Last night, I was part of a test audience for Enemies, a pilot currently under production for ABC by Touchstone Television. Written by Sean Bailey (Push, Nevada), produced by Bailey and Ken Olin (Alias), and directed by F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Be Cool), Enemies tells the story of two childhood best friends (Sean, played by Peter Facinelli and Mickey, played by Jeffrey Donovan) have grown up to become sworn enemies on opposite sides of the law. To complicate matters, Sean marries Mickey's sister (played by Amanda Righetti) which, I suppose for Sean's character, kind of ties Mickey's hands as far as killing off his enemy on the police force.
Set in Chicago, the filming felt gray and gritty like a mob drama ought to, and it had some killer music like Linkin Park and Audioslave going in the background.
I found one thing confusing, and I have one complaint: I found it confusing how, as teenagers, one moment Sean breaks up a fight between his friend Lon and Mickey, who's new to the neighborhood and mackin' on Lon's girlfriend, and moments later they're all best friends. I suppose the plot compressed a lot of time that could lead to some serious exposition later, all I'm saying is it was confusing to see them do a 180° turn so quickly. My only complaint is that there was no action! None! There were several opportunities for it: the fight in the school yard, Lon being killed, Gus being knifed I suppose there was a little action when Mouse Oliver's killer-for-hire walks through an office building killing people while trying to kill the CEO, but I wasn't emotionally invested in that character, in fact, we never even learned his name nor saw him on screen, so who cares if he gets killed? The Italian Job is one of my favorite modern movies, filled with action, suspense and twists, but I'm surprised Enemies was directed by the same person, because the latter, although showing promise, didn't have enough action in it for me to recommend it right now. Let's hope they fix that before the show airs later.
Set in Chicago, the filming felt gray and gritty like a mob drama ought to, and it had some killer music like Linkin Park and Audioslave going in the background.
I found one thing confusing, and I have one complaint: I found it confusing how, as teenagers, one moment Sean breaks up a fight between his friend Lon and Mickey, who's new to the neighborhood and mackin' on Lon's girlfriend, and moments later they're all best friends. I suppose the plot compressed a lot of time that could lead to some serious exposition later, all I'm saying is it was confusing to see them do a 180° turn so quickly. My only complaint is that there was no action! None! There were several opportunities for it: the fight in the school yard, Lon being killed, Gus being knifed I suppose there was a little action when Mouse Oliver's killer-for-hire walks through an office building killing people while trying to kill the CEO, but I wasn't emotionally invested in that character, in fact, we never even learned his name nor saw him on screen, so who cares if he gets killed? The Italian Job is one of my favorite modern movies, filled with action, suspense and twists, but I'm surprised Enemies was directed by the same person, because the latter, although showing promise, didn't have enough action in it for me to recommend it right now. Let's hope they fix that before the show airs later.
