Summary : Smashing Caviezel,
complementary team mates, conventional but twisted story, welcomed
guest, promising Big Brother concept, geek candy, giggling humor
Score : 8/10
As a geek and
self-proclaimed multibrokenaire I was instantly driven to the show
because of its concept and protagonist. At least before watching the
pilot I thought Michael Emerson would play this role but as the
enigmatic Mr. Finch his character is minor compared to James
Caviezel's one. The last plays a former special agent John Reese, how
original, who is hired by Finch. So at the beginning as I was
expecting that it would be mostly about the software engineer Emerson
portrays I was slightly disappointed. Indeed the actor marked TV
forever considering how much his performance as Benjamin Linus was
both dazzling and puzzling on Lost. However when I had never seen
Caviezel before his charm and bold performance quickly made Reese
grow on me. I also appreciate the fact that he has strong moral
values, if shooting bad guys in the leg can be considered one. I
worried about the inevitable procedural approach of the show, a crime
to prevent per episodes, but the pilot was such a great surprise that
I have instantly signed up for a second session.
Beside the convincing
acting, and the fact that you can't help smiling when Finch calls his
partner John (Locke), it's really the story that impressed me the
most. Indeed like in Asimov's Foundation the Machine built by Finch
can't predict everything so all he's left with are numeric
breadcrumbs. At first what tasted like an old recipe and cold meal
quickly became exciting and captivating. The lines are blurred,
twisted and wicked ! In the upcoming episodes it should make the
crimes even less predictable because the characters aren't just black
and white. Here the guest was Natalie Zea and as her performance on
Hung was bittersweet she definitely contributed to make the pilot a
success even we could have used extra minutes featuring her
character. The eternal battle of time management. An other element
that will even appeal the demanding viewer are the cultural
references. From Big Brother to 9/11 the way fiction is connected to
reality is quite interesting. Still I'm not sure about the whole
surveillance camera approach because it's far too limited considering
the device isn't plugged everywhere in the world. So I hope they'll
soon inject some irrational elements to make it fascinating or at
least more believable. Otherwise as the end was reminiscent of The
X-Files I'm almost certain they have plenty of strange ideas to fuel
the season.
That's for the substance. In
its entertainment department the series has some delightful elements.
First even if they definitely abused the camera mosaics and
surveillance footages it made the editing smoother and more dynamic.
Second Caviezel makes a believable action man with a brain. The
action scenes count is decent and well balance the investigation.
Third don't expect a Minory Report occuring in 2011 but he used a few
interesting gadgets like one to quickly break a window and an other
to listen cellphone conversations. He's not Angus MacGyver but him
and the lame leg Mr. Finch (A reference to The Usual Suspects ?)
makes a team to root for. Last but not least between two shots or
serious dialogs there're a few humorous scenes that can only make you
laugh considering how well they're subtly mixed with the main story.
I even spotted a running gag and already anticipate how much fun it's
going to be in the next episode !
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