The Sunday Mail
The Big & Small Screen
When watching a movie, especially the boring and predictable types, I play a game of “who would you rather . . . “
Over the years I have perfected the game, and removed all its unsavoury aspects. It is quite fun, helps move the time and hardly does one ever really lose track of what is happening in the movie itself.
The reason I bring the game up now is because last weekend I found myself playing it as I tried watching “Rush Hour”, the series.
The original plan this week was to review “Magnificent Seven”, the new Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt Western I raved about in this very column a fortnight ago.
Denzel is going to have to wait another week or two: I have a couple of things to get off my chest.
Over the better part of this year, and most of the last, the Hollywood machine has been in overdrive, hyping the arrival of new television shows. Shows that they said would not only bridge generational gaps, but also shoot the world of TV into the stratosphere.
I am talking “Rush Hour”, “MacGyver” and “Lethal Weapon”, which have been rebooted. The redo’s joined new shows like “Quantico”, “Blindspot and “Lucifer”.
With “MacGyver” and “Rush Hour”, talk about missing the mark!
Of all the movies and programmes that have been tinkered with, rebooted and remade for TV today, it really does not get any worse than “MacGyver” and “Rush Hour”.
These shows were supposed to make full use of the nostalgia factor. We grew up on “MacGyver”. We planned our play and homework around “MacGyver”. We lived, breathed and dreamt “MacGyver”.
Then some hack had to come and kill it.
“Rush Hour”, the 13-episode series starring John Foo and Bill Lawrence as the latest reincarnations of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker from the movies, has already been cancelled.
The failed experiment fell victim to low ratings and poor reviews.
The script, from the very first pilot, was weak; the actors were mis-cast; and it failed to meet expectations. Justin Hires as Detective James Carter is a joke; he fails to make the character his own, borrows too many lines from the movie and fell victim to a lazy script that had zero imagination. The same can be said about Foo who plays Jackie Chan’s “Lee” character.
“MacGyver” is one of those TV shows that do not need a remake.
The reboot totally fails to understand the essence of the original show and characters. Part of what made the original a hit was Richard Dean Anderson, the title character.
He had no charisma, didn’t have the Hollywood look and instead of beign a dud, actually looked natural and believable. Dean’s MacGyver was the everyday man — with an everyday first name like Angus — who used his environment and smarts to save the day.
I have only watched the pilot of the remake and I see the show failing.
Lucas Till is no Richard Dean Anderson. He, instead, is what you would get if James Bond and Johnny English had a baby.
The pilot is as cheesy as they come. Watch it and weep!
Now for “Quantico”, “Blindspot” and “Lucifer” — this is what is hot this summer.
“Lucifer”, the comic book remake, is testimony to what happens when casting is done right. After a successful debut season; Tom Ellis (Lucifer Morningstar) is back as the devil who decides to take a break from hell and starts helping the police solve crimes.
Yeah, the plot is a weird but Ellis somehow makes it work.
“Blindspot” and “Quantico” were arguably the breakout shows of 2016. The mystery, intrigue and careful casting combined to make these two my favourites behind — of course — “Game of Thrones”.
I am not ordinarily a big fan of female-led TV shows (and no, I’m no bigot), but somehow Jaime Alexander (“Blindspot”) and Priyanka Chopra (“Quantico”) hooked me: the first as a super-spy sent to the FBI to uncover its dirty secrets and the second as an FBI agent framed by her own organisation to take the blame for a terror attack.
Both season finales, were non-stop action and left the viewer itching for the next season. And the season two premieres have not disappointed.
