Fan Expo Canada: ‘Revolution’ Sneak Peek Screening
There was a bit of a wait as CityTV prepared for the screening, we were assured that a special guest was on the way. Billy Burke, who plays Miles Matheson in Revolution, arrived to introduce the screening straight from his flight into the city. He was charming, funny and kept it short, he joked that he wrote, created, directed the show before praising the hard work of producer J.J. Abrams, creator Eric Kripke and Jon Favreau who directed the pilot.
Revolution has a great pilot, it introduced a world not so far removed from our own, only 15 years after a mysterious event knocked out the all the electricity in the world. It’s far enough that the world has changed significantly but close enough that the adults recall life before the outage, it sets up an element of familiarity as well as an interesting generational dynamic. This generational gap provides a key expositional device as Aaron (Zak Orth) explains what happened to the world to us, and a group of disinterested youngsters, as we’re treated to glimpses of this new world. This lesson on modern history efficiently delivered a lot of background info in a context that didn’t feel too forced.
Within the first hour we have a firm handle on the world we’re in (including several flashbacks), who the major players are, and where the series will probably go from here. We understand the lay of the land and the motivations of our main characters, even some of the key relationships that the story will be playing with. The pilot conveys a big story in a short amount of time and this fast paced storytelling is exactly what Revolution needed to do to get kick-started. The exceptional cast that includes Giancarlo Esposito, Billy Burke, Maria Howell and Tracy Spiridakos, bring their characters to life with a level of nuance that pulls us into their stories immediately.
I was relieved to discover that the mystery about why the electricity went out isn’t the driving factor of the show. In fact, there are a group of people who do know what happened to the power (phewf!) and how to restore it. By the end of the pilot we even have a very good idea about why they’re keeping this knowledge a secret. The real dramatic tension appears to be between the group of rebels keeping the secret as they lay low and communicate using *gasp* rudimentary technology that includes electricity and the militia forces who have taken over what appears to be a good sized area of North America.
Favreau crafted a beautifully shot, expertly executed and well paced pilot that includes travel montages featuring vast expanses of a run down America, crowded urban scenes reminiscent of Dickensian London, and some excellent high energy action sequences. Revolution is a drama, but there is also humour, a good dose of action and of course, very good looking people. One of my favourite sequences in the pilot combines all of these elements in an elaborate fight-scene featuring the drunk and fearless Miles Matheson against the militia. Strangely this scene is the only one I’ll quibble with, Matheson is quite spry for a fellow who’s been laying low and drinking heavily for so long but it’s really not so important that I can’t easily let it slide.
The pilot covers a lot of ground and by then end I found myself quite invested in the characters and in the adventure to come. Any concerns I may have had regarding too many unsolvable mysteries a la Lost were quelled as the pilot was very revealing, if that is any indication of things to come. There is an exciting mystery and interesting relationships and tensions to be explored. I am very excited to see where the story goes next.
Revolution premieres September 17th at 10pm on CityTV. The pilot will be available online beginning today.
Feature image courtesy of LP Photogrraphy. For more images add LP Photography on facebook.
