Now I can see why the critics disliked The Prisoner. As a whole, the miniseries is pretty bad, but individually the parts aren't that bad. There are some very complex themes that I would like to do more investigation of, but the story is so hard to follow, I think it would be too much of a hassle.
It's so confusing and byzantine that you can't just focus on one thing at a time. Elements and characters are introduced at the blink of an eye, and just taken away at the same rate. I couldn't understand the significance of the doppelgänger, or even how it got there. I couldn't understand 1112 and why we should care about him. I couldn't understand what most of the things have to do with anything.
The essential plot point is that Two's comatose wife is the source of the Village. It's all in her head, but when she dies, she needs a replacement. That's where Six and 313 come in. They're the new Two and dreaming wife that create the Village. Interesting, but it would have been better if the rest of the miniseries went in this direction from the beginning instead of wasting time going around one random thing to another.
Television is made for watching one time, but Bill Gallagher made it so that only the most astute viewer would be able to truly appreciate what he made. The average viewer would have only a notion of what was going on, and certainly would not grasp the full extent of the Village and the interactions of the characters. There is simply too much emphasis on weird storytelling using awkward (innovative?) techniques that leave much to be desired.
Score: 8.6/10
Total Score: 8.0/10
Showing posts with label The Prisoner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Prisoner. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Review - The Prisoner (2009) Part 3 Anvil and Part 4 Darling
To be honest, I don't care much for The Prisoner, so I was eating and browsing the internet while watching Part 3 on my MP3 player, and as expected I didn't follow the story to the best of my ability. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that if I watch the miniseries very closely, I might like it better. If I have time, I might do that over the weekend and report my new thoughts.
There are some really excellent scenes with great acting, directing, and soundtrack, but there just isn't enough cohesion to tie together all these great scenes. The relevance is often lost as Six wakes up in his bed after something exciting happens. It makes you wonder what is real and what isn't real, but then why should I care?
It liked seeing the rest of the Village and some of it's covert operations. I know because it's a miniseries, but I would like to see an entire episode where Six just explores the place. From the inherent surrealism of the Village, I'm sure viewers could be thoroughly entertained for the entire episode.
Score: 8.4/10
There are some really excellent scenes with great acting, directing, and soundtrack, but there just isn't enough cohesion to tie together all these great scenes. The relevance is often lost as Six wakes up in his bed after something exciting happens. It makes you wonder what is real and what isn't real, but then why should I care?
It liked seeing the rest of the Village and some of it's covert operations. I know because it's a miniseries, but I would like to see an entire episode where Six just explores the place. From the inherent surrealism of the Village, I'm sure viewers could be thoroughly entertained for the entire episode.
Score: 8.4/10
Monday, November 16, 2009
Review - The Prisoner (2009) Part 1 Arrival and Part 2 Harmony
The Prisoner is imaginative, ambitious, and gorgeously shot. So why does everyone seem to dislike it? I don't think the six-part miniseries warranted all the heat from the two parts that I've seen so far, but there are still many problems with it, as with many shows on television.
I want to be brief mostly because I haven't watched the original and don't want to make myself look like an idiot. From what I've read, the new version is less crazy than the original which makes me wonder why everyone likes the original (that's what I mean when I say I don't want to make myself look like an idiot).
Several times while watching, I was wondering where the story was going. There's so many things going on from Six's (James Caviezel) past from quiting a job, to the Village where nothing is quite right, and then random sequences where something is happening and then immediately stopping. It seems like the writers or director, or whoever was in charge was trying too hard to make a mysterious tone with multiple layers. There are some scenes that are barreling ahead and then Six wakes up and everything seems to reset. Maybe that's part of The Prisoner "experience," but I'm certainly not feeling it.
The dialogue is all geared toward making the viewer think about what is real, what isn't real, society, and other mumbo jumbo. It's interesting, but to be bombarded by the same themes over and over again in different scenarios gets tedious.
Ian McKellen is great as Two who has a very human side, and a side that keeps the Village and it's citizens in line. The rest of the performances are more of less what you'd see on any random show. They aren't bad, but they aren't great either.
Score: 8.4/10
I want to be brief mostly because I haven't watched the original and don't want to make myself look like an idiot. From what I've read, the new version is less crazy than the original which makes me wonder why everyone likes the original (that's what I mean when I say I don't want to make myself look like an idiot).
Several times while watching, I was wondering where the story was going. There's so many things going on from Six's (James Caviezel) past from quiting a job, to the Village where nothing is quite right, and then random sequences where something is happening and then immediately stopping. It seems like the writers or director, or whoever was in charge was trying too hard to make a mysterious tone with multiple layers. There are some scenes that are barreling ahead and then Six wakes up and everything seems to reset. Maybe that's part of The Prisoner "experience," but I'm certainly not feeling it.
The dialogue is all geared toward making the viewer think about what is real, what isn't real, society, and other mumbo jumbo. It's interesting, but to be bombarded by the same themes over and over again in different scenarios gets tedious.
Ian McKellen is great as Two who has a very human side, and a side that keeps the Village and it's citizens in line. The rest of the performances are more of less what you'd see on any random show. They aren't bad, but they aren't great either.
Score: 8.4/10
