Law & Order Criminal Intent - The First Year
List Price:
Our Price: $24.72
You Save: $35.26 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Vincent D'OnofrioBrand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-10-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Law & Order Criminal Intent - The First Year
DVD Review: Five stars just for the episodes
Summary: 5 Stars
As one less than praising reviewer commented about most positive reviewers of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, I am already biased in my review of this show, because I am a die-hard fan. And Lord Almighty, do I ever love this show. Just to get the gushing out of the way right now - it is, without a doubt, my favourite show on tv at the moment.
Unfortunately I was not lucky enough to catch Criminal Intent right from the beginning. Having seen episodes of both the original Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU, I wasn't at all interested when Law & Order: CI came to our screens in Australia. More fool me. I watched the show one night with my parents purely because there was nothing else on and I couldn't be bothered choosing a video to watch. I couldn't get over the quirky character of Goren, and found myself tuning in each week until I was well and truly hooked.
Another reviewer said it, and they were right - you either love Goren or you hate him. There is no in-between.
D'Onofrio's bizarre character got me hooked on CI, but I love it now for a much broader spectrum of things.
Criminal Intent is not the most original cop show that has ever been on TV, but it is definitely one of the most entertaining - depending on your own preferences, of course. And where the two previous Law & Order franchises have been ensemble casts, this is the first show that has relied so heavily on the performance of one actor to hold things together.
Also, from a completely personal point of view, I like the fact that Criminal Intent for the most part stays away from the courtroom. My greatest frustration with SVU was that more often than not they seemed to lose their cases once it went to court. There is no such frustration with CI. Whether or not Goren and Eames get their man (or woman), the show very rarely moves into the vicinity of courtroom drama. Consequently, 98% of the time the outcome of the show is more than satisfying.
First and foremost (naturally) there is Vincent D'Onofrio as Detective Bobby Goren. (I like to imagine that perhaps he was named after his father - `Robert Goren Jr', or something similar - because I have yet to meet any man called Robert, who prefers to be known as `Bobby')
It has been absolutely fascinating to watch the character develop over the three seasons that the show has been running. Where, in the first season, Goren was something of an enigma, in the second and third seasons we have gradually been given a look-see into his psyche. Indeed, the fact of his mother's schizophrenia and his father walking out on them when he was only a child have served to be interesting catalysts for confrontations with suspects - most particularly, the episodes with Nicole Wallace/Elizabeth Hitchens.
Goren gives me the impression of a man who, knowing his mother's condition and knowing that schizophrenia is hereditary, is constantly teetering on the brink of that same mental illness. All his quirks and odd mannerisms, his phenomenal range of knowledge and his extraordinary intelligence are all signs of a man who runs the very real risk of a complete mental and emotional breakdown.
Kathryn Erbe is absolutely brilliant as Goren's partner, Detective Alex Eames. At first glance it might appear that she is little more than a shadow to Goren's all-encompassing presence, but that couldn't be further from the truth. It is more obvious in some episodes, but throughout the show, Eames is constantly the stabiliser to Goren's eccentricities. They are such complete opposites, and yet they are a perfect match for each other.
Bobby Goren is a great cop, but that is only the case because he has Alex Eames for a partner. This was particularly obvious in the third season episodes, during which Kathryn Erbe was on maternity leave. Whilst Samantha Buck did a reasonable job, it just wasn't the same. It seemed that the character of Bishop spent most of the time trailling around behind Goren like a lost puppy, who was never quite sure of where she was supposed to be. Not that this was surprising. It was summed up quite aptly in an early episode when, after Eames had announced her surrogate pregnancy and Goren wondered who his interim partner would be, Eames commented rather blithely, 'I pity the poor soul'. Too true.
Though it isn't always made blatantly obvious, it would have to be clear to anyone who pays attention that Goren and Eames know some fairly intimate details about each other's lives. It is partly due to this that their partnership works so well. This was what was lacking in the Goren/Bishop partnership of the third season. She knew next to nothing about the man she was working with, and constantly regarded him as a difficulty to be tolerated only until she could move on to better things. He, on the other hand, found himself in a bind more than once without Eames, and sorely missing her presence.
Goren's anger and frustration at not having Eames there to counter-balance him was very real, and only showed just how good they are together. (I particularly liked it when, in a moment of frustration, Goren picked something up and threw it in anger at Eames' empty desk)
Both characters are good, but they only attain brilliance when they are together, and I think that is what really makes this show so good.
Description of Law & Order Criminal Intent - The First Year
No Description Available.Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 21-OCT-2003
Media Type: DVD
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Law & Order: The Fourth YearUniversal Studios; Release date: 2005-12-06; DVD
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The Sixth Yearby Law & Order-Special Victims Unit
LAW & ORDER; Release date: 2008-04-01; DVD
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops:
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - The Second YearMELONI,CHRISTOPHER; Release date: 2005-09-27; DVD
Best price: $22.94
Price in other shops:
Law & Order - Criminal Intent - The Premiere EpisodeNBC Universal; Release date: 2003-06-03; DVD
Best price: $2.52
Price in other shops:
Law & Order Special Victims Unit - The First YearUNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2003-10-21; DVD
Best price: $27.97
Price in other shops:
Law & Order: Criminal Intent - The Fifth YearUniversal Studios; Release date: 2010-05-18; DVD
Best price: $34.92
Price in other shops:
Law & Order Criminal Intent - The Third YearUniversal Studios; Release date: 2004-09-14; DVD
Best price: $31.93
Price in other shops:
Law & Order Criminal Intent: Season 6UNI; Release date: 2011-06-28; DVD
Best price: $35.33
Price in other shops:
Law & Order: Criminal Intent - Season FourUniversal Studios; Release date: 2009-11-24; DVD
Best price: $32.63
Price in other shops:
Law & Order Criminal Intent - The Second YearUniversal Studios; Release date: 2006-12-12; DVD
Best price: $31.54
Price in other shops: