You could say a lot about the CBS reboot of Hawaii Five-O. From a certain perspective the show is ridiculous. It's a tiny four person police force that deals with everything from human trafficking to gang violence to federal espionage, this force's jurisdiction is as uncertain as the premise. Having said that, the show does one thing incredibly well. It keeps the stakes extremely high and that alone seems enough to keep me entertained.
I never really watched the reruns of the original Hawaii Five-O. Occasionally I'd see a segment of the show as I flipped through the channels and it never really held my interest as a child. Or course any kind of police procedural, even today, is hard pressed to hold the interest of a ten year old, but there was something about the original show that just felt really bland to me. (Note: Anyone notice how David Caruso seems to be an exact copy of Jack Lord's mannerisms?)
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| old uninteresting |
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| new uninteresting |
The characters for the new show aren't terribly unique. Alex O'Loughlin plays the lead role as a singularly uninteresting tough as nails ex-military type. Scott Caan on the other hand plays the buddy character Danny Williams with a certain amount of endearing single father earnestness mixed with a mocking disdain for the lead character which makes him my favorite character of the show.
The show gets into a little bit of the culture of Hawaii. While I can't vouch for the accuracy of the information it is interesting and makes the setting come alive. A lot of shows have interesting settings but they don't create such unique and interesting bit characters. Hawaii seems like another country. Of course the way Hawaii is represented in the show it comes across as not only exotic and beautiful but also as a violent and dangerous place (bet the Hawaiian tourism board loves that).
It's worth checking out at least once.
