After years of waiting for news about The Prisoner remake mini-series, it finally crept up on me.
For those of you who don’t know the premise, The Prisoner follows a man simply known as Number Six who tries to escape a mysterious place called the Village where they lock up resigned secret agents in order to keep information classified.
I was a little disappointed that the first episode strays too far from the original. The appointed Number Two isn’t constantly changing, they seem to care less about why Number Six resigned, the town seems less like a conspiracy and more like a normal town. Furthermore, the remake tries to cram in too much information in a haphazard manner. Too many awkward flashbacks and the resignation scene/intro is so dramaticized that it’s kinda retarded.
However, despite the flaws of the first episode, the next few episodes get progressively good..until the end where the message of the show was lost. I was pleasantly surprised by the remake’s strong emphasis on the idea of questioning norms and fighting the system. The remake also touches upon a lot of issues the original never did – such as faith, doubt, family, love, and even homosexuality – but it also took away all the mystery from the allegorical show. On top of that, the finale went all Stephen King on the series. I hate Stephen King’s work. I hate shows/movies that start out almost normal but end with some kind of phenomenon that’s supposed to explain everything. As mentioned, the remake’s Village became less of a conspiracy and more of a supernatural phenomenon that leaves more questions than answers.
While I think they made the right choice to cast Jim Caviezel as Number Six, I’m a little disappointed by their choice of location for the Village. The resort town Portmeirion with its postmodern architecture gave a mysterious and surreal feel to the original series but the remake’s Swakopmund looks just like a regular town. It does pay homage to the original but it wasn’t really consistent. After all, why would a village where all citizens are brainwashed to be nearly perfect even allow a kinky strip club to be established? I don’t know.
Perhaps remakes are simply cursed to never live up to the originals but I did enjoy most of the episodes – particularly 2, 3, and 5. I would have been satisfied if it didn’t end like a Stephen King movie but I still enjoyed the mini-series nonetheless.
