Post by bobdoc on Jul 21, 2011 13:07:11 GMT -4
Although the "Person of Interest" Comic Con panel with Michael isn't until Saturday, the pilot was one of a few screening on Wednesday night before the convention opening. Here are two different reactions.
From Cinemablend at www.cinemablend.com/television/Comic-Con-2011-Preview-Night-Person-Interest-Alcatraz-Secret-Circle-Supernatural-33630.html
From Deadline, at www.deadline.com/2011/07/2011-comic-con-warner-bros-tv-pilots/
From Cinemablend at www.cinemablend.com/television/Comic-Con-2011-Preview-Night-Person-Interest-Alcatraz-Secret-Circle-Supernatural-33630.html
On paper, Person of Interest sounds like another cut and dry procedural. A wealthy man with access to vague predictions of future crimes recruits a former special forces soldier to help him solve and prevent the crimes-to-be. The pilot episode takes us through the first case, while also giving us some background information on the two lead characters and a fair introduction to their developing relationship.
There are two things that set Person of Interest above other shows like these: Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson. Both actors have proven to be top notch in their field, but together, there’s a strangely appealing dynamic. Emerson’s character has some of the smarts of Ben Linus, without the creepy. Meanwhile, Caviezel manages to work the low-talking, confident badass thing without coming off as wooden or cheesy. I don’t typically go for procedurals, but I want to see more of these two on screen, so I’ll definitely be looking out for this one when it begins airing on CBS this fall.
There are two things that set Person of Interest above other shows like these: Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson. Both actors have proven to be top notch in their field, but together, there’s a strangely appealing dynamic. Emerson’s character has some of the smarts of Ben Linus, without the creepy. Meanwhile, Caviezel manages to work the low-talking, confident badass thing without coming off as wooden or cheesy. I don’t typically go for procedurals, but I want to see more of these two on screen, so I’ll definitely be looking out for this one when it begins airing on CBS this fall.
From Deadline, at www.deadline.com/2011/07/2011-comic-con-warner-bros-tv-pilots/
Lastly came Person of Interest, starring Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson. (In all of the official info for this show, Caviezel is only ever noted as having been in The Thin Red Line – never his more recent role in The Passion of the Christ. Not surprising, just an observation.) In it, Caviezel is a former soldier and CIA agent who – after losing the woman he loved – now’s just a crazy hobo, beating the crap out of not-very-tough-looking toughs on the subway. Early in the show he’s approached by Emerson, who plays a character disappointingly similar to the one he played on Lost (he knows everything about you, but you don’t get to know too much about him), “Dr. Finch”. Dr. Finch has a job offer for the lost, directionless badass: come to work for him preventing future crime.
It seems Finch wrote a software program meant to sort through and make sense of all the data the government collects in the post-Patriot Act world (cell phone records, e-mails, images, everything); somehow, it started occasionally spitting out social security numbers of people who will be involved in a crime in the future. They might be the victim, they might be the perpetrator – there’s no way to know, only that they will be a
part of something ugly if someone doesn’t intervene first.
From the first episode, it was hard to tell what to make of the series, or what the typical show would look like. Presumably, each episode would be Caviezel and Emerson working to either save or cap the next person on their list – but the pilot is burdened with also laying the groundwork for the show’s somewhat complicated concept, making the entire first episode feel a little hurried and superficial, with too much to do in an hour. And with no big mystery to tease an audience with for years and years, ultimately the show is going to rest on how interesting they can make each week’s new victim/perp. Can they do it? This remains to be seen.
It seems Finch wrote a software program meant to sort through and make sense of all the data the government collects in the post-Patriot Act world (cell phone records, e-mails, images, everything); somehow, it started occasionally spitting out social security numbers of people who will be involved in a crime in the future. They might be the victim, they might be the perpetrator – there’s no way to know, only that they will be a
part of something ugly if someone doesn’t intervene first.
From the first episode, it was hard to tell what to make of the series, or what the typical show would look like. Presumably, each episode would be Caviezel and Emerson working to either save or cap the next person on their list – but the pilot is burdened with also laying the groundwork for the show’s somewhat complicated concept, making the entire first episode feel a little hurried and superficial, with too much to do in an hour. And with no big mystery to tease an audience with for years and years, ultimately the show is going to rest on how interesting they can make each week’s new victim/perp. Can they do it? This remains to be seen.