My review of the Reboot

[Joekido]

While this may be an open-minded fourm, but the very reason why i created this fourm was because I was banned from another board and was unable to review Huaka’I Kula (Field Trip). I must confess I'm not a big fan of the reboot mostly because the reboot lacks many things and this show is runned by someone who writes comic books. But this is my opinion and your free to disagree with me. And please don' let this stop you from joining and express your opinion

Here I review the entire reboot and what it lacked. The reboot itself was CBS attempted to resurrect the original. However because CBS gave no time to find the right people to run the series.

The attempt to resurrect the series was not new; back in 1997 Stephen J. Cannell wrote and produced the one-hour pilot that never aired. It was to star Gary Busey and Russel Wong as the new Hawaii Five-O team. Many regulars from the original series, Kam Fong was to be included as Chin Ho Kelly and James MacArthur to appear as the new governor. But they forgot that Chin Ho Kelly was killed off at the end of season 10. Removing Kam Fong would be costly so they scrapped the pilot.

On August 12, 2008 they hired Ed Bernero, the showrunner of Criminal Minds and a fan of the original series to run this show. His version was to have a son of Steve McGarrett to replace his father. He was going to bring back many iconic elements such as 'Book 'em Danno'. But his version did not go through the script stage.

In October 2009, they hired Peter M. Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman and
Roberto Orci to run the new series. Rather then making a sequal, they decided to make a reboot similer to the Star Trek 2009. At first it would look like a good idea. It was but the 3 in my opition did not do it right. Mostly because they did not had to time to develop the series like Leonard Freeman did back in 1967.

Rather then take the elements from the original series to make this series good, they decided to create a reverse effect of the original series. Which is not a bad idea but here the characters acts like action figures, the crime of the week was not very intersting, they there are so many violence at the extreme. The whole show acts like a cartoon. I can understand why CBS wanted to prevent the reboot to follow the path of the original and have the writers write as if the original never existed. However to many, this would be CBS biggest mistake.

Here I'm going to break this show down piece by piece, here you can go ahead and express your own opinion

[Joekido]

The Story:

The story itself is honestly weak. Apperently they are trying to follow the example of LOST, Revange, Alias and Burn Notice. Because the production was rushed, there was no time to develop a strong story. I like how they attempt to pan out a storyline, if only they did it right.

Here is the plot; A father is killed, forcing his son who is a SuperSEAL to come back and investigate his death. He finds a toolbox which has evidence that his father stored in that was suppose to be about his investigation on corruptions. The evidence mostly deals with the yakuzas. Then, we have a corrupted governor, then we have Shelbourne. Then we found out that Shelbourn turns out to be McGarret's mother who is a superspy. Suddenly the story from season 1 and 2 diappeared to focus on Doris. Many questions would pop up, some would be answered but most were left unanswered.

And it became clear that they don't know what to do with Doris. Frist she's hiding in Japan because someone is out to kill her, then she was brought to Oahu with protection form her son, then she let Wo Fat escape, then she was to be sent back to Japan but turned the jet back to Oahu, then she started walking around, appearing in McGarrat's house and manage to find her daughter; ignoring the fact that she was scared to come out of her hiding, and tortures a guy for trying to kill her. Does that makes sense? The story itself was full of plotholes. Like what was this incident Mary was talking about? What was the truth that McGarret will not like? What is suppose to be Wo Fat's role anyway?

Now in season 3 many side story like Danno/Racheal custody battles disappeared, new storylines would appear like season five we are treated with Jerry bugging counterfeiting people.

I also noticed that the show sometimes the show forget that Hawaii is setting. Almost no episodes blend in with the enviroment, history and the culture. For example; a family got lost in Oahu, which is a small island, it's so impossible to get lost in. And bringing Delano out of jail, where is he's suppose to go since he's the island.

Most crime-of-week was incidental. During season 2 I keep seeing Hawaii Five-0 like a "CSI: Honolulu". In the Original series we would see villans already, while the Five-O would try to figure out who did it. in the Reboot, most of the time villans will not be seen until the end.

[Joekido]

The Casting:

The casting were not that great. Back in 1967, Leonard would select 2 iconic people from the mainland to play the main role including locally selected people. Kam Fong and Zulu were both Hawaiians. However in the 2010 version they decided to select people from everywhere avalible everywhere. Let's break down the cast sheet.

Alex O'Loughlin as Steve McGarrett: In the 1968 version, Steve was played by Jack Lord, an American. In the 2010 version, Steve was played by an Australian named Alex O'Loughlin. Althought Alex himself is not a bad actor, the decision the recruit him was to garner more female fans, which worked but ends up garnering couger fans. In the 1968 version, Steve was a former naval officer and a wisecracker who oftens outwit people. In the 2010, Steve was an action hero from the navy SEAL who beats you up. Rarely would he brainstorm. Alex however has a persona of a wimpy guy with an Adam Sandler haircut. He really did not fit the role of Steve.

Grace Park as Kono Kalakaua: The decision to cast him as a female was not a bad idea, however rather then select a Polynesian woman to play the role, they select a Canadian Korean woman to play the role as a Native Hawaiian. It's hard to swallow that she is a Native Hawaiian, nor is she's a Polynesian. Grace Park always looks tired and would often moan. She oftens complain that she wanted to play a role she is character-drivin but she ends up in a role she did not expect.

Scott Caan as Danny Williams: Why did they select a guy who did not want the role is behind me. His character oftens complains and argue with his boss, making him an annoy character. If Scott did not want the role he does not have too. In the 1968 version, Danny Williams was loyal, and smart, the only time he argues if something goes wrong but never reached to an annoy level. Why people even like Scott is a mystery. He is the only American to play the core four role

Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly: I have no complaint about him, he is the only good casting choice for the core four despite being born in South Korea.

Masi Oka as Docter Bergman: In the 1968 version, he was played by an old white guy, in the 2010 version, he is played by an young Asian who often acts as a pop-culture vendor and having more lines then his 1968 version.

Mark Dacascos as Wo Fat: In the 1968 version, he's a red Chinese agent, in the 2010 version he's initially a yakuza. however they clearly don't know what to do with him.

Dennis Chung as Duke Lukela: Like the original series, he starts out as a police man, however in the Original series he was played by an Polynesian. In the reboot he was played by an Asian-decedent.

The Music

The music is loud and terrible. rarely would there be good music

Camera

The camera often shakes.

[Joekido]

My Impression.

When I first heard of the Reboot, I did not care. I thought of it as a another generic cop show that CBS always loves to air. It gets pretty tiring. But when the Original series streamed on Netflix, I decided to take a look at it and wow, it was not just a cop show. I grew interested and decided to watch the Reboot which was in it's second season. I was expecting it to be complex and the story to be good. I was expecting it to be a 24/Revenge/Criminal Minds/LOST/Law and Order/Many more to be smashed together but as season 2 progressed, I was wrong. I had expectation for the Reboot to have a strong story, which season 1 was doing but by season 2 it became clear that the main storyline does not know where it's going. Appearly they tried to make this more then a cop show by adding a soap opera element, it failed bad. Peter Lenkov himself does not know what to do with the main storyline, by the time season 3 rolled by, it was a McMommy drama. By season 4, it was some mysterious gravesite of a mysterious woman, by season 5, they finally tried to give each character their own story arc, something they should have done back in season 2. I do not what the series to be a clone of the Original series but a series with a strong storyline. The problem is as I explain in the story section that the storyline is weak and poorly-handled. Crime-of-the-week storylines was not thought out of, most writing was terrible. Rarely they would get it right. The entire show is a mindless entertainment which is something that people love to watch today rather then a "use your brain" entertainment which I do not think it's a good idea. I still stand firm that the Reboot should have been a 'use your brain" entertainment. Plus I do not trust Peter Lenkov, with all of his lies and broken promise shows that he can't tell a compelling story. I'm sorry Reboot fans, I wish I could say positive things about the Reboot but this is what I saw and this is my honest opinion.