Reviews

Update:

So, I just finished the show and had to change my 6/10 rating to an 8/10. Overall, amazing show. The issues mentioned below make some of the middle seasons, especially season 6, a 6/10 rating but the show mostly redeemed itself (hence 8/10 and not 10/10). Highly entertaining. Highly recommend. Definitely not OITNB and that's a good thing cause you don't want a copy. Wentworth is its own unique and valued entry in the prison genre.

Original review:

This show is entertaining, no doubt, but the writing is often maddeningly infuriating and ruins what would have been a fantastic show. I would have given this a higher rating if not for that. I'm almost done with Season 6 and it's getting increasingly insufferable to continue watching because of the idiotic writing that literally make no sense. The characters make the dumbest choices for the sake of drama. Despite the 24 hour surveillance, the inmates and corrupt staff manage to get away with anything, including murder, and the staff/management always remain clueless.

You would think that security footage being erased would cue them to corruption amongst the ranks but it doesn't. And you would think there would be backups of footage inaccessible to regular staff in case of an erasure. Other times, they completely forget that they have surveillance altogether and just rely on getting inmates to "lag" or "snitch" when they could just check the footage. Then there is the issue of the cameras easily being turned around by inmates before they commit crimes. You would think they would be set up with anti-tampering measures in place?! Sigh. And why do inmates have metal cutlery? I don't know anything about prison but I imagine metal knives and forks that can easily be weapons wouldn't be used?! I could go on and on here about even more absurd writing choices but I don't want to give out spoilers. Sigh. If I manage to finish the show and feel there's a need to update this review, I shall. Otherwise, this about covers it.

The dialogue often got onerous. It was like they hired an advanced version of T. I. to hunt down obscure words. Academics don't talk like this. Literally, no one speaks like this on planet Earth.

There were also a lot of pop culture references that flew over my radar and I had no interest in investigating but I did appreciate its distinct flavouring to the show.

Now, to the great. I highly enjoyed this show. I'm glad I ignored the negative reviews and chanced it. The season without Axe, while upsetting to many, helped to answer questions I had about Michael Prince and Scooter. I really wanted to know more about them individually and as a pair and season 6, without Axe, was an excellent way to peel that onion. I loved that they brought Axe back and gave us a satisfying and integrated conclusion in season 7.

I also loved how complex and real the characters were. There was no good vs bad. Just shades of grey. It was hard to hate anyone no matter how messy they got... except for Spyros, an effortlessly odious man.

Something else I appreciated was how they teased out Michael Prince's character. Instead of the typical overt bad guy caricature, you got a man whose distracting glamour of niceness mostly disguised the ominous cloud that loomed around him. Think Daenerys Targaryen on GOT that was lovable but when you looked at her actions (e.g. Barbecuing a father and son for not kneeling to her), you saw a dangerous person who believed they were good and righteous... which made for the worst kind of monster. Unlike Daenerys, Michael didn't get to have his hand on the trigger/ barbecue cities because the equally brilliant and brazen characters clocked and stopped him.

This show was filled with a lot of intriguing, complex, cat-and-mouse chess matches with people switching between being prey and predator. I really loved how hilarious the characters were while being dead-ass serious which made for the best comedy cause they weren't trying to elicit laughter. The characters were really just that audacious and insane. I highly, highly recommend checking out this unique gem!

I tried. I really tried. But I had to stop. I can't even tell you where I stopped. Did I watch an entire season? More? Less? What I can tell you is that this is a masochist's dream... or nightmare. I can't decide. I cannot believe this was actually created... and released... and renewed over and over... and that has an almost 6/10 rating. The dialogue is just... wow. The entire 40 minute show could be finished in 5 minutes. They literally keep repeating the same sentence over and over and over and over again to fill up the hour show. I'm not joking. A 5 y/o could have done better. I guess this is what happens when people are deprived of proper representation. Anything, and I mean ANYTHING, looks good. The ma n behind this appears to have very lucratively capitalized on this fact.

This show is insanely good! I am writing as a recent watcher. I quickly forgot this show was made in 2003-2004 cause the story line drew me right in and the visuals are on par with a lot of more recent shows. The idea was brilliantly fleshed out. I cannot think of another show like it. At the time, I was seeking a space show with aliens but this one, with the "children" of humans, the Cylons, turning on their creators was so much better than I could have imagined.

Be prepared for a beautiful intergalactic ride filled with war, action, drama, romance, deception, discovery, etc. So many great lessons and such a beautiful script. This miniseries was great and the following TV show was even better. Check them out!

This show is insanely good! I am writing as a recent watcher. I quickly forgot this show was made in 2004 cause the story line drew me right in and the visuals are on par with a lot of more recent shows. The idea was brilliantly fleshed out. I cannot think of another show like it. At the time, I was seeking a space show with aliens but this one, with the "children" of humans, the Cylons, turning on their creators was so much better than I could have imagined.

Be prepared for a beautiful intergalactic ride filled with war, action, drama, romance, deception, discovery, etc. So many great lessons and such a beautiful script.

I'm so glad I gave this show a chance. I have been craving dystopian shows. This was absolutely nothing like I expected. Even the trailers do not do it justice. This show is an atypical, very atypical, entry in this genre. I can't say much without giving spoilers but there is an interesting juxtaposition going on with the lack of electricity. Very interesting and unprecedented. HIGHLY recommend this show.

I watched Jericho right before (enjoying these older TV shows) and even though that show has higher ratings, this one is FAR better, more entertaining and unique. Great acting, lots of action, amazing script, HIGHLY entertaining and increasingly more so as you watch! There was only one sorta "filler" episode in the whole series and even that episode was still entertaining. This is an 8/10 at the MINIMUM. Check it out!

I love CIA type shows and Hanna stands in a world of her own in this universe as a very unique and much needed offering. The characters are so complex that it's hard to label even the evil ones as purely evil. Incredible writing and acting. They do a great job of showing human nature and exploring various interpersonal relationships. You see characters that do the most despicable things, hate them, yet still understand how they got there. Some even later turn out to be the good guys.

Various father/daughter relationships are explored - the sacrificial, the nurturing, the abusive, etc. And you see the outcome, the kind of children shaped from each.

You see what unaddressed childhood trauma can do to a highly accomplished, extremely powerful and unbreakable adult, shattering them and reverting them back to the traumatized child in an instant. I don't want to give much more here but this storyline was intriguing to watch unfold.

If you love shows that really explore human nature and involve psychological manipulation and grooming/ conditioning and seeing what comes of that, you'll get your fill here.

If you love shows that involve school-like settings and/or shows that take place in different countries, you'll love this.

If you love a good action thriller, emotional rollercoaster drama, great entertainment, great writing and acting, you'll surely enjoy this.

This show deserves at LEAST an 8/10, IMO. I thoroughly enjoyed this and the only reason I can think of for not watching this sooner was because I assumed it was a teen show. Thankfully, I was wrong. It's a great show for adults.

I am giving this a very generous 4/10 rating. Such wasted potential. Great idea. Poor execution. I wish I could get my time back.

Each season is tediously slow. The last two episodes is when you see the needle grudgingly move an inch towards sorta interesting. I hate when they do this. This is clearly one of those shows where the folks behind it want to milk as many seasons as possible with barely any movement per season.

Then there is the character development. There is at least one character that seemed to get a personality transplant out of nowhere. Starts off weird and psycho then suddenly becomes normal and empathetic?! Her switch made no sense and there was no explanation. They just acted like that was normal.

And then there is the plot. It was all over the place especially in season 2. It's like they were rolling a dice or something and just doing anything to drag on the plot. Sigh. I should have known looking at the exec that this is what I would get.

At first, I feared this might be some cheesy teen show but I'm so glad I took a chance. This is a well written original spy thriller. You don't get the cliche middle east/terr0rism, which, don't get me wrong, I absolutely enjoy if well written like season 1 of Jack Ryan. In this M16 spy thriller, Alex Rider, season 1 is about a mysterious and incredibly exclusive boarding school for troubled kids of billionaires and season 2 is about a world beloved billionaire game developer. Each season unravels brilliantly and the web of lies/facade/danger get exposed beautifully. I highly recommend this show! It deserves a minimum of 8/10 rating. There are shows nowhere as good as this one that came out on Prime this year yet got higher ratings. Don't miss out on this gem.

This show is brilliant. It somehow gets better with each season. This is not your typical super power show. Far from it. Brilliant writing that yanks you in and pulls you deeper each season. Amazing performances by the actors. I actually re-watched seasons 1 and 2 before diving into season 3 and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed every one! I'm actually sad to have finished season 3. I want more! Very few shows are capable of leaving such a void. This show is a 9-10 out of 10 for me. I hope there are more seasons in the future.

Admittedly, I rolled my eyes a couple of times when I started watching the show but it got more interesting and enjoyable and I had an increasing appreciation for it, as evidenced by my rating. This show is one of a kind, just like the plot suggests. You get magic/fantasy, military life and boarding school, politics, conspiracy, coup, etc. Unique blend in a unique show. 8+ out of 10.

This show has a great concept hence why I still gave it this rating but it was way too drawn out and mostly boring. The season only needed five 30 minute episodes, tops. Yup, you read that right. Episode 1 seemed promising but it was a steady nosedive thereafter until the finale which finally had some upward movement... to a cliff hanger. How cliche. You endure the tedious snail pace only to be rewarded with a cliff hanger until next season, whenever that is. I'm amazed at the high ratings. I guess in a world of lame reality TV, this must be a gem.

The first season was a 1-2 star rating for me so I stopped watching it. Years later and now on Amazon Prime, I decided to watch it again. This time, the first season was like a 4-5 star rating out of 10 but my craving for sci-fi kept me watching as I waited for Star Trek Discovery, The Orville and The Mandalorian. Thankfully, it finally started to get good. Like, REALLY good and I looked forward to each episode. This is a beautiful sci-fi drama. It is quite different from the rest. It can often feel like a slow burn but the action picks up as the seasons go and the cold-war become outright war with a great climax in the series finale. Give it a chance. Good writing and acting with very lovable characters on ALL sides. You find yourself loving the "good" guys... while rooting for the "bad" guys. Well done!

...However, I feel like there were some unfinished storylines introduced in season 6 that should have been left out or brought into cohesion with the overall story especially since there are no known spinoffs in the works to justify them.

Update: After giving this a fair shot and generously watching the entire season, this is more like a 3-5 out of 10 rating. The writing is very weak and the show is simply not engaging. I remember enjoying the original. This was a disappointment. I was really rooting for this especially with all the premature hate it was getting. Oh well.

_______

I loved the original show and was excited about this reboot. To be honest, the first few minutes were a little cringe and I thought it might become a race baiting show based on these biased reviews but it's nothing like that. Even the writing has gotten WAY better and we're only on episode 2. Some shows just need time to find their bearings but many of these negative reviewers are too prejudiced to give this a chance. They watched a few minutes, saw a show that reflected the world's diversity, got annoyed and trashed the show with poor reviews and ratings. They keep complaining about the diverse cast as if the real world isn't diverse. They keep complaining about how the cops are represented and even lied and said all the cops are white and look evil and that all the 4400 are black people being targeted by them. What show are they watching?

This show has asian, black and white cops. The 4400 consists of white, black, LGBTQ etc. Same for the other characters. There's literally just one psycho cop and let's not pretend that people like him don't exist in real life or that others, in this case other cops and staff, don't enable them by doing nothing.

And as for the "targeting" part, which show have you EVER seen featuring vanishing RETURNEES from different time periods, talk less of them having SUPERPOWERS, that weren't targeted?! Name a single one. You can't. The same targeting happens with the 4400 on the original show.

For me, this show is at least a 7/10 (might increase or decrease as I watch) but I'm giving it a 9 because of the unfair ratings. If you were looking forward to this, give it a fair chance then make your own decision. The show follows a nice pace. It's entertaining yet pretty chill. Makes a great palate cleanser if you watch more intense or action packed shows.

I'll admit, I did proceed with extreme caution given all the harsh reviews/ratings but I'm so glad I chanced it. Yes, the first few minutes of the pilot was low budget but it got increasingly top quality. At first, I was thinking this show was a 6 but by the time I finished season 1, it was a solid 8 and by the time I finished season 2, it was a must watch show, IMO. I'm giving it a 10 due to the unfair ratings left by people who never gave it a chance, who only watched a few minutes or came in with their own expectations that the show never set out to meet.

The story line is very different. It's not trying to be like any other show. The characters are well developed and complex. Even some of the "evil" characters are very likable. If you enjoy shows like Defiance, Kill Joy, etc, and are craving something different from the infestation of reality shows, cop/medical shows, dramas, etc, that people keep giving infinite chances, definitely check out this unique gem. Abandon all expectations and enjoy the ride. You'll get a beautifully written story line that features humanoid alien races, clones, mythology, doomsday, intergalactic war, spies, teleportation, non-bounty hunting and even college life. What's not to love? It's a pretty chill show that you can unwind to. It's not heart pumping action every 2 seconds but a sweet and entertaining and often relaxing balance.

I'm so glad I watched it. Season 2 ended nicely with no annoying cliffhangers. If they return for season 3, I'll be glad to see what they have in store for us. But with all the intolerance towards creative and unique offerings, who knows if it'll return?

If you want a mellow sci fi which is still very enjoyable to watch, this is your show. If you love fast paced shows and need something different to watch in the meantime, this is your show. Great concept. Lovely on its own and also doubles as a palate cleanser. The music choice is atypical and really creates a feel good vibe! I really wished they gave it at least one more season.

I liked the show... at first, but the more I watched, the more glaringly obvious it was that the creators were WAY more interested in getting money (by creating as many episodes and seasons as they could get away with) than they were in delivering an amazing show. Three seasons in, THREE SEASONS, and they STILL couldn't figure out what their return meant. Ridiculous! Sloths move faster than this. Just imagine all the amazing stories that we missed out on because they were all passed over for this greed driven show. I'm glad it was cancelled.

The episodes get better although the show is a tinge too saccharine than I'm used to but this makes it a great choice for family viewing.

I do have a few gripes with the casting/character though:

First off, I like that the show is diverse because that's what the real world looks like but the real world also has dark skinned black women. In Utopia Falls, they only exist in the background or in the photo of Gaia. Hollywood seems to be able to cast dark skinned black male actors in main roles with ease yet only casts biracial women so that's... interesting.

Second issue I have is with the main character, Aliyah 5. Her character is written as an incredibly talented dancer that captivates everyone to the point of making her some sort of stand out celebrity from the other contestants yet ALL her performances were very rudimentary and paled in comparison to that of the other contestants. In contrast, the character Sage 5 was an INCREDIBLE dancer yet she got nowhere near as much raves as Aliyah 5. So bizarre. It's almost like Sage 5's choreography was meant for Aliyah 5 but they cast an actress that couldn't pull it off and instead of re-casting or rewriting the script, maybe even giving her a different talent, they just... HOPED we wouldn't notice something they kept shoving down our throats!

Anyways, if you can overlook this, the show gets better. Give it at least 3-4 episodes.

I'm very late to the party but I'm so glad to have watched this precious gem. Very few shows stay strong from season to season but Lost pulled it off, effortlessly. They brilliantly weave unique concepts together. And everything seemed planned as opposed to churning out episodes for the sake of it like some other shows do. Be warned, it gets emotional. I wish someone warned me to brace myself, lol. Fantastic show and totally worth it. A++

The writing is insufferably lazy. The pace is nonsensically slow. This feels like a Tyler Perry creation, 5 minute clips stretched into excruciating 1 hr long episodes. It irks me that people squander these opportunities in such a cutthroat industry. I'm only giving this a 3 star instead of a -3 cause the acting wasn't bad... and I'm telling myself I didn't just waste 10 hours on my life on this.

It only needed 4 episodes tops, maybe 3. I detest when creators deliberately stretch plots to get multiple seasons. Do it right or don't do it at all.

Wow! Isn't it amazing how differently the same situation can affect people? I realize most people liked this movie but I am unfortunately one of the few that didn't. I felt the movie depended too much on their relationship and didn't bother to spice up the script. It was painfully slow to watch and boringly so. Good for you guys that enjoyed it because you don't get to feel like you wasted 2 hours of your life.

It is movies like these that make me wonder what is going on in the movie industry? I mean, so many people aspire to be writers and directors and then you see those who already have such a unique opportunity and what do they do with it? Squander it on meaningless, unimaginative, uninventive nonsense. What a waste of opportunity. How quickly people forget their humble beginnings, when they just had ridiculous dreams... only for them to be realized and they do... this.

I think the summary says it all. I still gasp with excitement at the mere thought of this movie. Creating a thoroughly engaging thriller that all takes place in a phone booth is no small feat! Bravo!!

And my goodness, do Kiefer Sutherland, Collin Farrell and Forest deliver exceptional performances. I am too breathless to continue commenting but if you have not yet seen this, what are you waiting for?

(Reviewed October 10, 2006)