Am I The Only Person On The Internet Who Thought AMC's The Prisoner Was Amazing?
I'm a guy who thinks 99.9% of television is shit, but HOLY SHIT THE PRISONER WAS AMAZING. I've read a countable number of reviews for AMC's remake of cult-hit The Prisoner, and no one seems to think it was absolutely amazing for some reason. I thought it was pretty absolutely amazing. Maybe it helps that I've never watched much of the original and the few references I did get were actually just things I remember from The Prisoner episode of The Simpsons. You may or may not remember it, because it was during that weird transition between brilliant Simpsons and horrible Simpsons, but ANYWAY, I feel like that let me just watch the remake instead of watching it and constantly comparing it to the original. I've finished all six-ish hours of it now and I can say that, if you haven't watched it yet, you should stop reading this and go watch it now. Also if you're bored. Stop reading this if you're bored.
Coming Up In This Blog Post: "He's doing it wrong."
If you stuck around, The Prisoner on AMC is amazing. Not only is it a perfectly acceptable mindfuck to watch while LOST is on hiatus, but it is 99% beautifully done. The missing 1% is the fact that Jesus Caveziel's performance makes him look like he's acting and if an actor looks like he's acting, then he's doing it wrong. But, you know... he does okay.
Coming Up In This Blog Post: "Also, whoever edited this is a genius."
Everything else? Amazing. It's creepy, it's intriguing, it's confusing, it looks beautiful, all of the other performances are great (Ian McKellan is as good as you think, only better), and the dialogue and art direction hit on themes and symbols and tones and ideas that actually mean 9 different things at once. It's all very good, and I'm being specifically vague with all this because you should just go watch it. I don't want to ruin anything for you because the ending is satisfying and really cool, and you should just enjoy it. They do kind of hit you over the head with it in an "All the people who need this level of explanation stopped watching the show five hours ago" sort of way, but it's just the last few seconds and it's probably not as bad as I think it is.
Coming Up In This Blog Post: "... and this is to justify the third Coming Up In This Blog Post."
Watch AMC's The Prisoner because it's amazing, and be glad you didn't watch it when it originally aired earlier this week on AMC. Every single time it went to commercial, there would be 2-10 seconds of "Coming Up On The Prisoner," and they would show clips from scenes of the show I was in the middle of watching, only they were scenes from, like, ten minutes later. Seriously, I wanted to see those scenes, only I wanted to see them when they actually happened. Get your act together, AMC, and this is to justify the third Coming Up In This Blog Post.
Coming Up In This Blog Post: "The Prisoner gets an A."
The Prisoner gets an A. AMC gets an A-.
as a fan of the old prisoner, i gotta say that this new one sucked balls, it doesnt hold a glowstick to the old one
Replyi didnt read this article yet cuz i dont want to read any spoilers, but the first two parts were great
ReplyJames, you said that you weren't trying to compare the old and the new Prisoner, and then you directly compared them and said "For shame AMC."
ReplyYou are dumb.
I was surprised when cody mentioned how horrible the newer simpsons are, since his sense of humour reminds me of crappy simpsons episodes
ReplyOkay, idiots, am I the only one who can tell this is really, really sarcastic?
ReplyHate to break it to you, but the new Prisoner is rather horrendous. It took a premise and totally bastardized it. Not that I'm trying to compare the first and the second, but the second is supposed to be on the same premise and all the winks and nods to the original seem that they are trying to build on the same presence, but the two are nothing alike, and for shame, AMC.
ReplyI loved it!
ReplyMy past experience with the prisoner is also exclusivly from the simpsons lol
I didnt have a clue what was going on most the time, what was real, what wasnt and i felt so mind fucked...but i love that
I don't think you can really compare the two. The first 'Prisoner' was a kind of a morality play set during the height of the Cold War Era and took full advantage of all that spy vs. spy paranoia that was everywhere back then. Although, that 'Prisoner' was basically a psychological drama with sci-fi undertones, the story was allogorical and its finale was open ended and based almost entirely upon your interpretation of the whole series, if you had been keeping up.
ReplyAMC's Prisoner was a whole different approach to a different set of problems using the backdrop of similar images (The Village, no names but numbers, Rover, etc. etc), but with an entirely different agenda pointing towards a generally unforseen but explainable outcome.
I'm not going to slight the actors for whatever critique we might give them for their interpretation of the story. I thought the acting was certainly up to par by everyone involved. If Mr. Caveziel's performance seemed a little wooden, then maybe it could be explained as being acted out from the point of view of a man who feels like he is in a dream and nothing is real.
I found the recycling of some of the old memes not very appropriate to this retelling of the story. For instance, the use of the numbers which had such a real meaning in the first Prisoner seemed to leave one confused by them in the remake. The perminence of this No. 2 with a son seemed difficult to resolve based on the old Prisoner's logic but worked for the AMC's version of the story.
So, all in all, this wasn't your dad's Prisoner show. It wasn't McGoohan's either, I'd wager. It was just different and retold in another way that was still entertaining and intriguing for being what it was. And what was it? Just good television. Something that is always welcome in todays' current run of the usual suspects.
Be seeing you.
OK...I was a young teen when the original Prisoner aired as a summer mini series, althought they weren't called that back then.
ReplyFrankly, this reimagining was made for today's MTV video generation. Just too much bopping around, forward and backwards from any conceivable timeline. Even if I didnt compare it to the original, it still is a steaming pile.
I agree so so much about that coming up next shit. What the fucking fuck? They're not getting payed for it, because it's not a commercial, but it still takes time away from watching the actual show. They're... they're advertising something... WHILE WE'RE WATCHING IT.
ReplyYes, yes you are.
ReplyThe remake was terrible. McKellen was okay, the bit with his son was interesting, but oh my goodness, Jesus was just awful. He wrecked every single scene he was in. Watch the original and THEN if you must, see the remake. McGoohan WAS that show, and without him, it just does not work. The original was far more sinister, the acting was far superior, and really was more aesthetically pleasing (Portmeirion FTW).
what was this crap!! the original was brilliant, and all the remake really needed to do was tighten it up, and update the visual effects.
ReplyWhat the hell was all this relationship crap. Where was all the excitement of trying to escape? rubbish!
and they showed the same fucking palm pre commercial over and over again every goddamned night! I thought I was having deja vu "ping...ping...ping"
ReplyWARNING!! Spoilers in my post below.
Replyokay...I kept a 3 night running review of AMC's The Prisoner....
ReplyNite 1
If you can read volumes in the eyes of some actors then Jim Caviezel is a pamphlet. Setting the Village in a desert seems appropriate. Dry & barren. McKellen is always interesting to watch, but number 2 should never be number 1...6 should be 1 and I stand by that statement. And the music sucked balls.
Nite 2
Cloudier & less entertaining then the first. Literal holes appear in the plot. Creepiness involving the teenage son of 2 & a an older spy who lives in the Village trailer park (yes...a seedy trailer park) is even tedious. "Oh my...that WAY older guy shouldn't be in a relationship... with that teenager...*yawn*....oh wha..what...I dozed off."
And 5 things with LESS emotional development/character then Jim Caviezel...
5) School Janitors who are stuck with the sawdust bucket.
4) an excel spread sheet formula
3) phlegm
2) the sawdust bucket from 5
1) the mummy of Rameses II
Things with more emotional development/character? Everything else.
Nite 3
Please God...let me die.
McKellen keeps me from tearing out the veins in my wrists with my teeth. Apparently #2's signifigant other is #1, and her literal brain child can kill her in her dream world where she's obsessed with eating wraps and lying around with her mouth hanging open. # 6 could be the next #1 but #313 beats him to the handful of Dreamer pills so he becomes #2, but you can tell he's gonna be a good #2 and not evil because he dresses in a beige suit at the end, and his stoned anchor of a mate doesn't lie around in bed like the former Mrs. 2 but leans against him like a rag doll while seated on a desert dune...which makes me wonder if he plans on dragging her sedated corpse all over the new Village to differentiate himself from his predecssor, and if anyone in the new Village will find that as creepy as I do?
Again....Caveizel amazes me with his lack of expression. With a personality like his 6's, the New Village should be a truly "happening" place to live.
dicks
Replyi'm kind of pissed that people keep saying that cody is doing his job wrong somehow. Is there a strict cracked columnist creed? Cody is awesome, and that justifies the unique presentation, if you people really need a justification.
ReplyYes.
Replytotally agree. fucking awesome. something great to watch while waiting for the last season of lost.
ReplyI've never seen the original Prisoner. I should make a note to find a way to watch either the new or old one.
Reply