Second verse, same as the first.
What They Say:
Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned) and Aisha Tyler (Archer, 24) star in this espionage-filled series from the producer of NCIS and 24! Agent XIII was left to rot in an Eastern European prison with no memories of his past or hope for his future. After a high-stakes breakout, he finds himself immersed in a network of spies and special agents as he attempts to figure out if the man he used to be was a patriot or a monster. Along the way, he uncovers a global conspiracy reaching from the Oval Office to the prisons of Venezuela involving plans for a weapon that could forever change the balance of international power. But when you’re a rogue agent on the run from both government agencies and terrorist cells, is there anyone you can really trust?
The Review:
Audio:
Each episode is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0.
Video:
The video quality for this show is high and the episodes make solid use of color to help enhance the mood of certain scenes. Sepia tones and blues are most often used, making XIII’s world seem harsh, cold, and dangerous. It should be noted that this is a Franco-Canadian TV series like Lost Girl, and there is a distinct visual aspect that they share that’s difficult to put into words, but once you glom on to it, it’s impossible not to see anymore.
Packaging:
The copy I received was a screener, so there is no packaging information.
Menu:
The menu is very sparse (as befitting a screener). Stuart Townsend sits against a wall on the left side of the screen. To his right are the series’ title and the option to either play all of the episodes or select them individually. The options are presented in a plain, utilitarian white font that stands out well, but is rather dull. There is no sound.
Extras:
The copy I received was a screener, so there were no extras included.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
How easy is it to break into the White House? If television and movies are to be believed then just about anyone with spy training can waltz right in and have a chat with the president. XIII certainly doesn’t have any trouble, and I was surprised that he didn’t run into Jason Bourne or Nightcrawler while he was traipsing through one of the most secure places in the world.
I know that’s a somewhat silly way to begin this review, but it’s indicative of the entire series: XIII the series is cliché city. It draws from the Bourne series, 24, and just about any other spy franchise out there, but it never weaves those influences into a cohesive whole, making it a pastiche that doesn’t know that it’s a pastiche.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a man is left for dead in one of the most inhospitable places in the world. He has no memory of his past or his identity and all he has to rely upon is muscle memory—a “specific set of skills” as Liam Neeson might put it. Various shadow forces in the world hunt him because of his skills and what he might remember, and he has to flee them while at the same time learn who he was. Thankfully, he has a beautiful, resourceful young woman to help him.
Now I’m taking a bit of cheap shot at XIII. If you know stories well enough you can basically do this to just about any work of fiction. What’s problematic here is that nothing new or interesting is being done with this basic formula. It’s a case of second verse, same as the first, only the first verse was much more enjoyable.
XIII was left to die in a no-name prison at the far end of the world. He’s rescued by an agent possibly working for the US government because of information he stored in a safe deposit box. He reconnects with an old flame (the aforementioned beautiful, resourceful young woman) and he tries to not only work this situation to his advantage, but he also tries to discern who sent him away and discover who he was before he becam the world’s most dangerous man.
The first episode introduces us to the main characters and the basic conflict. The rest of the episodes more or less follow the same formula: XIII finds a lead to his past, investigating it lands him into some sort of trouble, he resolves the trouble and either finds that the lead was a red herring or that it complicates the situation further. To be fair to the show, there were only three episodes on the screener, so it is possible that they might have switched up the formula a bit, but I rather doubt it.
To make matters worse, Stuart Townsend’s acting is about as bland as vanilla pudding. XIII rarely emotes, rarely changes his expression—he walks through each scene being a badass, which gets a little tiring after a while. The two supporting characters, Sam Taylor (the flame, played by Caterina Murino) and Agent Lauren Jones (played by Aisha Tyler) come across better, displaying a greater range of emotion and complexity than Townsend. To be fair to Townsend, their parts are better written, but the lead actor sets the tone of the show and provides the main reason for us to watch (it’s that actor’s story, after all) and XIII just isn’t interesting enough to hold my attention.
Worst of all, though, the show has a woman in a fridge moment with Sam. She is shot in the final episode of the screener, apparently just to add to XIII’s angst and pain. Just as in comics, it’s a cheap way to add gravity to the story.
Lazy writing like that permeates the show, making not bad as much as bland. I did a little research before writing this and discovered that XIII is based on a Belgium graphic novel series by the same name. I’ve never read the series before, but I do wonder how much was changed in its adaptation to the screen and how fans of the graphic novel feel about it. All I know is that a man who can break into the White House should not be boring.
In Summary:
Based on the Belgium graphic novel, XIII the series tells the story of an amnesiac spy trying to discover his past and navigate a web of intrigue and danger. The show pulls from various sources, but never quite comes together as its own story. Even worse, the show is just bland. There’s nothing new or interesting. I’d say give this one a pass.
Features:
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: C
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Giant Ape
Release Date: September 16th, 2014
MSRP: $49.98
Running Time: 180 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Panasonic Viera TH42PX50U 42” Plasma HDTV, Sony BPD-S3050 BluRay Player w/HDMI Connection
