Criminal Minds (2017)

Buon remake, però si poteva osare di più

Da fan della serie americana e di Lee Joon Ji non potevo farmi sfuggire questo drama.

Storia

Già dal primo episodio, con la presentazione dei personaggi, si nota subito che la squadra protagonista ricalca quasi fedelmente quella originale.
Se da una parte risulta una mossa vincente perchè pur sempre di remake si tratta, dall’altra parte rende la serie abbastanza prevedibile in alcuni punti, soprattutto per quanto riguarda il personaggio del Team Manager Kang/Aaron Hotchner.
I casi proposti sono quasi tutti abbastanza coinvolgenti ed alcuni rimangono più impressi di altri, un paio di questi sono effettive trasposizioni fedeli della serie americana, la cosa mi è piaciuta poco avendo già delle storyline uguali potevano creare solo casi originali.
La serie mantiene un buon ritmo per tutta la sua durata, anche se talvolta cade in alcune scene fin troppo spettacolari, tipo gli inseguimenti in auto oppure in soluzioni ed escamotage fin troppo improbabili per il caso in questione.

Data la policy sulle censure e la tipologia delle serie, la mia paura più grossa era dovuta al fatto che le varie tematiche raccontate fossero fin troppo edulcorate rispetto a ciò che proponeva l’originale americano o che le riprese si svolgessero fuori campo senza che lo spettatore vedesse.
Fortunatamente la questione non si è posta, anzi alcuni casi delineano fortemente la società coreana con i suoi pregi e i suoi difetti.

Cast/Personaggi
Ho trovato interessanti le storyline dei personaggi di Kim Hyun Joon e di Ha Sun Woo che si discostano da quelle originali, elemento a favore che porta la serie al di fuori dello schema di una trasposizione fin troppo fedele. Moon Chae Won in questo drama mi aveva convinta poco sia per il personaggio sia per quanto riguarda la chimica con Lee Joon Ji, ho cambiato idea dopo aver visto Flower of Evil.
Vista l’unica season, alcuni background sono stati messi in secondo piano rispetto ad altri, ma questo non ha influito più di tanto nella continuity della serie, avrei gradito vedere anche una seconda stagione che avrebbe sicuramente giovato per un maggior approfondimento dei personaggi.

Ho apprezzato la colonna sonora, soprattutto Higher Plane di Flowsik .

Facendo raramente i rewatch di un drama e di una serie il mio voto è sempre molto basso.

In conclusione
Criminal Minds risulta un buon drama, con un mood interessante, ben strutturato, ma che a livello narrativo poteva osare molto di più data la serie tv americana che aveva alle spalle.

Leggi di Più

There was something extremely lackluster about this drama. I sincerely wanted to love it since I’m a fan of both the original series and Lee Joon Gi; however, this didn’t live up to my expectations. While watching the final episode, I noticed how uninterested I was in the plot. I couldn’t stay focused even though it was the climax of the series. I had to push myself to finish this drama and was thoroughly displeased. Maybe because I am a fan of the original and had high expectations for this remake that I couldn’t watch it without any bias, but even as a crime/detective drama it was unstimulating.

Overall and Story:
As a remake, there were many similarities between this and the original such as: the plot, some characters, and the concept. The show is based on criminal profiling and being able to “predict” an unsub’s (aka unidentified subject) actions through their psychological state. With the understanding of the unsub’s mental state and upbringing the team can help solve cases and prevent the unsub from striking again. The drama did “well” in this aspect. They broke down facts and solved crimes, but some details came out of nowhere. For a few cases, the profiling of the unsub felt far-fetched and unrealistic. I caught myself constantly wondering how the team deducted this information, but we never found out how.

The first few episodes were refreshing so the show felt promising and was intriguing. However, as the show progressed the cases and the criminals felt sapless. The cases may be similar to the original, but they lacked depth. The overarching antagonist in this drama also lacked intensity causing the drama to not have a strong and interesting (in a morbid pleasure kind of way) plot.

Acting/Cast:
About fifty percent of my decision to watch this was due to Lee Joon Gi. He portrayed Kim Hyun Joon who is an original character in this remake and as usual, I was charmed by his acting. Moon Chae Won is where I’m most dissatisfied. There’s no doubt that Moon Chae Won is a great actress, but the role of Ha Sun Woo was bland and stiff. I’m all for a tough female who doesn’t need romance in her life and can kick butt, but she was uninteresting to watch. The scriptwriter’s idea of a strong and independent female was far from amazing.

While we’re on the topic of the scriptwriters…they ruined the original Criminal Minds team. Lee Han was supposed to be Reid, Na Na was supposed to be Garcia, and Kang Ki Hyung was supposed to be Hotchner. I say supposed to be, because they failed miserably. I understand that there will be deviations here and there with remakes, but their character deviations were just atrocious. Lee Han reminds me a smart weakling who does nothing to add to the team, Na Na is trying so hard to be quirky she’s coming off as an annoying auntie who is a computer geek, and Kang Ki Hyung was…dull. There’s something about being the head of the team and going through what this character goes through that makes him stoic and fierce. His role knows the bitterness of the job, but sticks with it because he wants to better the lives of others by keeping these criminals off the street. The character, Kang Ki Hyung, was colorless and had no impact. I have not seen these actors in any other roles, but I don’t think it’s the actors fault that these characters were appalling. I truly believe it was the scriptwriters.

Last Thoughts:
It was hard to watch this series as a fan of the original because it’s difficult to not compare. Some of the cases are almost identical to the original so I couldn’t help but to compare. I firmly believe that the downfall of this drama wasn’t the cast, but the scriptwriters. The story and characters weren’t captivating. Maybe it’s because this series is so short that the scriptwriters had to rush the plot along, but a drama doesn’t need length for the content to be great.

If you’ve seen or are a fan of the original Criminals Minds I would not recommend you to watch this. If you’ve never seen Criminal Minds and enjoy crime/detective dramas I would recommend this with a grain of salt. It’s definitely not the best drama I’ve seen, but it’s also not the worst. It just lacked something to make it captivating.

Leggi di Più