Hey everybody, I’m doing something a little different. I just finished watching the TV pilot for CBS’s new show Person of Interest. Honestly, I haven’t been to a movie in a long while because the local cinema hasn’t been showing any midnight premieres and that’s typically the only spare time I have for a movie. So I’m changing things up for a TV pilot instead.
Person of Interest is a new show on CBS. It’s produced by J.J. Abrams (of Lost and Super 8 fame) and written by Jonathon Nolan (writer for Momento, The Prestige, and a few other movies directed by his brother). The movie stars Jim Caviezel (Jesus, Passion of the Christ) and Michael Emerson (Saw, but the rest of you remember him in Lost).
(insert comical buddy cop quote here)
The opening has a brief scene with John (Caviezel) and a female, presumably a girlfriend or wife, with a brief narration before it cuts to today, John with no companion or sense of hygiene.
John apprehends some bullies on a subway and taken to the police station, where he is released into the custody of his “lawyer.” The “lawyer” directs him to a billionaire by the name Mr. Finch (Emerson), with a proposal to prevent criminal acts before they happen. After a bit of convincing, John cleans up and follows a potential victim of a crime, a female attorney on a case regarding a murder. With the seemingly unlimited source of funds by Mr. Finch, John is set to prevent crimes from getting too far.
At first I was a little skeptical about the idea. Stopping crimes before they happen is a nice thought, a little security. It’s reminiscent of the precogs in Minority Report. But that leaves the question of if a person is a criminal if no crime has actually been committed. The show also goes into the security put in place immediately after 9/11, specifically the PATRIOT Act.
The truth is, the show does it in a fashion to keep the audience interested. Despite the ethical issue of privacy (and violating the 4th Amendment), the drama is too good to pass up. It gives away just enough of the main character’s history to make you tune in for next week. The performances of Caviezel and Emerson as a former CIA Special Forces agent and secretive billionaire, respectively, are well pulled off. The show is definitely worth looking into.
And remember, Jesus is watching you.
Two Hours at a Time 