Sunday, March 20, 2016

Movie review: Person of Interest

What to do when you build an AI that identifies people who will be involved in crimes? Hire an ex-CIA assassin to help find them. And when the government decides your work, and the lives you save, are irrelevant? Go rogue.

Michael Emerson (Harold), Jim Caviezel (Reese), Amy Acker (Root), Kevin Chapman (Fusco), Taraji Henson (Carter), Sarah Shahi (Shaw), Enrico Colantoni (Elias), John Nolan (Greer), Robert Burke (Simmons).

Person of Interest is a series predicated on a simple premise; Harold built an AI for the government to use against domestic terror. The AI however predicts all criminal acts so the government classifies all but national threats as irrelevant. Harold teams up with Reese to address these irrelevant crimes and save lives. The result is a series that varies with every episode while nicely maintaining long-term series storylines, growing the characters, and regularly pushing the limits.

Acting here is nicely done with Caviezel doing a surprisingly good job despite persistent mumbling. Emerson grew nicely during the series, delivering well consistently. Acker was fun, sexy, and very entertaining. Chapman did well, as did Henson. Shahi was also a bright spot, despite mumbling, and did exceptionally well in her role. The remainder of the varied supporting cast was quite enjoyable.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds are all well done with a solid, big-budget feel throughout. Action scenes were common in the series and nicely done with an authentic feel and good detail. Dialogue was great with variety and depth that held audience attention nicely. Sound and soundtrack were good.

Person of Interest takes the common concept of electronic surveillance and dives into the details giving us a series with good depth and intensity while keeping a foot grounded in reality. Those who enjoy a good spy thriller or crime action flick should enjoy this one.

With some violence, this should be fine for teens and above.

Released: 2015 (Season 4)
Reviewed: 3.9.16
Star rating: 4 out of 5
Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, TV Crime, TV Action

copyright ©2016 Dave Riedel

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