Missed target

Rating: C-

The beginning of Fox's Human Target opens with a speech about losing your identity and becoming something you're not.
Sounds like an interesting topic for a show to tackle. The show quickly disappoints, however, dashing away any notion of intelligence or originality. Instead, it opts to be a banal, run-of-the-mill action series.
Based on the DC Comic series of the same name, Human Target tells the story of Christopher Chance (Mark Valley, Fringe) and his unusual work. Chance is a sort of bodyguard/private investigator who flushes out would-be assassins in order to protect his clients.
Chance's first mission on the show is to find and protect the designer of a bullet train from an unknown hired gun. The episode quickly turns into a simple cat-and-mouse chase and a formulaic routine riddled with clichés. It is apparent that Human Target will not deviate from this boring procedure.
Although Christopher Chance was created in the 1972 comic series Human Target, he is much more famous for the later Vertigo comic series by Peter Milligan. The show makes radical changes for the worst, leaving behind a poor imitation.
The comic explored the human condition in terms of identity loss and insanity. It also presented a much deeper Christopher Chance; Chance from the comics was gung-ho and cocky like the one in the show, but there was something underneath that made him an uneasy character. He possessed a subtle creepiness that didn't make him the shining knight. He has some unoriginal problems in the show's version.
It might not be fair to compare the show, in its short life, to the comic that has been around for decades. The show, though, seems like it will never touch the more mature themes presented by the comic book. Instead, it sacrifices these deeper issues in exchange for mediocre action.
The cast of Human Target is strong, but its potential is lost in the lousy writing and poorly constructed premise.
Valley is able to capture the heroic side of Chance, but only to a certain extent. His performance as Chance leaves much to be desired and leaves much of the potential of the character untapped. Valley and the writers have ditched any depth that was found in the comic version of the character for an unoriginal action hero with superfluous, melodramatic psychological problems.
Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies) joins Valley as Chance's business partner Winston, who provides support to Chance while he is on his missions. McBride is good as the straight man to Valley's off-the-wall Chance.
While the two characters' back-and-fourth is fun to watch, McBride is given little to do in the episode. He is left mostly behind a computer without much action. Hopefully, the character will be expanded as the show continues.
The highlight of the cast and the show is, without doubt, Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) as Guerrero, another one of Chance's associates. The difference between him and Winston is that Guerrero is not afraid to get his hands dirty.
Guerrero is dripping with creepiness and Haley is perfect for the role. Haley seems to excel at playing deranged characters, from Watchmen's Rorschach to the upcoming Shutter Island and Nightmare on Elm Street remakes.
The show shines whenever Haley is on the screen, especially when the unhinged Guerrero meets up with the straight-laced Winston.
The best scene of the episode is when the small Guerrero meets up with a pair of intimidating leg-breakers. When he turns the tables around on them, it is disturbing, but very entertaining.
Human Target is a show filled with more misses than hits. It showcases some potential that hopefully outgrows its current incarnation. Right now, though, Human Target is a mediocre, unoriginal action show.

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