Remember the end of THE DARK KNIGHT, when Batman/Bruce Wayne
uses the technology at the disposal of Wayne Industries to turn Gotham City into a giant surveillance device so he can find The Joker? Well,
TDK screenwriter Jonathan Nolan sure did because he takes the same basic
concept – a secret, citywide surveillance network – and expounds on it in the
new CBS vigilante action series PERSON OF INTEREST.
Co-created by Nolan and JJ Abrams (LOST, FRINGE), the show
unites two men the world thinks are dead in a battle against crimes that
haven’t happened yet. There’s Mr. Finch (LOST’s Michael Emerson), a slightly
crippled billionaire genius who created the government’s shadowy Big Brother in
the wake of 9/11. John Reese (Jim Caviezel – looking like a young, friendlier
Eric Roberts) is ex-military who has coped with the loss of a loved one by
falling off the face of the earth and seeking solace in a bottle.
A chance encounter between Reece (in full wino mode) and
some subway gang bangers lands him in the office of a detective (Taraji P.
Henson) who wants to know more about this derelict with lethal moves. Before
she can run the cup she obviously lifted for prints (ham-fistedly shown a
couple times for slower viewers), Finch’s lawyer has sprung Reese and the
journey towards the two working together is under way.
Though PERSON OF INTEREST lacks the humor and chemistry that
made FOX’s HUMAN TARGET (RIP) such a treat, the show should ably satisfy my
weekly action fix. Caviezel is slick and confident as he deals with everything from
dirty cops to a blink-and-you-miss-him William Sadler as a gun buyer; and
scenes of our hero loading a rocket launcher in the back of a cab, then coolly
hopping out to take down an SUV in the middle of Manhattan are a hoot.
PERSON isn’t groundbreaking by any stretch but if it turns
into THE EQUALIZER MEETS THE FUGITIVE for the 21st century I’m okay
with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment