Professionals debuts on The CW on October 11, 2022 with new episodes weekly.
Filmed in 2019 but just debuting on The CW, Professionals is the weirdest duck of a TV series. A reissue of soldier of fortune (2014) stars Tom Welling as an international security expert and Brendan Fraser as a super-rich futurist who needs him to find out who sabotaged his multi-billion dollar rocket. Because this is an international production, it’s shot at a frame rate that makes it look like a western soap opera (or TV with motion smoothing). Despite the global locations, the whole endeavor comes with a shocking cheapness that keeps it from reaching the visual standards of the rest of the CW roster. Coupled with a script full of clunky dialogue and action that’s pretty cheap, Professionals can’t compete with similar series that do better even on tight budgets.
Futurist Peter Swann (Fraser) and his lover, Dr. Grace Davila (Elena Anaya), opening in French Guiana, prepares to launch their Panacea satellite into space. A non-commercial creation intended to track diseases before they become a pandemic, they intend their project to change the game in terms of preventing global disasters. And then the rocket explodes. Broken by the expensive failure, both suspect foul play. Swann turns to Vincent Corbo (Welling), an elite security specialist who makes the highest dollar to solve the problems of wealthy clients around the world. Also, Davila was dating Corbo so she knows it’s him the guy to find out who sabotaged their rocket. Is Corbo a rocket scientist? no All right then.
The trio then team up to investigate the area surrounding the launch pad, leading them to a potential sniper’s roost and a .50 caliber cartridge case that all but ensures outsiders can tamper with it. In doing so, Corbo exudes a godlike level of nonchalance, as he surely anticipates every revelation, every twist and every possible bad actor along the way. Meanwhile, Swann jokes and blusters mightily, using his money to bail them out of every need Corbo can’t seem to fix. On another show, our guys would be typical alpha male archetypes. In this case, they’re more like competent dads who don’t have to bother getting ripped or doing any of the narrative heavy lifting other than blinking a bit.
As always, Fraser is comfortable with the action/comedy vibe and looks like he’s having the most fun of anyone on the show. He still has great comedic timing and knows how to get even the lamest dialogue across better when he was certainly on the page. Welling gets a succinct snapback every now and then, but Professionals requires him to mostly stay in “seriously, stuck in the mud” mode to keep up the unshakable spy facade. You have the potential to become more buddy cop in the future, but that entirely depends on the dialogue improving, a lot of.
The supporting actors are international actors from all over the world like Saïd Taghmaoui (wonder woman), Augustus Wittgenstein (The crown) and Jazzara Jaslyn (warrior), but they’re saddled with even worse dialogue and less character development. Creators Michael Colleary (Face/Off) and Jeff Most (The crow) both have some great credits on their resumes, but this series reads like they’ve got enough budget for two well-known stars and all that’s left is reserved for the occasional humble car spin or loud gunfight with minimal blood spatter. I’ll give you their two modestly clever investigative rounds in the pilot script, but everything outside of it is executed with such poor production value that there’s no opportunity to just get lost in the adventure fantasy or be impressed by anything in the frame. Instead, one secretly hopes Fraser or Welling doesn’t trip and injure themselves because it’s impossible for professionals to afford a doctor on set.
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