Anyone that has yet to watch last
night’s series premiere of Almost Human,
this is where I suggest that you do that before proceeding ahead. For this is
not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY
CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.
So, this week’s pilot episode of Almost Human set the scene for a
not-too-distant future (it is only the year 2048) where technology has advanced
to the point where crime has skyrocketed 400%. This means there are not enough
cops to dissuade criminals, and thus each cop must be paired with a synthetic
partner – basically a robot.
We meet up with our damaged hero
of the piece, John Kennex, played by the wonderful Karl Urban. After seventeen
months in a coma caused by the evil crime unit known as Syndicate that wiped
out the rest of his command, he has spent the last seven months rehabilitating.
But now it’s time for this detective to get back to work, and that’s where this
series begins.
While I have never seen Blade Runner and thus cannot make the
connections with that film, this series does appear to have equal parts I, Robot as well as the recent remake of
Total Recall. The special effects
were masterful, which is what I related to the latter of the two films, and the
MX’s were brilliantly designed, and also had an air of the former film. That
being said, there wasn’t much I saw in this pilot that could be deemed original,
but it was fun to watch nonetheless.
Although I’m a big fan of Karl
Urban from both The Chronicles of Riddick
film, as well as the two latest Star Trek
films, it was not he who shined in this series. It was Michael Ealy’s turn as
the emotional synthetic known as Dorian, based on the model name DRN. His
ability to play a robot with emotions, but still jilted in his acting was
phenomenal, and will likely be one of the bigger reasons I come back next
episode. The man did amazing, I’d almost believe he actually was a robot, and
that is the mark of a truly talented actor. It’s good to know that this guy has
the chops to bring to one-half of a crime fighting team.
That leads me to another thing.
One of my favourite things about this episode, aside from the character Dorian
and my natural-born curiousity when it comes to the Syndicate, was the
relationship that has just barely had its surface scratched, in way of the
cop-synthetic team of Kennex and Dorian. The way Kennex had a strong adversity
to all things synthetic, and then he is eventually (that is, after throwing his
MX out of his car into highway traffic) paired with one that has emotions and
is as close to human as possible, especially in the way that he makes his own
choices and his intuition leads him to make those decisions. These two are
perfectly paired for one another, and I look forward to watching their
relationship evolve. I’m sure, while they did seem to come to some sort of
understanding in the end, that there will be difficulties and obstacles to
overcome, and that is a rather exciting endeavor for myself as an audience
member.
All in all, this wasn’t a
disappointing premiere. There wasn’t much in the way of originality like I
said, but the cast that has been brought together seems promising. I do look
forward to learning more about John’s ex-girlfriend, as well as seeing the
development of Minka Kelly’s character. There is no shortage of cop dramas on
television, but this does have a slightly different spin on that, at the very
least. I’m not sure if I will stick around for the entire season, but this
episode does have my curiousity peeked. Also, Segway!
My rating: 7 out of 10.
Best Lines:
“Well, that last part is true.” – Kennex agrees with his
psychologist defining him as hating his synthetic body parts.
“Amy, Audrey, Aquamarine…” – Dorian lists off possible A
names.
Okay, folks, that’s all for tonight. Check back in tomorrow
for my reviews of How I Met Your Mother,
Sleepy Hollow, and Almost Human, which moves into its
Monday night timeslot.
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