Ian McKellen Rules in Remake of 'The Prisoner'

A man named Michael from New York wakes up in the desert, much to his surprise.

This photo released by AMC shows Ian McKellen as Two in a scene from "The Prisoner". "The Prisoner,"...

This photo released by AMC shows Ian McKellen as Two in a scene from "The Prisoner". "The Prisoner," is a six-hour, three-night reimagining of the 1960s classic. It airs Sunday through Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on AMC.(AP Photo/AMC, Keith Bernstein) NO SALES

(AP)

Fortunately, a pleasant-looking village is nearby.

Unfortunately, Michael wants to get back to New York and finds he can't.

"That's not possible," the Village elder tells him. "There is no New York. There's only the Village."

"I want out!" Michael says.

"There is no out," insists the leader. "There is only in."

So goes "The Prisoner," a brilliant six-hour, three-night reimagining of the 1960s classic. It airs Sunday through Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on AMC.

"The Prisoner" is a sometimes startling, always eye-popping meditation on freedom through the prism of mass thought control. Jim Caviezel stars as Michael, the addled detainee who finds that, on his arrival in the Village, he, like all the residents, is designated by a number, not a name. He is now Six.

Ian McKellen is the charismatic, delicately despotic boss, Two. With a suave, creepy-reassuring manner, he lords over this realm with its daunting sinkholes, huge white beach ball and compliant, seemingly contented populace.

Here wanderlust is out of the question, the solution to every problem is "More Village" and every home has a pig to somehow guarantee stability.

What's it all mean? That's up to each viewer, and it's fun (and mind-expanding) to surrender to the Village's enigmas and find out.

"He's running the Village with the best of motives," declares McKellen, speaking of his character, Two.

But Two embodies, among other things, the drawbacks of capitalism, McKellen says.

"Capitalism offers you freedom, but far from giving people freedom, it enslaves them," he says. "That's part of the show's message."

At 70, the British-born Sir Ian (who was knighted in 1991) is deemed one of the greatest actors working today. He has triumphed with Shakespeare in his long stage career, while his many films include "The Da Vinci Code," the "X-Men" adventures and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (and, ahead for him, a pair of "Hobbit" films back in his role as Gandalf).