Movies / Home Theatre

Revolution (New TV Series)

By Tao Mori
September 21, 2012 - 09:49

Revolution takes place in the future after all electronic devices stop working worldwide. Charlotte "Charlie" Matheson's father Ben was somehow involved in the disaster and those that now control the world seek her to discover the truth about what happened.

There's a lot of things to like in this show and a lot of things that are frustrating. What's interesting is that the actors in this show aren't terribly familiar excluding Billy Burke who's the title main character as Miles the badass uncle who can kill thirty guys without breaking a sweat. The frustrating part is that Miles is the stereotypical tough mysterious guy, who says he doesn't want to help, but ends up helping after all. I'm a little disappointed in his predictability, granted this is the pilot episode and I'm sure a lot more is to follow but so far I'm not impressed. I'm also surprised at the casting choice, Burke doesn't strike me as your typical tough guy either.

The female lead for this show is Tracy Spiridakos as Charlotte or Charlie. As a character Charlie is rather naive about people in general. She goes to her uncle thinking that he'll help her and she doesn't seem to even second guess that idea, then faced with it she barely makes an argument for it. No one even asks Miles if he wants to avenge the death of his brother, the death of his brother is no big deal then? That seems ridiculous to me. Back to Tracy, she plays the role well and has that tough girl appeal about her. Perhaps she's a bit dependent on her bow, but that's a technical aspect that isn't that important. Compared to the stereotypical character that Miles is, Charlie is similar in her stereotypical character except that instead of there being the hot head son out for revenge,  they have the hot head daughter out for revenge. And hey, why not?

I do of course have a problem with the choice of bad guy who is this Monroe guy. Monroe used to be Miles buddy in the military a Sergeant. Then somehow this Sergeant becomes a General and leader of a whole district. How on earth does that happen? When the world went down the toilet did this Munro guy stroll into the officers quarters and shoot them all? Like the entire military, he shot all the officers, every single one. I find a low ranking guy like Monroe controlling an entire district that makes up a lot of men with weapons. Clearly not all of these men are ex-military, but I imagine in a world like this the ex-military men would be the ones running things. Monroe is far too low on the pay grade scale to be the one running the show.

The best part of the show is the visuals. Fantastic visuals. The landscape shots are seamless 3D imaging has come a long way. The futuristic world is very cool looking, though I wonder if its a bit overgrown. There are plants everywhere in the show though only fifteen years is supposed to have passed since all the lights went out. I don't think mother nature would reclaim her territory back that quickly, maybe in like fifty years, but not fifteen. The new world or at least the United States has been broken down into smaller districts ruled by Warlords or other various leaders. This is pretty realistic considering that there isn't electronic communication making controlling vast territory more difficult.

This show is much in the style of a typical J.J. Abrams show in that there's so much more going on that we only get snippets of. This is obviously a technique to suck in the viewer to make us want to see what happens next. Is this show supposed to be another long journey like Lost with an ending that sort of explains everything? J.J. Abrams had another show, Alcatraz, that had a similar mysterious atmosphere to it, but it was cancelled before it got into another season. This show has this whole mystery behind why all the electronics went poop, and why some people are still able to use electronic devices while the rest of the world cannot. How long will the mystery go on for and do audiences have the patience for a long haul wait like Lost?

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12