Watching Criss Angel Mind Freak has failed to answer one key question: is Mind Freak a noun or a verb? Is Criss Angel’s distinctive brand of performance art magic considered ‘mind freaking’, or is Criss Angel himself a Mind Freak, a designation that seems anything but complimentary? I recognize that semantics rarely has any place in magic, but this actually seems like kind of an important question, especially if some one is going to lay down his or her hard-earned money on this extensive set. Fortunately or not, this show never attempts to clarify the issue, bringing me to the conclusion that the whole thing is one of those post-modern attempts to convince you that there’s meaning where there isn’t by putting together words that don’t form a sentence (think that ‘truth beauty love freedom’ tagline from Moulin Rouge). That was strike one.
Each and every episode of Criss Angel Mind Freak follows some variation of the same structure: Angel decides that he is going to do something that is physically impossible, he mulls it over a little bit, he performs all sorts of different, smaller tricks for people who happen to be standing nearby (all of whom gasp in horror and amazement), and then finally performs the stunt/trick, much to the horror and amazement of everyone nearby. Naturally, I’m simplifying a little bit; each episode features its own unique mixture of horror and amazement, as well as Angel just sort of walking around, mind freaking absolutely no one.
I don’t want to make any false predictions here, but if something terrible should happen to Criss Angel at some point in the future, I’m worried that this show will be seen as the biggest, most expensive cry for help that the American media has ever produced. Angel seems like a cool enough guy (even if his shirtless, black eye shadow thing would work better on a teenager than someone well into his thirties), and his magic tricks can actually be pretty creative, but at the same time, the primary theme of this show seems to be spend some time with Criss Angel, please. There’s no structure beyond what I’ve described, nor is there any real drive to the series (I know it’s a reality show, but it’s at least fun when somebody has to lose, and nobody really loses magic); it’s just a long, endless series of Angel doing tricks, frequently without his shirt. Whether or not you like the guy (and there’s no argument that cable television hasn’t produced more grating personalities), it’s hard for this show not to feel like a vanity project for someone who hasn’t even established himself yet. But unlike other vanity projects, this one doesn’t even have the benefit of a plot or self-reflective irony that so many others do: it’s just straight-forward, non-stop Angel. It’s unlikely that the most charismatic of actors could carry such a show, let alone someone whose primary claim to fame is that he can have things done to him that would kill a normal person.
It’s probably unfair, but the show also suffers from general public disenchantment with magic. It’s not that people don’t still enjoy it, but it’s hard to get too excited about a guy performing tricks on television when we’ve already seen computer-generated everything splattered across the exact same screen. Sure, the show tries valiantly to overcome the credibility obstacle (there’s a small icon in the corner of the screen that reads ‘continuous shot’ whenever they especially want to indicate that the footage hasn’t been monkeyed around with), but after our eyes have lied to us so many times, it’s hard to believe that this show wouldn’t, too.
But then again, what do I know? This show played for five seasons, so it obviously appealed to somebody, and if you happen to be one of those people, you’ll probably love this set. This set collects the entire series, as well as several previously unreleased episodes and the Halloween special. Plus, the thing is so big that when you fold the box open, it reveals an image of Angel bisected by a pop-up buzzsaw, which is pretty cool. I can’t say that I was really enamored with this show (or that my original question doesn’t still bother me), but I can acknowledge that, since presentation seems to be everything for Angel, they did put together a handsome set.
"Criss Angel Collector's Edition" is on sale December 15, 2009 and is rated NR. Mystery, Reality. Written and directed by Criss Angel. Starring Criss Angel, Luigi Francis Shorty Rossi.
