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By PAUL BRENNER
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has released a six-disc collection of Joel Surnow and
Robert Cochran's real-time television spy thriller "24," featuring Hollywood-style action hero, Jack Bauer, head of the
Los Angeles-based Counter Terrorist Unit, and the series follows Bauer as 24 hours of cliffhanging excitement pass by in
Bauer's life, or as Bauer puts it, "the longest day of my life." Played by Kiefer Sutherland, Bauer looks no worse for
wear in hour 23 than in hour two, but such is the bland, but bull dog intensity of Sutherland's performance that he
keeps the series anchored and not overcome by the general tenor of the supporting players' direct-to-video mediocrity
(the chief exception to the rule being Dennis Haysbert's too-good-to-be-true Democratic presidential candidate). Bauer
has his work cut out for him during the twenty-four episode caffeine rush -- he investigates the incineration of a
passenger jet, tries to foil a terrorist plot to kill a presidential candidate during the California primary, puts down
an intra-agency conspiracy, reconciles a rocky relationship with his wife, and attempts to save his wife and daughter
from several kidnapping attempts.
"24" is as stylish and involving as only a television series can be. It is also nail-biting, pulse-pounding,
edge-of-your-seat suspense -- to coin some phrases. But the characterizations rarely rise above a Pearl White level (in
some cases, the characters are schizophrenically inconsistent) and, as the series progresses, the last minute climaxes
pile upon each other like a fifty-car Los Angeles freeway smashup. In comparison, the death counts and acts violence in
"24" make The Sopranos look like Chekhov. However, it is interesting that a series that gets most of its kick from high
technology (computers, Palm Pilots, cell phones, satellite uplinks) depicting the jazzy technology as a malevolent force
that not only exposes identities at will but is used mostly to kill people. As added kick, during the evening hours of
the series, Lou Diamond Phillips shows up briefly, as does Dennis Hopper, complete with beard and phony Serbian accent
("You tink I em eh monster?").
On Disc Six are a few special features -- an alternate ending with commentary by Joel Surnow and a quick plug for the
second season of the series with Kiefer Sutherland. The collection is subtitled in English and Spanish. |
