007: Road to a Million

I saw the Guardian 1 star review and got curious. Watched the first test as it seemed the next contestants were about to repeat the same test I thought "are you serious?" Well their test was slightly different and was edited shorter.

This show has some of the best cinematography in a reality show. I think they're even using anamorphic lenses. Plus drone shots and slick editing. They're going for the 007 movie vibe, which is a little counterintuitive for a reality show. The USP of a reality show is it feels live and rough. This doesn't. It feels staged like an unrehearsed movie.

Its a mashup of various successful shows. So we have teams of pairs travelling across the world. But they're introduced slowly, like the Alone series (not all in the first episode). Brian Cox plays a kind of Bond villain Alan Sugar.

Except he comes across as a friendly uncle who thinks he's being evil. Except he's helping the contestants. Is he against them or not? That bit seems confused.

The tasks are right out of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? And ABC multiple choice without any friends to call. Every single task... so yeah it does get very repetitive. Once they find the case which contains the question it generally feels like an anti climax. And many of the questions are very easy.

The main problem is a basic lack of tension or intrigue. The contestants are not competing against each other. Instead each team is running their own quest to win the £1m. Therefore cutting between them has no meaning other than a way to stop the audience getting bored.

Cox is completely detached from the game and just supplies his robotic instructions and clues. Probably recorded completely separately. Unlike say Sugar in the Apprentice or the guy who used to present The Crystal Maze. They're part of the game and that adds to the fun, the intrigue and the tension.

They surely missed an opportunity to introduce some 007 intrigue between teams, by having them compete for the big prize conducting some Bond style espionage against each other.

As it is, it's just about entertaining enough to keep one's interest in an undemanding way, for a few hours casual viewing.

I just wonder how contrived the whole thing is. What if all the contestants got the questions wrong early? End of show. Maybe that's why the questions are so easy.

A lot of the stunts are far too dangerous for ordinary folks to take on without professional supervision. But that stuff gets edited out to give you them impression a couple ordinary blokes are suddenly expert rock climbers. In one task involving a cable car they don't show the contestant getting a safety cable attached to him, but you can see it in the wide shot. The editing implies they're left to complete the tasks alone.

Then there's convenient boatmen and taxi drivers who happen to be up for helping them out. There's time challenges which nobody ever fails.

It does have potential but they should rework the format.

There is an abundance of tv shows taking uk contestants around the world and/or the world for their chance at winning a cash prize.

This one is different, you can tell it has a big budget and the cinematography is really next level because of this. It's definitely got class.

As you will see by some reviews, people quit after 10 minutes, making their review reflecting nothing but the genre of the show. It's fun, the contestants all brought something different. You really do hope they get past each challenge.

It's really well edited, apart from a 2 second shot from a helicopter, there is no evidence of a film crew being there, you start to feel like you are the third person there.

Of course there is a bit of cheese, any fan of James Bond can look back and see a bit of cheese here and there.

Brian Cox was of course brilliant also.

Yes someone moaned about the bone brothers. They are not asking you to be friend with them, they were a class act. Really authentic characters, and deserved to get as far as they did, if not even further.

This is a tv show which has nothing to do with the James Bond series. I don't know why they have spent so much money to get the 007 name and the theme. The production is big, encompassing many countries but the whole show lacks energy and excitement. They have Brian Cox to head the show but he does nothing nor adds nothing to the show. Any guy with a voicebox would do. I love well written reality shows like Taskmaster or Traitors and this isn't one of them. This show promises the adventures of James Bond but it doesn't deliver. Locations + cabriolets + soundtrack is not equal Bond adventures. What the contestants do is go around different locations, find briefcases which contain questions and answer them. This is the scope of Bond life promised. I hope they do better with new episodes.

I've seen a lot of people across the internet going on about the show, saying they were expecting a proper serialised Bond show and that they were disappointed it was a reality show which I get but as somebody who knew exactly what to expect going in? I had quite a bit of fun with this. It's a vaguely Bond themed reality show with very cinematic camera work and the delightful Brian Cox hamming it up as the would be Bond Villain. The intro sequence is fantastic and the challenges are very much in line with what you would expect from an espionage based reality show. I think as long as you enjoy a bit of reality television here and there and know what you're getting yourself into, you might just have a good time.

Thank you for reading my review and have a lovely day.

I was skeptical but made it through the first episode and now onto the second. So far so good. I'm liking it better than the Amazing Race. It's a bit more serious and even dangerous. Brian Cox does an excellent job with his Borne Supremacy persona and lije a Bond villain watches the mystery unfold in a dark room full of monitors. I'll keep watching it the hope that it will get even better. The challenges definitely remind you of what Bond might have to deal with and the music adds to the suspense while the tension of the participants provides a few moments of levity. They must also have sone knowledge of history.