Powers

So I finally decided to watch Powers, since I am a PS Plus subscriber and can do so for free. I love Sharlto Copley, I think he is an amazing actor. He's given great performances in District 9 and the A-Team, so I thought I was in for a real treat. But alas, after just the pilot episode I found it incredibly hard to focus on what was going on, because of the really low quality production values. I forced myself to continue though, just in case it would get better and boy do I regret it. It's 47 x 10 (yes I am too lazy to do the math) minutes there that I will never get back again, and those were some painful hours indeed. The CGI and special effects are amateurish at best. It's like something you can find on Youtube and I don't mean your average trailer from an upcoming Marvel movie. It's really cringeworthy to watch just how bad it is, especially the fighting and the "flying". Whenever they lift themselves slightly above the ground you can clearly see that strings are lifting them. I know that a TV Show's budget is significantly smaller than a movie's, but if CW can make decent CGI and effects on shows like The Flash and Arrow, Sony could too... The choreography of the fighting is awful too. It's like they are drunk or something. But I think the worst thing about this show are the young actors. All five of the main youngsters are horribly awful (man I really wish IMDb allowed you to swear sometimes...), really really amateurish and so so cringeworthy to watch. Deena Pilgrim is supposed to be another one of those hard boiled female bad a**es, but it doesn't suit her at all. Susan Heyward tries way too hard to be tough, so much so that I can't help but facepalm myself at how embarrassingly bad she performs. From the moment she is introduced as a rookie cop, she acts like everything is her business and everyone should answer to her. In other words she's just way too much of a tryhard. Then there's this Zora person, who's also played by a bad actress which just really makes her into an unlikable character to me.

The issue I have with Krispin is not so much that the actor is also an amateur, it's his character that I dislike. He seems so out of place in the story in the first few episodes, whenever he's on screen, he's just like... there... Doesn't contribute to neither plot nor interacts with the other main characters. It's only in the last few episodes he's truly needed for the overall story arc. And no spoilers, but he's a total D-bag towards his own mom and it's only because of her line of work.

But worst of all is Calista and the actress who plays her... I know that "hate" is a strong word, but man I really hate her! I can't stand her, she is 1000 x worse than Deena Pilgrim, Zora and Krispin combined. She is so unlikable, I automatically lost focus whenever she was on screen and just closed my eyes. She's too much of a wannabe, that she's convinced that she has powers, even though she clearly doesn't. She will do anything in order to gain her powers, and if anyone mocks her or tries to talk some sense into her, she get's mad and leaves. She does some crazy s*** throughout the episodes in order to "discover" her powers, even going so far as putting her life and others at risk. It's literally the ONLY thing that's on her mind. She's just way too cocky and delusional for her own good. And I don't get why Johnny Royale is so caring and protective towards her, almost from the first time they met, he treats her like his own daughter and provides food and shelter for her, even though they're complete strangers to each other. But the worst thing about her, is how unbelievably bad the actress who portrays her is. I'm not joking when I say that she's without a doubt the absolute WORST actress I have ever seen in my entire life, and I have seen Paris Hilton act... Everything she says and does, is done so without soul and emotion. She can't cry, she can't express anger, pain, happiness, NOTHING. There's an episode where she's supposed to be ill and look "feverish", but when she laid down on her mattress and "shaked", I instantly burst out in laughter and double- facepalmed myself so hard that it felt like my eyes got rolled around inside my head. "What the hell was that???" was the only thing I could think of. I am lost for words to fully describe just how ridiculous she looked. Olesya Rulin should not act at all and if I ever see her in anything else, I will instantly turn off my TV without second thought.

The only redeeming things about this show, are Sharlto Copley, Noah Taylor and Eddie Izzards characters. They give good, believable performances, and their characters are instantly likable, especially Johnny Royale and Wolfe. Noah and Eddie are great actors, but it's especially Eddie's performance that truly makes me believe in his character and that he's this unstoppable force, if he ever get's out. But they fudged it all up and wasted his potential in the end sadly.

The best episode to me was the penultimate. It was the only episode that actually got me excited for the show, and it was mainly because of Eddie Izzard and how he really got to shine there with an interesting plot twist at the end, which sadly was wasted in the finale...

I will never for the life of me, watch another episode of this awful show ever again, even if it's free and I think it should be cancelled as quickly as possible!

The writing is so disappointing considering the bones of the plot are already put together since it is based on an existing graphic novel. As well, the performances are unbalanced. So many wonderful actors (Izzard, Taylor, Forbes, Copley to name a few) are trying their best to give some depth to crap dialogue and playing against some truly awful acting by the main characters. Direction seems non- existent...it's painfully clumsy in all respects. As well, will someone shape Walker's eyebrow? That and his oddly manicured perma- 5 o'clock shadow make him look like a muppet which makes it that much harder to take him seriously. God, and the wardrobe....completely uninspired.

The dialogue and acting in that scene in the 2nd episode when the 2 main cop characters Walker and Pilgrim are watching a TV news report in his living room is an example of everything that is wrong with this show.

They are going to have to bring in something new or I'm not going to get through this. The first few episodes were good and it seems to have legs but the cheesy special effects and silliness are starting to wear on me. We've seen it before in HEROES and others ... powers walk among us. There is a police force that deals with them. I'm interested in seeing how it plays out but am I 20 hours of my life interested?

As other reviewers have pointed out, the first couple episodes are lousy (like I'm-kind-of-embarrassed-for-these-actors level of lousiness). BUT the rest of the season more than makes up for the rocky start. While the whole superheroes thing has been done to death, Powers has definitely made the theme their own. With characters that aren't flatly just "good" or "evil" but rather more realistic humans, superb acting, and good dialogue and plots, this show is a must-see for any sci-fi/superheroes fans. There is so much potential for development of this universe; you can really see they have planted seeds for this to go so far above and beyond what we see in the first season. The PlayStation logo alone almost turned me away but I'm so glad I listened to the other reviewers and gave it a shot. Sure it's not perfect - the special effects could definitely use more work, and the writing and sets could be better, but I have a feeling they will really catch their stride in the second season - and I for one can't wait for it!

With the first episode of Powers I wasn't really sure what to think. It was good, but it seemed fairly obvious that the budget probably wasn't all that big and it has a different direction than the other superhero TV shows, yet I couldn't put my finger on it until about the third episode when it really take offs into being one of the best, if not the best of the superhero shows. First is that it's a real ongoing story, and it's solid, where everything that happens actually matters. People die, characters have both good and evil aspects, and everyone has a real back story that affects the big picture. BUT what probably works better than anything else in Powers is that the characters have complex relationships with each other that seem fairly realistic, or at least genuine in their motivations towards each other with invested interests so that the action carries a lot of weight. Show like Gotham, Arrow, and even Daredevil don't reach this level of effectiveness in their characterization.

One thing I would note is that this probably isn't for kids. There are a lot of F bombs, and though it doesn't really have sex, there are a few discussion about people using sex as a way to get what they want. Just FYI.