The Redemption of 24?

When the new TV-movie 24: Redemption begins, television super-hero Jack Bauer is in Africa, helping out at a school for orphans and trying to avoid a subpoena that would summon him back to the States.  However, this being 24, it isn’t long before a perfect storm of evil warlords, conniving businessmen, and some pretty bad luck result in Jack being stuck in the middle of a coup, determined to protect the school’s kids and get them safely to the American embassy.

And, hey, I sort of remember why I used to like 24 so much, back in the day!  

For the record, my position on 24 is as follows:  the first two seasons were pretty much genius (except for the occasional stupidity with amnesia and Kim Bauer in jeopardy); the first half of season 3 (Jack Bauer fighting drug lords in Mexico) was dumb, but the second half (which, as I recall, dealt with the potential release of a horrible toxin) was better; season 4 started off great with some interesting new characters (“Behrooooz!!”) but quickly got bogged down in ridiculousness; season five was pretty much the same; and season six was, for me, just unwatchable.

But this new installment is pretty entertaining.  Not phenomenal, mind you, but better than 24 has been for years.

What’s good?

The story is stripped down — gone are almost every familiar character and location.  This enables the writers to jettison all of the baggage of the last several seasons and concentrate on telling a tight, exciting story — Jack’s mission to protect the kids and get them to the embassy.  It’s a very linear action-adventure.  (The only two characters other than Jack who we’ve seen before are Powers Boothe as President Daniels, on his last day in office, and Peter MacNicol as his advisor Tom Lennox.  Frankly, I wish the writers had gone all the way and gotten rid of these two characters as well.  First of all they remind me of annoying past storylines that are far-better forgotten.  Secondly, both play one-note, unlikable characters.  Its good to have villains, but that’s not these guys.)

Wait, I was talking about what I liked!  Robert Carlyle does some great work as Jack’s old friend Carl Benton.  Its nice to see another character on 24 who is as capable and heroic as Jack.  I liked seeing Tony Todd (Worf’s brother Kurn from Star Trek: The Next Generation), although he has a very small role here as the evil Colonel Juma.  Hakeem Kae-Kazim gets a lot more time on-screen as the Colonel’s right-hand man, and he’s a lot of fun to watch.  Note to Powers Boothe: this is how you play a villain — not with over-the-top moustache-twirling, but with a scary, menacing intensity.  

There’s a lot of action — hand-to-hand combat, gun battles, a helicopter attack — and all of it is well-staged and very exciting.  What originally captured my attention about 24 was its intensity, its relentless action, and its production values — how each week seemed to be a mini-movie.  There’s a lot of that craft on display here.

What I keep coming back to is the simplicity of the story.  Without a lot of mysterious characters and sub-plots and double-crosses and evil Presidents and opening up sockets in CTU, this seems like a back-to-basics 24 adventure, and that is good.

So what’s not-so-good?

Well, while I have been praising the simplicity of the story, the down-side of that is that there really aren’t any surprises to be found in Redemption.  Ask my wife: I guessed pretty much every plot point well before it occurred.  And if the powers-that-be thought there was any suspense to be found in Jack’s decision at the film’s end (that sets up the upcoming season seven), then they were sadly in error.  Also, like Powers Boothe and Peter MacNicol, there were still too many demons of bad-24-past that reared their ugly heads here.  Once again we see Jack getting tortured.  Once again there are mysterious evil figures manipulating events for their own ends.  And, dear lord, once again we’re introduced to a mole in a position of power.  I have had it with moles on 24!!!  Every season there are like three or four moles!!!  Enough all ready, please??

Do I worry that season seven is going to fall right back into all the old traps that the last several years of the show have suffered from?  Yes sir, I do.  BUT, judging 24: Redemption as a production in its own right, I must say that over-all, I was rather pleased.  I had fun watching it, and from 24 I don’t ask too much more than that.