Suitcase City (2022) Pilot Review
The pilot of Suitcase City, a concept created by Keith Sutliff, has just the right amount of mystery the first episode of a good show must have. You have to reveal something, and yet stay within the right boundaries of intrigue that will keep viewers on the edge episode after episode. You won’t know what the hell’s going on, even if it’s explained over and over, and the expression on the main character’s face says it all.
Suitcase City also feels like a good short film. One that holds the promise of an action thriller without necessarily displaying anything. That unrevealed premise is the reason why Suitcase City could be a worthy show. No matter what happens, the power dramatics of the first episode will always come back.
It stars Sutliff as Mason, a former cop who now leads a militia of ex-cops that try to regain control of a city. That city was formerly civilized. It’s now in control of gangs and radicals who have nuked every single resource, and only this source remains.
Mason is organizing something. We don’t know what it is and hints aren’t enough to come up with an answer. We see him go on the road (on his DeLorean, nice freaking touch) and he goes to a place related to his past. Again, not much is explained. The mystery of his past (and his boundaries) drift away with the smoke of his burning cigarettes. Mason is an enigma, and Suitcase City tells his story.
At least, that’s what I think.
Every pilot is an experiment, but they don’t all feel like it. This one certainly doesn’t. It’s beautifully shot, and the sound design is fantastic (more of that below). You can feel Sutliff has thrown every resource at hand to this project. It shows the effort of a filmmaker who knows exactly what to do when you have striking visuals, but also a cool promising story to tell. Again, Suitcase City is the short version of something bigger. A proof of concept that hits the right spot.
Particularly, the score by Spain’s prolific composer Federico Vaona feels like a solid addition to the show. There’s a vastness to his body of work that makes us feel part of this deserted landscape. Reminiscent of Zimmer’s work in Blade Runner 2049, Vaona’s score ups the game.
There we go. Suitcase City lets us take a peek into something interesting and not much more than that. It doesn’t even attempt to display some action and remains as a slow burn introduction to something we haven’t seen before. However, there’s no need to. Mason is interesting enough as a lead to make us hold and expect a great delivery. Whether that will happen or not, time will tell. I only expect that fantastic car to make another appearance and want to hear more of Vaona’s score.
Note: New action-thriller series Suitcase City will premiere on select streaming services and VOD this Spring. Premiere date to be announced soon.
