| | | War Unplugged.
Features: DVD
Baghdad, Iraq 2003. Mission: unclear. Enemy: unidentified. Duration of tour: unknown. It was impossible for the Marines of the First Recon Battalion to anticipate what would occur during those first 40 days of the Iraq War as they found themselves struggling with shoddy supplies, frustrated by the chain of command and questioning the mission at every turn.Fused with camaraderie, faith and fury, Generation Kill brings you the gritty, raw and brutally honest insider's look at what has become of our comtemporary American war. Based on Evan Wright's best-selling book, and produced by David Simon and Ed Burns, two of the men who brought you the critically heralded HBO series The Wire, Generation Kill is now an equally acclaimed seven-part miniseries event from HBO Films.
"...bold, uncompromising...searingly intense." The New York Times
"Electrifying...grippingly powerful." The Washington Post
"...rewarding in its complexity. It feels real - and that realness is bracing, sad and funny in equal measures." Tim Goodman, San Francisco Chronicle
Editor's Note
This gritty, seven-part miniseries chronicles the befuddling first 40 days of the Iraq war from the perspective of the Marines' First Recon Batallion. As the soldiers journey into Baghdad, they face unclear conditions and bear the often deadly brunt of misguided bureaucratic decisions. Based on Evan Wright's best-selling book, and brought to the screen by the creators of THE WIRE--David Simon and Ed Burns--GENERATION KILL's viewpoint remains firmly fixed on the ground level; rather than proselytize the show uses its large cast and broad canvas to show war in all its visceral chaos, allowing viewers the chance to take what they can from steeping themselves in the black humor and confused terror of the experience.
| Features | Generation Kill: A Conversation With The 1st Recon Marines | | Audio Commentaries | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: Spanish Dolby Digital Stereo | | Deleted Dialogues | | Dubbed: Spanish | | Eric Ladin's Video Diaries | | Exclusive Insert Including Military Glossary, Mission Map, & More | | Featurette: Making Generation Kill | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Generation Kill - DVD Review By: Chris Barsanti - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 1/6/2009 1:44 AM | |
In their seven-part Iraq War miniseries adaptation of Evan Wright's book Generation Kill, David Simon and Ed Burns roll up a quiverful of arrows to fire off at various topics, ranging from the rampaging adrenaline of young men at war to the supreme idiocy of the invasion itself. However, the bright and gleaming theme running through most of these hard-bitten episodes has the filmmakers illustrating an age-old military maxim: Soldiers are often much more likely to be killed by the decisions of their submoronic leadership than they are by actions undertaken by the enemy....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: HBO |
| Release Date: 12/16/2008 |
| Running Time: 362 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2008 | | Catalog ID: 1000040439 | | UPC: 00883929029280 | | Number of Discs: 3 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Tulsa TV Memories 9 of 10
If as many people had seen the recent war films of the Middle East, as these movies are good and relevant, there would be a bunch of much better-informed moviegoers about what's been going on over there. Now add HBO's new 7-part miniseries, "Generation Kill" to the list...During WWII, there were numerous war films, but they gave great support to our troops over there as well as us folks back stateside wishing the war was finished although just about everyone knew it was a war that must be fought...Now, things aren't so plain and simple. Instead of pulling for Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in "Mrs. Miniver" as Nazi bombs fall on 1942 England in the first months of WWII, "Generation Kill" keeps us up to date on just how terribly NOT SUPPORTED our troops are during the first few weeks of the Invasion of Iraq in 2003..."Generation Kill" appears to have the same feel as "The Wire," another successful, long-running, critically acclaimed HBO series. "The Wire" dealt with lower-level drug cops hassling with police bureaucracy in Baltimore. It's more of the same in "Kill," except enlisted leathernecks, ordered to fight a war against Saddam's 'Iraqi terrorists,' are hassling with an upper-level military bureaucracy...Most Marines in the first episode are shown as pumped and ready for the invasion, some of them with a serious 'Bring it on!' attitude and frequent utterances laced full of all the coarse terms I ever heard while in the U.S. Army. To push that point home, the arrival of Evan Wright, the embedded Rolling Stone journalist, is given no enthusiasm whatsoever until he reveals to the platoon he once wrote for "Hustler." - Gary Chew
DVD Talk 9 of 10
Given how politically charged the debate over the Iraq War has been, making a television show that depicts the soldiers in the field without lapsing into polemics would seem like quite a challenge, but the seven-part HBO drama Generation Kill manages to do just that. The show aired earlier this year [2008], and despite being the brainchild of The Wire maestros David Simon and Ed Burns and based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Evan Wright, the series seemed to land with little hype and quiet critical applause. Hopefully now with all seven episodes being released as a 3-DVD boxed set, this excellent program will find an audience...Generation Kill starts with the beginning of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and follows the Marines in the First Recon Battalion through the early weeks of the war, up to and just beyond the taking of Baghdad...Following their massive critical success dealing with Baltimore crime in The Wire, writers/producers David Simon and Ed Burns have turned to Evan Wright's portrait of the Iraq War, Generation Kill. The seven-part series follows the course of one Marine Recon Battalion as they roll up and down the Iraqi landscape, gathering information while dealing with enemy forces and garbled messages that have trickled down the chain of command. Unrelenting and unvarnished, Generation Kill shows the harsh day-to-day of war without politicizing or imposing standard Hollywood drama. This new boxed set delivers the complete series in style, including substantial extras. Highly Recommended. - Jamie S. Rich
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