As a huge fan of the 1995 Terry Gilliam film, I was pretty excited for the release of this series. Right away the series departs from the film by not questioning Cole's sanity and accepting the time travel elements as simply the truth, Something that was in my opinion one of the better aspects early on in the film. The series is also missing the unique visual style, soundtrack and camera-work that made the film so well regarded, which I kind of expected from a television adaptation and likely having a fraction of the budget.
Its clear this series isn't afraid to stray from the source material and go in its own direction, the jury is still out on if this will be a good thing or a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.
The above observations noted, I am willing to give this series a chance to do its own thing with the material. The plot itself is interesting enough to carry a series like this and perhaps a less roundabout/ambiguous approach could be pretty cool to see, maybe some of the questions left by the film will be answered, and I do like seeing the little nods to the original film here and there.
While Aaron Stanford (Aka Pyro) isn't Bruce Willis he does alright with the less complex, more coherent version of James Cole, I can't blame the actor for the changes to the character that makes him feel kind of bland, hopefully as the series progresses we'll see a bit of a character progression and thus more of a chance for the actor to sink his teeth into the role.
Emily Hampshire on the other hand is strong right out of the gate, following up Brad Pitt's portrayal of Jeffrey Goines isn't an easy task, but she pulls off the twisted character perfectly. While not quite as cartoon-character-like as the film version, the simple female spin on the twisted mental patient Goines works quite well.
I came into it expecting to be slightly disappointed so I was prepared for a "TV" version of one of my favorite movies. Its not horrible or amazing, but I'll give it a few more episodes to warm up and see where it goes.
If you are interested in hearing more of my opinions check me out on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/fadedragontear Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dragontear
Its clear this series isn't afraid to stray from the source material and go in its own direction, the jury is still out on if this will be a good thing or a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.
The above observations noted, I am willing to give this series a chance to do its own thing with the material. The plot itself is interesting enough to carry a series like this and perhaps a less roundabout/ambiguous approach could be pretty cool to see, maybe some of the questions left by the film will be answered, and I do like seeing the little nods to the original film here and there.
While Aaron Stanford (Aka Pyro) isn't Bruce Willis he does alright with the less complex, more coherent version of James Cole, I can't blame the actor for the changes to the character that makes him feel kind of bland, hopefully as the series progresses we'll see a bit of a character progression and thus more of a chance for the actor to sink his teeth into the role.
Emily Hampshire on the other hand is strong right out of the gate, following up Brad Pitt's portrayal of Jeffrey Goines isn't an easy task, but she pulls off the twisted character perfectly. While not quite as cartoon-character-like as the film version, the simple female spin on the twisted mental patient Goines works quite well.
I came into it expecting to be slightly disappointed so I was prepared for a "TV" version of one of my favorite movies. Its not horrible or amazing, but I'll give it a few more episodes to warm up and see where it goes.
If you are interested in hearing more of my opinions check me out on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/fadedragontear Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dragontear