J. J. Abrams must be one of the busiest men in Hollywood. Between his highly successful Star Trek reboot/prequel, to producing a fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible series, to a role as executive producer on the hit television series Fringe, Abrams seems to have his fingers in many pies. Now Abrams reappears on the television circuit as the producer to Fox’s now drama, Alcatraz, which premiered in a two-hour event last night.
In 1963, the infamous prison Alcatraz, home to some of the worst and nastiest criminals of the time, closed its doors, all of the inmates and employees relocated. But what if that was only part of the story, or more to the point, a completely fabricated cover story? Alcatraz imagines the inmates weren’t relocated, but instead disappeared, vanished, without a trace. Over 300 people suddenly gone from the prison grounds. Fifty years later, the associate warden of Alcatraz winds up dead, and the person of interest in the killing is one of the inmates that disappeared .
Sam Neil, of Jurassic Park and Event Horizon fame, leads the cast as Emerson Hauser. As the head of a secret federal taskforce, Hauser’s job is to find and capture the “Sixty-threes”, the name given to the disappeared. Neil plays the grizzled federal agent well, and has a good presence when tossing around a cocky attitude. Hauser is the likeable jerk, the kind of guy we don’t want to deal with but are happy to have on the team. And as the biggest name on the cast, Neil has the most riding on the success of Alcatraz, as he is likely to be the most remembered actor should things go south.
Sharing the screen with Neil is Lost alumnus Jorge Garcia, who is always a joy to watch on-screen. As PhD toting genius turned comic book writer Diego Soto, Garcia plays the authority on the history of Alcatraz, his character having written four books on the subject. Though Garcia’s take on the role is similar to his portrayal of Hurley from Lost, the chummy confidant you just can’t help but trust, it’s easy to believe he was able to be accepted into a dangerous job despite having no training as a fighter or a detective. Garcia entire attitude is just jovial, which helps to bring some levity to an otherwise dark premise.
Sarah Jones rounds out the cast playing San Francisco homicide detective Rebecca Madsen. Madsen finds herself neck deep in the mystery completely by accident, who later comes to realize there was no accident. Jones’ portrayal of a hard-edged cop is dubious. Her “detection skills” sometimes come off as forced, with less actual detecting and more flat-out assuming. But she does her best with the part and, in all honesty, it could be much, much worse.
Wrapping supernatural elements into a historical fiction drama is not a new concept, but Alcatraz does a nice job of it. They take the simple premise of the closing of Alcatraz, put a slight twist on it by having 300 people disappear off the island, then twist it even more by having those people reappear. So far, the guiding forces behind the occurrences are a guarded secret, as they should be. Otherwise, what reason do we have for tuning in next week?
The execution of the show, on the other hand, is not quite as I expected. Hearing that J. J. Abrams was attached to the show, I imagined Alcatraz would have many of the same elements Lost did, such as the insanely involved continuity or philosophical overtones. However, the way the show was handled is almost completely the opposite. Given the first two hours, Alcatraz looks to follow a formula of “one bad-guy a week”, tied neatly together in the disappearance mystery. This formula may provide some longevity; after all, there are over 300 inmates and guards to deal with. However, unless they ramp up the intrigue, I, and I imagine many others, will soon lose interest.
Alcatraz is not a bad show; in fact, it’s far from bad. A solid cast, original premise, and the promise of a strange mystery should all add up to something exciting. However, the first two hours of the series left me wanting more. Not more episodes, mind you, but more substance. While Alcatraz did manage to fascinate me to want to know more, especially given the reveal in the final moments of the second hour, its hold on me is tenuous at best.
Tags: Alcatraz, Bad Robot, J.J. Abrams, Jorge Garcia, Lost, Michael Wirth, Mission: Impossible, Review, Sam Neil, Sarah Jones, Television
About the Author
Written by Michael Wirth
Hailing from the armpit of America, New Jersey, Michael has been collecting comic books since the age of 10. Now, he deigns to keep his finger on the pulse of pop-culture, keeping up with every passing fad or iconic innovation, never losing sight of his comic book roots.
I didn’t get to see the premiere unfortunately. The series seems promising. I’m looking for the next Prison Break. That show was phenomenal.