their positions of authority. Backbiting abounds on both sides of the law. Jimmy's enemies range from home-grown bikers known as the Disciples to a weed-wholesaling Vietnamese gang; Mary's promotion to a national position in the intelligence services is threatened by conniving supervisors and two-timing underlings. But through it all, a refreshing Canadian sense of good manners restrains the bloodier urges. When Jimmy learns that two lower-rung flunkies have screwed the pooch, he doesn't have them killed---he asks for a lie-detector test, just to be sure that they really are guilty. For that matter, the police and government types behave much worse than the criminals, even striking under-the-table deals with the American CIA and DEA, the sin of sins. The action is brisk if occasionally baffling; no one, but no one, can be trusted, which makes paying close attention essential. Tracey makes for a sympathetic, overstressed crook, with a psycho ex-wife, a legitimate lumber business to run, a dim-bulb brother who makes Bob and Doug McKenzie of SCTV's "Great White North" skit look like McNeil and Lehrer, and squabbling pole dancers in need of placating at his nightclub. Matt Frewer, who played that original avatar of the Internet, Max Headroom, puts his skeletal cranium and thin lips to good use as Mary's main bureaucratic Iago. There are some extras about the characters and making of the show.
Bangor Daily News (ME) April 26, 2008 Intelligence
Link: http://bangornews.com/news/t/lifestyle.aspx?articleid=163512&zoneid=41
DVD Corner: "Intelligence: Season One" - This accomplished Canadian police drama boasts that "information is the most addictive drug of all." And the series is determined to prove it, too, in episodes that mainline a combination of sex, crime bosses, sleazy thugs, Russian pole dancers, cocaine-addicted mothers and corrupt officials all creating havoc in the shallow end of Vancouver's gene pool. The series' key players are Ian Tracey's Jimmy Reardon, a loving father and devoted drug smuggler, and Klea Scott's ambitious Mary Spalding, who leads Vancouver's Organized Crime Unit but who longs to be much more than that. Together, these two join forces in dangerous ways meant to advance their careers, but at what cost? In this case, it's worth finding out. Grade: B
Tribune Media Services April 27, 2008 Intelligence
The Video Den By JAY BOBBIN
INTELLIGENCE, SEASON ONE: A drug smuggler and a police official (Ian Tracey, Klea Scott) team up to help each other through the sharing of information. ***
Tahoe World April 28, 2008 Intelligence
Link: http://www.tahoe-world.com/content/view/11228/62/
Lisa Miller
INTELLIGENCE: SEX, DRUGS AND SPIES (2006) * * * Created by Chris Haddock Starring Ian Tracey, Klea Scott Acorn Media/Not Rated/Drama/676 min Set in Vancouver, this spy-versus-spy-versus-drug-dealers crime drama examines the inner workings of intelligence gathering. Mary Spalding (Scott), a black woman clawing her way to the top of the Canadian spy network, schemes to expose her morally bankrupt coworkers while obtaining impressive field intelligence. To make important busts, Spalding relies on information provided by crime boss, Jimmy Reardon (Ian Tracey). In exchange, Spalding allows Reardon to operate freely. The pair's personal relationships are a quagmire of disillusionment. There are custody battles with drug abusing exes and philandering spouses. Each gains an advantage thanks to cooperation from the other, further strengthening their alliance. Creator Chris Haddock scripts Reardon as having a firm moral compass while Spalding is more calculating. 4-Disc DVD Box Set features: Behind-The-Scenes featurette, Text Galleries: Character Descriptions, Filmographies, DD English language track(s), widescreen.
Intelligence, Season One Blogger News Network http://www.bloggernews.net/115388 Review: "The characters are wonderful, the acting is superb...Intelligence is smart and snappy."
Hampton Roads.com / Virginian Pilot Online Review: "Best extra: The "Behind the Scenes" featurette segment "Directed by Ian Tracey" is a cool, stylized segment"
British American TV DVD Blog Review: "I liked the first season. Gritty, but not for children. Well done! Looking forward to Season 2!"
Exclusive Magazine http://www.annecarlini.com/ex_dvd.php?id=3681 Review: "The show is highly informative, it's educational, and it's entertaining."
IGN DIGIGODS! Podcast On iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=215819498 Review
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