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Love it or hate it, there will always be ethical questions surrounding investigative and true crime television, especially once the mechanics of reality television enter the picture. There is one reason to catch preyMore than two decades after it first aired, it remains controversial, regardless of which side of the argument one falls on. men Chris Hansen The opposites were not exactly handsome figures. But what happens when catching them is also necessary to make good television?
director Lance Oppenheim from the script Ajon Singh (itself based on Luke DietrichS Esquire Article “This Man Will Die on Tonight’s Date”) primetime Explores the mechanism behind it all. And after watching the film, you can be forgiven for feeling a little UhWas complicit in watching these hit operations, including the infamous one that ended with the suspect taking his own life. We know why we want Hansen and his team to catch these people. An unpleasant question is why they can be seen this way entertainment.
with multi-layered performances from his trio Robert Pattinson, Merritt Weaverand Skyler Gisondo (Yes, Superman’s Jimmy Olsen does a side quest as basically Batman’s muse) primetime Explores what happens when media ethics collide with sensationalism, ambition and an obsession with big shows. The result is one of the best films of the year and a compelling argument that Oppenheim is as confident in narrative films as he is in documentaries. More importantly, it continues to shift the moral ground beneath everyone involved, including those watching.
No wonder the real Chris Hansen hates this movie.
Catching the Prey (and Dominating Primetime)
The opening sequence takes us somewhere in Long Beach, where a man (Tony Revolor) goes outside the house and waits to meet a minor girl. We quickly learn that he is with the family of an ex-Marine who has been talking to underage girls online, and that the house is part of Chris Hansen’s (Patinson) elaborate operation. to catch prey. Everything else, including the girl waiting inside (Phoebe Bridgers), is a trick.
along with to catch prey suddenly offered a primetime slot, upsetting another program and pitting it directly against rival network heavyweights such as lostHansen and producer Andy Bender ( Wever , so fantastic here) set out to make the show “big.” A bigger rating means bigger expectations and ultimately bigger goals.
Their team soon connects with aspiring actor Dan Plum (Jisondo, Oscar-worthy to me), who auditions in hopes that the gig will finally help him secure his SAG card. A few days after seeing the film, her audition performance of “Seasons of Love”, fueled by her love for the musical. for rentStill living in my head rent-free, no pun intended. Five grants per shoot, three episodes total. What could possibly go wrong, right?
It seems like a lot: Danny becomes one of the show’s con artists, changing ages and personas depending on who the team is trying to fool. At the same time, Hansen is increasingly consumed with making to catch prey The biggest show on television, while problems in his personal life threaten the image he’s created (the optics of a predator cozily grabbing a junior, not his wife, is really career suicide). Meanwhile, Andy receives an attractive offer from ABC as he watches Hansen become more volatile; But the prospect of landing an even bigger story holds him back.
Then the team heard about a possible target in Texas, something big. The person is unusually observant online, apparently connected to the government, and potentially important enough to become their own version of Target Production. Moby Dick. Eventually, he was named an assistant district attorney Bill Conradt. And once Hansen and the team decide that Konradt’s waiting is no longer enough, the already blurred line between investigation, law enforcement and television production becomes much more difficult to maintain.
When justice needs ratings
Pattinson notes the opportunistic tendencies people develop once success becomes measurable. Miss Hansen openly hates him Stone PhillipsAlthough Phillips looks down to catch prey When sent to cover presumably more important events in the Middle East. And Hansen is asked to compete lost. I like this twist: there’s something darkly funny about a supposed public service operation being treated in exactly the same way as a network drama. Justice now has a rating.
This is what makes Pattinson’s performance really resonate beyond imitation. Filmmakers make sure that this obsession stems from the audience’s intrinsic need to do justice to the ratings. So we settle for the vanity and spectacle that is there to begin with. In one scene, when the cameramen focus on one of the child sex predators they have trapped, Hansen’s focus shifts elsewhere:
“Can we enlarge her pores?”
It’s funny, but it also says a lot. The man has already been caught. Now humiliation must play well on television. Pattinson gradually lets Hansen figure out the character he’s created: the costume, the measured voice, the entrance, the interrogation, the reveal. primetime Makes the point loud and clear: Hansen can justify almost every escalation because the people he’s targeting are doing something reprehensible. We want him to catch them.
So what happens when catching criminals isn’t enough for the man we’ve been assigned to catch?
Everyone has something to gain
Weaver complements Pattinson as producer Andy, as Oppenheim doesn’t target his Hansen conscience. Conversely, here’s a man who, at the first sign of a potential hit show with high ratings, can suddenly say he’s had enough verbal abuse and taken it for granted (What he craves… for the same promise of a hit show through the roof ratings). I agree with most that Weaver hasn’t been in enough movies and performances primetimeThis has to change.
That contradiction is what makes Weaver so good here. Andy can be sick of Hansen and professionally energized from the show at almost the same time. Even when tragedy strikes, the producer continues to work. What else can you shoot? Who else can be interviewed? What can be part of an episode? primetime Not everyone needs to be fierce behind the camera. Sometimes professional instinct is enough.
And Skyler Gisondo… the man. He is here to reveal. His eternally youthful appearance serves him well, allowing him to slip into any age range, depending on what fake profile Hansen’s team has to hide from child predators. And even if I can’t hear the same about Seasons of Love again, I wish the awards bodies would recognize the actor’s work here, as he registers this moral and emotional drift without overdoing it.
I also love Oppenheim and cinematography David Bolen Filmed: Deliberately old school, with a degraded, blurry and soft blur quality. The look matches the period, but also adds to the anticipation as the team waits for the suspect to arrive. I can only imagine the challenge for the editor Daniel Garber to combine different approaches to tell a cohesive story that he decides.
Digger, Primetime and other people’s pain business
I watched primetime Back to back DiggerAnd I feel like I made the right choice for that, even if obviously I went blind for both films. Of course, I was aware of the broad strokes of the Bill Conradt incident, which was widely speculated to be among the causes. to catch prey was cancelled.
But here’s the thing: Between the two films, there’s an interesting line that human suffering and generational trauma often becomes for entertainment, whether it’s a play, a film adaptation, or a reality sting-operation show; And that the people behind these products have egos that write checks that minds can’t collect.
along with primetimeHowever, the ethics of it all resonates louder. Humiliation as punishment? reading evil? Does justice become content? The show gives viewers a very pure ritual: someone enters the house, Hansen appears, chat logs are read, and the police wait outside. Evil suddenly has a face and a username. That clarity is part of why the format was so compelling in the first place. But how entertaining is it?
I also constantly think about what would have happened to catch prey has seen a revival or revival in today’s age of the Internet and (dis)information. Perhaps the scariest answer is that its descendants are already here, scattered across an online culture built around public shaming, vigilante content, reaction videos and algorithms that reward outrage. In its heyday during the Internet’s early forays into the realm of social media, the original show learned then that moral conviction makes for good television. Everyone has a camera now.
“Primetime”: We’re still watching
Most of all, I love that it’s clearly not a hagiography in any way shape or form, as it explores how catching criminals decides enough is enough. Hansen, Bender and the entire team want to grow, dominate primetime, generate cultural conversation and find more impressive targets.
With this shift in focus comes an important distinction: the difference between “doing something important” and knowing that everyone knows you’re doing something important is shrinking dangerously. If a production believes enough in what it’s doing, who decides when the camera has gone too far?
The most dangerous thing that Oppenheim and his team have got right is that it’s all very entertaining. primetime Criticizes sensationalism and knows exactly why sensationalism works. That’s where the complicity I felt comes back. Despite the moral gray, despite the selfishness of the very people we want to root for, we still watch.
So yes. No wonder Chris Hansen hates the movie.
A self-proclaimed cinephile who can’t stop talking and writing about movies. Paul also moonlights as a ghostwriter and editor for several memoirs. He currently lives in the Philippines.
