Redemption Review
As a TV movie Redemption was fantastic. Even as a television show in today’s market is was great. But on the continuum of 24, where would I place it? The day it most reminds me of is 3, particularly when they were in Mexico. But in terms of entertainment value I have to be honest and put this at the bottom of the pile. But we need to acknowledge that it’s simply not fair to compare 2 hours of television with 24 hours.
I was disappointed that Tom Lennox, Ethan (Bob Gunton), and Juma (Tony Todd) had so little screen time. Frankly the appearance of those three was some of the things I was most looking forward to. I was both surprised and impressed with Robert Carlyle as Carl Benton, I’m almost ready to make my peace with the possibility of him becoming the next Doctor Who – it’s a shame we won’t be seeing more of him in 24 but I understand why the plot required his departure. They need to stop naming guys Carl though, every time I heard his name I kept think of Palmer’s political behind-the-scenes fixer from Day 1. Powers Booth added even more layers to President Daniels than he had in the previous season – in fact more than all his other appearances together. I sincerely hope we see more of him in the coming season.
Many in the 24 production team have come to think of season 7 as a bit of a reboot and I think in that regard this provides a nice bridge. It cleans the palette a little before moving on. It also serves as a bit of a counterpoint. In 24 the non-action was often given such a brief treatment that in a way it was nice to see some of the characters not racing against the clock for awhile – but it didn’t truly feel like 24 until something exploded. I guess I have some of those stereotypical male traits after all, who knew?
I think part of my problem with Redemption is the things I really enjoyed about 24 is the intricate plots, the interesting characters, the technology, and the off-the-wall solutions to problems. Remember in the movie Speed when he talks about and later actually does shoot the hostage? That’s light even for a run of the mill episode of 24 but this movie had very little of that. And I’m not talking about the violence; I’m talking about the creativity. The fact is Jack Bauer’s half of the story could have been a lot of different characters from various franchises or even someone new, there was very little about his plot that only Jack Bauer could think up. The only really holy cow moment was when a bad guy whips out an RPG out of nowhere. That said it helps the overall reality of the show because you can’t be at full throttle all the time.
Although I liked the working title ‘Exile’ much better I guess ‘Redemption’ is somewhat more accurate, if lacking in some subtly. Basically Jack Bauer gets to do some good but for once in a way that people aren’t likely to question his morals, methods, or choices. He gets to be a regular hero for a change. Usually on 24 Jack is constantly in what they call an “impossible situation” generally meaning that there are no clear moral options – whatever you do you have to get ethically dirty but in Redemption everyone can easily get behind everything Jack does.
Meanwhile back in DC it’s all establishing the car and laying some pipe that in the movie itself amounts to nothing. I think my biggest beef with the movie is the lack of closure in the DC plot. 24 is great for giving you at least some closure on some point and yet still giving you something to look forward to but the DC plot didn’t do that, ALL it did was lay track and that was somewhat unsatisfying.
Now all that said I still highly recommend you buy the DVD because it includes the first 17 minutes of Day 7 and it’s FANTASTIC.
