What if Die Hard were a soap opera? Kiefer Sutherland’s only long running television appearance, 24 tells the story of Jack Bauer as he goes through the eight worse days of his life. Each episode passes in real time for 24 episodes to make a full day each season as Bauer and his team race to stop some terrorist threat. What I liked:
Action - The action in this show is top notch and is the star of the show. Between the interpersonal conflicts and long winded speeches there are almost movie level gunfights full of one liners and full on “that guy just died for real” moments.
Characters - Jack Bauer is Dirty Harry and everyone around him better get the hell out of the way. Over the eight seasons, other characters come and go and most of main cast (especially Marylynn Riescub as Chloe) make a huge impact on the viewer, but how Bauer makes an impression on each of them is priceless.
Twists - There are some truly good twists that I did not see coming. Good guys become bad guys, Bad guys become good guys and folks just die out of nowhere. Add that to the cliff hangers that occur between episodes and you get for some long viewing periods.
What I didn’t like:
Dialog - The dialog in the first couple of seasons and often beyond is laughable and noticeable with exposition. “Yes, I just walked into the area and I don’t like that guy.” “Why not, Jim?” Because, Steve, just last hour he shot my dad and in the next hour he’s gonna blow up LA with a radioactive bomb?” How do you know? “Because he told me when we were having dinner this morning when we still worked together.”
Repetitive - If you watch the seires like I did, streaming or on DVD, straight through, you notice a lot of the same tricks pulled out of the same bag. At this point, some dude will turn out to be evil. Around midseason, everything you thought you knew was wrong?! Also, Jack gets repeatedly beat to hell, but you know by the ticking clock that he’s still got X amount of time to make it somewhere.
Coincidence - There are some points where everyone almost randomly goes to the same place, or two factions seem to need the same thing and use the same guy to get that thing. I was only casually watching the series, so some plot threads may have eluded me as I drifted away, but often it seemed like things coincided on this show at really helpful or unhelpful moments. “You mean the president is in town with his incompetent assistant the same day that the shipment of the virus is coming in. Thanks, guy who just happened to know all this!”
Who would like this?
I dunno. If you liked Die Hard, I’d say put it on in the background while you exercise and have fun. There’s some good moments and enough of them to keep you interested. The only problem may come when streaming or on DVD as each episode ends with a cliffhanger that continues immediately on the next episode. Can become editing.
