Monday, November 24, 2008

"24: Redemption" or "Jack Bauer's 'What I Did Last Summer' Movie"

I have not sat down to do the math, but I think it has been 8 years since FOX ran a new episode of "24." Last night, they finally relented and gave us a 2-hour sneak preview of the upcoming Season 7 (which begins in January, Dammit!). Between the hours of 8:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. last night, I had no clue what the heck was going on- there was a deflated soccer ball, a sarong, a claymore landmine, some English dude that sounded Irish but was supposed to be an old American buddy of Jack's, and some skinny kid hooked on pain pills, getting the Jimmy Hoffa special at the end.

Seriously, what the heck was "24: Redemption" about? In a vacuum, this is a very strange "movie." But despite it being barely comprehensible, I loved every earth-tone minute of this show. Why? Because last night was like running into an old flame you hadn't seen in years. The second you see that person, you go "Oh yeah, now I remember!" Afford me some wiggle-room here on the obvious homoerotic corner I've painted myself into, but seeing Jack Bauer carrying on in the fictitious African nation of Sengala was a moment of revelation- Jack Bauer lives, and so does "24."

While Sutherland is by far the best thing about this show, its weakest elements are still nagging. "24" cannot write politics. I'm sorry, but the Noah Daniels/Alison Taylor stuff was dreadful. And even though it was only a few minutes total, their scenes were grinding and painful to sit through. Gone are the days of David Palmer and his charismatic handling of his two-faced First Lady. Now, we get people sipping the obligatory scotch and talking in hushed tones about absolutely NOTHING. I drink scotch. Scotch is my friend. You, "24" have no clue what to do with scotch.

Other notes: Gil Bellows was pretty good as the morally ambiguous Embassy dude with the thick glasses. I wear thick glasses myself, so I identified with his difficult choices. And I think he wanted to take up the lady on her offer to do "anything" to let her into the Embassy (a wacky moment only "24" could dare to seriously portray). As for Jon Voight... well, there are 2 Jon Voights, I've realized: There's the one that eats snakes and the one that lies on his taxes. While it would have been cool to get the "Anaconda" Voight for "24" I had a feeling we would see the "Enemy of the State" version instead. Too bad... but I'll take any Voight they can spare us.

We got to see a lot of "The Jack Sack" last night. And how about his new friend, "The Jack Satchel"? That bag can hold everything! Bauer looked like a surfer dude walking home from Trader Joe's after doing a week's worth of grocery shopping. But that's all gravy. The gap between last season's emotional breakdown and this year's newly-energized ass-kicking machine Bauer was accomplished last night. Thank you for the 2 additional hours of Bauer. Now, let's bring on the new season.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the show but found myself bored and a little disappointed ... I didn't find a "gripping" Jack conflict like the first 5 seasons ... I'm afraid the show may be losing its swagger
- Gregg

Granny Annie said...

It did feel like 8 years, it did seem a bit lacking, yet it WAS like finding a long lost sweetheart. I am very happy.

TheJackSack said...

Yeah, it was a slow-moving deal in parts, but I give thw writers credit for going in a new direction with this 2-hour movie.

It was a nice departure to see Jack dealing with a very contained challenge, instead of multitasking the defense of planet Earth, like he usually has to manage.

Annie, Gregg- thanks for your comments!

j said...

A bit drawn out, yes, but it seems like Jack just getting into the swing again... if you haven't ridden the proverbial bicycle in ten years, you can still ride, but no one thinks it odd if you wobble just a bit for the first few feet.
And not to be picky but (a) I THINK the guy might have been Aussie, going by the accent and (2) the mine was a Soviet AP mine, not a Claymore... the Claymore is a convex, above ground explosive device designed to spray about 1 1/2 pounds of steel shot across an arc, turning everyone within ten yards to mush and bone fragments.
Ahhh... the romance of Nam...

TheJackSack said...

I declare j3maccabee our resident expert on... 'Nam and other related subjects.

Rickey said...

"Ahhh... the romance of Nam"?

Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, is that you?

Anonymous said...

"I wear thick glasses myself, so I identified with his difficult choices."

It stuff like this that keeps me comin' back :)

Anonymous said...

I want to get the "Jack Snatchel" he was wearing throughout the movie, it's awesome! Does anyone know where I might be able to get it?

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