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SUPERMAN/BATMAN!! THE UNIT!! KINGS!! STAR TREK!! TAXI!! GHOSTBUSTERS!! RESCUE ME!! PRISONER!! HercVault!!

Published at: Sep 29, 2009 2:22:20 PM CDT

SPOILER ALERT !!

I am – Hercules!!

A nighttime soap set in an alternate reality from writer-producer Michael Green (“Heroes”), “Kings” stars “Deadwood’s” Ian McShane as a flatscreen-age monarch ruling over something called Gilboa, which is at war with neighboring Gath.

Because Gilboa feels very much like modern America, with its skyscrapers and neckties and combat gear and SUVs and TV news, it’s easy to compare it to “Battlestar Galactica’s” Caprica: a pretend place very much like the United States save for some very important differences.

Sadly the “Kings” universe does not make as much sense as the one Bill Adama and Laura Roslin inhabit. The ease with which David rescues King Silas’ son makes Gath out to be an improbably inept opponent, and another scene in which David precipitates a truce by making a speech to a bunch of enemy tanks is flatly absurd.

The reason I rooted for “Kings,” easily NBC’s best new show of the 2008-2009 season, is it’s difficult to dislike many of its characters. David Shepherd, the humble farmboy, surprises with his mechanical, battlefield and musical acumen, and exhibits a winning candor at key moments.

McShane’s Silas Benjamin exudes a engaging Sopranoesque gangster persona. He’s smart and fair but not above smacking around associates when events pile on the stress.

I’m also quite taken with Eamonn Walker (remember Kareem Said from “Oz”?) as what passes here for the prophet Samuel, Dylan Baker (the “Spider-Man” movies) as the war profiteer who bankrolls Silas’ kingdom and Allison Miller (“Boston Legal”) as the Gilboa’s idealistic princess. I even like “Gossip Girl” import Sebastian Stan as the snotty, insecure prince.

I anoint “Kings” worthy of sampling, but I wouldn’t blame any viewer for abdicating the enterprise because of its sillier elements.

Time Magazine says:

Is it better for a TV show to be consistent or surprising? Is it worse for it to be ridiculous or boring? NBC's unorthodox new drama Kings comes down solidly on the latter side of those questions. Some viewers will say it's fascinating. Others will say it's pretentious hoo-ha. Allow me to split the difference: Kings is fascinating pretentious hoo-ha.… It's easy to overlook these faults — and Kings' taste for melodramatic cheese, slathered with an overheated operatic score — when McShane is onstage. But Egan's David is an upstanding stiff, and when Egan gets a McShanian monologue at the end of the two-hour pilot, he sounds ridiculous. The subplots involving Jack and Gilboa's gilded nightlife play like a bad marriage of The Tudors and Gossip Girl. …

Entertainment Weekly says:

… Kings asks — well, McShane's Silas commands — you to enter its world; so far, that universe is pleasingly treacherous, though not wholly formed, a work in progress that's worth seeing through to completion. …

USA Today says:

… Kings doesn't quite work and probably won't last, but it's not recycled trash like Knight Rider and Kath & Kim, or cheap flotsam like Crusoe.Kings may have manifold flaws, but being run-of-the-mill is not among them. … a mess, but for a few weeks, anyway, it promises to be a fun, fascinating mess, the kind of "can you believe they're doing it" show you want to discuss the next day. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… an interesting muddle of a show, smart and silly by turns. It's corny, ponderous, literary, ambitious, obvious and, at the beginning at least, as slow as molasses, but continually re-energized by Ian McShane … It can all get a little pretentious. Green's language slips into King James Bible cadences and poetic word inversions. Sometimes it gets away from him completely, as in David's peacemaking speech to the Gaths, overwrought and overwritten and, in any case, delivered to an audience too far away to hear him, even if they weren't sitting inside tanks. Though they somehow do. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… Happily, this generally well-told tale of a modern-day king and his restive court has more going for it than a charismatic performance from the dependably wonderful “Deadwood” star. … But without McShane and his hooded eyes, which make the king’s courtiers quake with fear, “Kings” probably would have been a less interesting work. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… there's something compelling and odd about what the producers are trying to achieve. … If "Kings" wants to mine the Bible for more stories or continue on the David and Goliath path, that might be interesting. So are the Shakespearean elements. So is the odd clash of "Gossip Girl" meets "Masterpiece Theatre" moments. There are quirky bits of humor in "Kings." It's visually engrossing. Then it goes oddly flat in parts, only to kick-start itself with another clash of tones. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… I can't help admiring "Kings" more than I actually liked it. … almost always interesting but never quite as engaging as I wanted it to be.

The Seattle Times says:

… doesn't have enough fun with its imaginative concept or make it dramatic enough. … "Kings" looks elegant and ambitious, but in the end, this emperor isn't wearing any clothes.

The Boston Herald says:

… A royal bore … a snoozer that wouldn’t satisfy the lowliest court jester. … McShane could read the Congressional Record and make it sound like Shakespeare. Even his skill can’t bring this royal soap to a lather. …

The Boston Globe says:

… very odd, kind of cool, and probably totally doomed. … "Kings" does dip in and out of predictability, when familiar Spelling soap operatics and political machinations break through the show's unique surface. But it still is a fascinating effort. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… It takes an utterly straight-faced and painfully earnest approach to the kind of broad nighttime soap opera that once fueled "Dallas" and (especially) "Dynasty" through the 1980s, but to watch something so anal-retentive and full of itself in the new century can't help but play as unintended farce. This wildly broad serialized series from NBC leaves you actually shaking your head … The fact it has Ian McShane making self-important pronouncements and coded threats only adds to the empty-headed vibe of creator/executive producer/writer Michael Green's two-hour opener …

Variety says:

… Viewers will have to survive a rocky, at-times jarring first hour before the series begins coalescing into something interesting -- flawed but unpredictable, with a characteristically intense Ian McShane at its core. …

Bonus features:

* Audio commentary with Ian McShane, creator Michael Green and director Francis Lawrence on “Goliath,” the pilot.

* Deleted scenes from:
1.2 “Prosperity”
1.5 “Judgment Day”
1.7 “The Sabbath Queen”
1.8 “Pilgrimage”
1.9 “Chapter One”
1.10 “Javelin”
1.12 “New King, Part 2”

The Unit: The Complete Series is something worthy of serious consideration for two reasons:

a) It stars “24’s” amazing Dennis Haysbert, and

b) It was created by David Mamet (“The Untouchables,” “House of Games,” “Things Change,” “Homicide,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “American Buffalo,” “The Edge,” “The Spanish Prisoner,” “Wag The Dog,” “The Winslow Boy,” “State and Main,” “Heist,” “Spartan,” “Edmond,” “Redbelt,” etc., etc. etc.), one of the finest writers of our generation, not matter what A.O. Scott says.

Mamet personally scripted 10 of the 66 episodes (including February’s “The Last Nazi”) and directed four.

Here’s what I posted about its pilot, way back on March 7, 2006:

This thing’s not only got David Mamet - one of the best writers on the planet - penning it, it’s got a cast and a half: Dennis Haysbert (“24”), Robert Patrick (“The X-Files”), Scott Foley (“Felicity”), pretty Audrey Marie Anderson (“Point Pleasant”) and a blonde who looks an awful lot like Ashley “Birds of Prey” Scott. But isn’t.

It’s a show that’s all schizophrenic, and that’s what makes it good. Half of it is like “24,” with super-macho military types cavorting about on dangerous secret missions to foil terrorists. Missions so secret, even other government officials in the field don’t know what they’re up to.

The other half is about their wives, who have to pretend these guys aren’t secret agents. There’s a new girl on base, not a typical military wife, and she’s not too excited about all the New Rules she has to follow and all the Big Secrets she has to keep. As I say, interesting.

The biggest fun, though, is watching Haysbert play Jack Bauer. He’s great at it!

But what matters Herc’s opinion?

Variety says:

Although there are a few Mametian flourishes … "The Unit" stays rooted on these parallel tracks beginning with Haysbert, nicely handling his demotion from commander in chief on "24" to field commander here; and a steely Robert Patrick as his office-bound boss.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… The verdict, based solely on the premiere, is favorable. "The Unit" is filled with thrilling action and heart-pounding adventure. What's more, it expands the scope of the drama by including military wives, depicted here as being as courageous and steely nerved in their own way as their husbands. Mamet's best known dramas often wrestle with the nature of the human condition or the impact of contemporary culture. In the premiere, at least, such philosophical musings take a back seat to a meat-and-potatoes style of entertainment (like Mamet's less well known scripts for "The Untouchables" or "Ronin"), that is no less satisfying.

USA Today gives it two and a half stars (out of four) and says:

It's like two shows in one. Unfortunately, only one of them is interesting, and it's not the one you might expect. … Certainly if you're an action fan, you're probably most looking forward to the "forceful" half of the story … Yet sadly enough, that side of tonight's premiere is almost comically bad … Yet just when you're ready to give up on the show, it moves back to the base — and becomes a much better show. We've seen the action stuff before. What we haven't seen is Mamet's exploration of an insular, incredibly guarded society run by a not-to-be-trifled-with Big Sister: Jonas' wife, Molly (Regina Taylor). Rather than present a standard, gooey view of the supportive little women back home, The Unit delves into their fears and examines the not-always-friendly world they've created as a coping mechanism.

Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B” and says:

This being Mamet, there's lots of folksy jargon … I wonder what middle America will make of a later episode, when Haysbert says he must rescue ''two Bible-thumpin' fools who haven't got a clue.''

The New York Times says:

… On "The Unit" on CBS, the playwright turns over his distinctive dialogue to actual soldiers. But tough talk is less striking in combat — the men who belong to this elite, top-secret Special Forces unit are not all that special. "The Unit" becomes distinctive only when the action shifts back to the wives left behind on the base (and not just when the platinum blonde dons black underwear, though that is a sure sign that adultery is soon to follow). The wives are the ones who converse in Mamet-speak, exchanging taut, fraught dialogue that mystifies more than it enlightens. … Perhaps because Mr. Mamet is a writer, director and executive producer of the show (alongside Shawn Ryan, creator of "The Shield") it is hard to take these women's brave fronts at face value: something sinister seems to be going on beneath the helpful hints. Something sinister lurks behind that welcome wagon.

The Washington Post says:

… Haysbert has a commanding commander's presence, to put it mildly, and even though it's an ensemble drama a high-impact vicarious experience no matter how one may try to resist.

COMMENTARIES:

1.8 “Sere.” Demore Barnes and producers Shawn Ryan and Eric L. Haney.

2.2 “Extreme Rendition.” Regina Taylor, Ryan and producer Nicolas Bradley.

2.3 “The Kill Zone.” Dennis Haysbert, Robert Patrick, Barnes and writer-producer Lynn Mamet.

2.5 “Force Majeure.” Scott Foley, Michael Irby, Max Martini and writer-producer Daniel Voll.

2.8 “Natural Selection.” Foley, Audrey Marie Anderson, Haney and writer-producer Sharon Lee Watson.

2.11 “Silver Star.” Haysbert, Martini and director Bill L. Norton.

2.13 “Sub-Conscious.” Abby Brammell, Anderson and Voll.

2.14 “Johnny B. Good.” Martini, writer-producer Todd Ellis Kessler and director Vahan Moosekian.

2.17 “Dark of the Moon.” Haysbert, Haney, Ryan and director Michael Zinberg.

2.22 “Freefall.” Haysbert, Brammell and Voll.

2.23 “Paradise Lost.” Haysbert, Brammell, Moosekian and Lynn Mamet.

3.1 “Pademonium Part 1.” Moosekian, Watson and director of photography Krishna Rao.

3.2 “Pandemonium Part 2.” Haysbert, Irby, Rebecca Pidgeon, Moosekian, Rao and writer-producer Todd Kessler.

3.3 “Always Kiss Them Goodbye.” Brammell, Ryan and visual effects supervisor Dave Aternau.

3.4 “Every Breath You Take.” Barnes, Lynn Mamet and editor Rick Tuber.

3.5 “Inside Out.” Anderson, Barnes, Brammell and writer Dan Hindmarch.

3.7 “Five Brothers.” Haysbert, Robert Patrick, Irby, Martini, Barnes and Voll.

3.8 “Play 16.” Haysbert, Patrick, Irby, Martini, Barnes and Voll.

3.9 “Binary Explosion.” Haysbert, Patrick, Irby, Barnes, writer Randy Huggins and special effects coordinator Dennis Dion.

OTHER EXTRAS:

* “Inside Delta Force” (7:48)

* “Paradise Lost: The Making of the Season 2 Finale” (32:46)

* “Mission: The Making of Sub-Conscious” (11:44)

* “Dark of the Moon: Working With Weapons.” (20:08)

* “The Writers Roundtable.” (30:47) Writers Ryan, Watson, Voll, Kessler, Frank Military and Lynn Mamet discuss the series’ first three seasons.

* Seven Season-Three Deleted Scenes. (5:24)

* “Into Hell: A Brotherhood Divided.” (11:20)

* “Shadow Riders: A Western Come Undone.” (8:05)

* Snake Doctor: A Leader Among Us.” (4:49)

What’s cool about the new animated direct-to-DVD movie Superman/Batman: Public Enemies?

* It reinstalls Clancy Brown (who gets top billing!) as Lex Luthor, Tim Daly as Clark Kent and Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne, the guys who created these roles in the 1990s. Daly’s return on these new DVDs is especially gratifying, since he sat out the “Justice League” series. And CCH Pounder reprises her Amanda Waller role from “Justice League.”

* The movie draws magnificently from the many corners of the DC universe for heroes and villains to beat up the fugitives. There is a huge number of non-speaking superpowered icons, but this is the balance of the voice cast:

Captain Atom: Xander Berkeley
Captain Marvel: Corey Burton
Major Force: Ricardo Chavira
Power Girl: Alison Mack
Metallo: John C. McGinley
Amanda Waller: CCH Pounder
Black Lightning: LeVar Burton
Toyman: Calvin Tran
Gorilla Grodd: Brian George
Starfire: Jennifer Hale
Nightshade: Rachel MacFarlane
Alfred Pennyworth: Alan Oppenheimer
Giganta: Andrea Romano
Mongul: Bruce Timm

The story: Superman and Batman have to clear their names after Lex Luthor, now U.S. president, frames them for murder and puts a bounty on their heads. (There’s also a mountain-size piece of Kryptonite headed for Earth, though I can’t say that plotline melded well with the other.)

All that said, it saddens me to report this is likely the weakest of the PG-13 DC movies I’ve seen. I hated the lame banter shared by the title characters; I did not need to hear The Batman admit he feels emasculated every time Superman has to fly him somewhere, nor did I need Bruce to imply that Clark is pussy-whipped; Batman is a super-hero; he should not give a shit about this sort of thing. When they’re not making inane bromance chit-chat, the duo mostly just fight and fight and fight everything Luthor can throw at them. By the third act, things get really sloppy and stupid, with a Kryptonite serum, a bizarre kiss, a doofy rocket ship and a hollow “sacrifice” that turns out to be not remotely a sacrifice.

Extras on the Blu-ray edition include:

* “A Test of Minds: Superman and Batman” (19:01) Jeph Loeb, who (long before NBC fired him from the writing staff of “Heroes”) wrote the graphic novel on which the movie is based, gives his take on the title characters’ relationship.

* “Dinner With DCU and Special Guest Kevin Conroy” (55:59) Conroy, producer Bruce Timm, DC exec Greg Noveck and casting director Andrea Romano enjoy a “Dinner For Five”-like dinner and chat across the street from the Burbank’s Warner lot (at my carnivorous ex-girlfriend’s favorite restaurant, The Smoke House).

* “A First Look at Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” (11:12) A new infomerical on the upcoming direct-to-DVD title. Learn that Dwayne McDuffie’s script for the project was originally written for an unrealized sixth season of “Justice League Unlimited.” Billy Baldwin plays Batman, Mark Harmon plays Superman, Chris Noth plays Luthor, Gina Torres plays Superwoman and James Woods plays Owlman.

* “Blackest Night: Inside The DC Comics Event” (8:52) A look at the big corpse-centric crossover storyline currently unfolding in the DC funnybooks.

* Four old informercials for four already-released PG-13 animated DVD-movies:
“Wonder Woman: The Amazon Princess” (10:26)
“Batman Gotham Knight: An Anime Evolution” (10:09)
“From Graphic Novel To Original Animated Movie: Justice League The New Frontier” (10:45)
“Green Lantern First Flight: The Animated Movie Sneak Peek” (10:12)

* Four 2005 Superman-Batman episodes from “Justice League Unlimited”:
4.9 “Question Authority”
4.10 “Flashpoint”
4.11 “Panic in the Sky”
4.12 “Divided We Fall”

* Two Batman-centric episodes from “Superman: The Animated Series”:
3.2 “Knight Time” (1998)
4.1 “The Demon Reborn” (1999)

Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry