Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE: To Address Some Criticisms: I was looking through some of the 1 star reviews, as I tend to do just for kicks, and felt that I should at least offer up a response to some of them. Not all, because a lot of the criticism aren't even sentences much less criticisms (much less an actual review) but some. 1. Slow paced/Boring. As someone that watched the entire 4 seasons of the original (Seasons 1-3 had 4 episodes each, the final "Season" was basically a 2 part wrap up to tie up all the loose ends), and who enjoyed it very much, will admit the 1st episode of the original (as is this one) tends to be towards the laid back paced. You have to understand something. This show, after the pilot episode (assuming it follows the storyline and everything of the original) is absolutely insane going forward. The pacing is very high, there's no filler episodes, because with only 4 episodes per season, there's no time to just take an episode off. There is such a breakneck pace towards everything going forward that once you get past that 1st episode, it's almost all downhill from there as far as how fast paced and crazy everything gets. 2. They don't seem like friends/they don't like each other. The show is about four friends who don't really know each other anymore. They used to, in school. They had their lives ahead of them and the sky was the limit, and one of them succeeded and the others did not, and there's been this jealousy ever since that doesn't really get mentioned, until this weekend that they all get together for the 1st time in decades. So that 1st episode is them all getting to know each other again. They have these memories of hanging out and they've followed their lives to a degree (went to weddings, etc) but they're not neighbors hanging out every weekend. So they won't have that familiarity that you get with best friends, and as I said, the animosity at how life has beaten them down, hangs in the air around them. They talk a big game, but they all know they have failed at life and at their relationships. 3. Cursing/violence. Not sure what to tell you about this. There is definitely some shocking violence and a good deal of cursing in the original one, as there is with this one. If that's not your thing, nothing will change going forward. I would like to point out that one person who was disappointed that this was not like the Hangover, the way they thought a few moments in, and yet went on to criticize the cursing, maybe should re-watch the Hangover. You may have forgotten how much cursing was in that one. 4. No women except the party girls. If this gets picked up to series, you should see three/four major female characters (including one you've already seen towards the end) that will factor into this entire saga of these friends. Two of the female characters will factor in massively in helping them try to get out of their predicament. Stick with it, and I think you may enjoy where this show goes. *END OF UPDATE* The series "Mad Dogs" is not necessarily an "Amazon Originals" in the literal sense of it being an original series created from scratch specifically for the Amazon Prime network of shows, as this is based on the UK series "Mad Dogs" which was outstanding. I have been apprehensive about this remake for awhile, although with Shawn Ryan (The Shield, Terriers) attached to it, I was a bit more positive. An interesting note is that Ben Chaplin (bottom front/right of the poster) who stars in this as one of the four friends who reunite with a 5th friend at the latter's villa (the villa location is Majorca in the original, I believe, while this one is in Belize) plays a completely different character than he did in the original. In the original it was HIS Villa that the friends were visiting, while in this version Billy Zane plays the character that Chaplin inhabited in the original. When the episode began I wasn't sure what to think as I saw what appear to be quick flashes of things that would not come to fruition until the final season of the original, however I'm hoping that is just a misdirection and something that is not the same. Overall the show stays fairly true to the original series. There's a lot of different dialogue, but for the most part the outline and major beats stay consistent. Little differences such as the mask that the visitor wears towards the end (A cat mask here, and in the original a Prime Minister Tony Blair mask), the singling out of the one friend with the DNA evidence, do not deter from what is already a fantastic series they are seeking to replicate. The cast is pretty solid. I've never really seen Romany Falco in a serious role along these lines, more of the dramedy type things, but there's no real weak links in the chain, as it pertains to the casting here. I hope they bring this back for more, as I'm interested to see how things go. I do not expect them to surpass the original, as the original was just fantastic, lights out, but hopefully it can be a nice complimentary edition. Also, one last thing. I saw some people complaining about how it was "Slow paced". The original was like that as well for the opening episode. The original series the 1st episode, like this one, sets things up in motion. There's a lot of pieces being set up for the game, so to speak, and once that 1st episode is out of the way, the rest of the entire 4 years of the show was just bang, bang, bang, bang fast paced and really suspense/thriller filled moments. So if this comes back, I hope you all give it a shot, as you're in for one heck of a treat if you do, and if they come even close to doing what the original did.