24: Redemption

It is going to be difficult to maintain the exceptional standards "24" has set over the years, however this feature length episode doesn't quite deliver as hoped. Re-worked formulas shows lack of creative imagination, something previous Seasons have (mostly) avoided. The script isn't as sharp as normal, possibly targeted at a less astute audience, and the characters lack subtlety. Too many bullets miraculously missing Jack and a sense of deja-vu. Whilst Robert Carlyle puts in a very credible performance, less believable is the UN Aid worker who is so crassly portrayed. Hopefully Season 7 will see improvement.

It has been some time since we last saw Jack Bauer. The writer's strike saw him run out of tough things to say and a generally negative response to a weak season 6 has seen him leave America and travel the world. We join him in a non-existent African country where he is spending time with former brother in arms Carl, protecting children at the orphanage he has set up. It is not all helping and healing though as his past pursues him in the form of a subpoena from the US Government to face questioning on charges of prisoner abuse (damn these liberals). However, just as Jack packs up to leave the country and move on again, a coup begins and rebels come to snatch up the children to be soldiers. Meanwhile in the existing country of USA , the first female President is being sworn in while, in the background, figures are covertly supporting the coup for their own reasons.

Everyone has been saying how long a wait it has been since day 6 finished, using words like "impatiently" etc but for me (as a viewer since hour 1) I felt that the break was a good thing. Day 6 was such a lacklustre season and played like an exaggerated pastiche of itself that the break does feel like an opportunity to send the makers away to sit in the corner and think about what they have done - and don't come back till you're sorry! With this bridging special I did worry that we would continue the trend of Jack being the hub of everything in the world, perhaps with the coup either being about him or with him preventing the entire thing - after all, the Bauer family are seemingly to blame for all evil deeds in the world. Fortunately the special harks back to the approach of season 1 and 2 which has dark deeds at a higher level and Jack thrown into them for reasons out of his hands, rather than being the creator and driver of all things.

This takes the form of a simpler plot where Jack is looking after the fleeing children in their short run to safety. It starts slow though, with a good thirty minutes of establishing material and scene setting before any urgency kicks in. After this we have the usual 24 material of action sequences, heroic/sacrificial deaths, neo-conservative subtexts (although that suggests they are subtle, which they are not), political going-ons and shadowy men doing hits on behalf of powerful men. All these are in place and, with the stripped down plot and Bauer influence, it does feel a lot more like the 24 I like. This is not to say it is perfect of course, because 24 never was - even when really good there was always plenty to make fun of it for. Here we have less that produced laughter but we still get handed a terribly clumsy attack on the UN in the form of a weirdly "European" character who is cowardly - clinging to "talking" like a weak-wristed liberal. Not only was this poor writing but it is a bit rich when you consider the real life conflicts in Africa and the level of US intervention in them, however even ignoring that it was a typically conservative piece of politics from 24 that must be a bit like a wet dream to Fox viewers!

Talking of real-life for a moment, I did find the setting and scenario of this special to be a little off-putting. The pace and "24-isms" of the film helped me keep my head in the world of fiction but there is no doubt that the world of child soldiers and African coups is a little too real to be purely entertainment and not have an edge of sorrow to it. The film mostly ignores the latter but it does manage to produce the former despite this, again by focusing on what the series does and just doing it. The cast are reasonable enough, all fitting into the classic clichés of the show. Sutherland is gruff and tough as ever and has a bit of chemistry with Carlyle, who doesn't have a lot to work with here other than hanging out with Sutherland for a bit. Bellows, Jones, Gunton, Feore and Voight all represent new faces in the usual characters. They do offer some hope though if Day 7 can keep the political mystery that this film had.

24: Redemption isn't a significant change to the series and those that do not like the series will not like this. However for those who found Day 6 to be a massive disappointment then it does represent a sort of redemption as it appears to be taking a slight step back towards what hooked us originally. This means the usual weaknesses as much as the strengths but it is still a quite entertaining film for 24 fans.

"24: Redemption" was the result of the 2007 writers strike, designed to be a prequel to season 7. As such, it has half its attention on setup (new president, conspiracy, etc) and that's actually its weaker half.

It's much better when it's focused on Jack Bauer, laying low in Africa and suddenly tasked with saving a school full of children from conscription into a dictator's army. This, as he's sought to testify before a Senate subcommittee.

Without the confines of the clock (it's told from 3-5pm, but that's rather loose) there's actually more room for him to breathe as a character, as a person. Kiefer's scenes with compatriot Robert Carlyle are among the best and the price he pays to accomplish the mission (get those kids to the US Embassy) is profoundly sad. The argument still stands that he can't escape the life, but his sacrifice is real.

7/10

Redemption is fundamentally a prequel to season 7 . Set 18 months where Season 6 of '24' left off, two-fisted, former government agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is in a self-imposed exile in the fictitious African country of Sangala where he hopes to escape from a U. S. investigation of him for his past methods , and to run from his past. Bauer works at a mission school for orphaned children run by his friend Carl Benton (Robert Carlyle) . The country is at the mercy of a villain warlord general named Juma (Tony Todd) who is plotting a coup to overthrow the government and his right-hand man , rogue Colonel Dubaku (Haakem Kazin) , is abducting orphan boys . Jack Bauer confronts nasty African general/aspiring dictator Benjamin Juma, whose forces have been ordered to capture the children Bauer oversees for malicious military training. Bauer and Benton must work together to save the dozen or so boys and try to get them out of the country before Juma takes over. Meanwhile in Washington D. C., it is Inauguration Day where the outgoing President Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe) is handing over the presidency to the first female president Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). Hearing about the coup, Daniels wants to evacuate the country before it falls to the ominous general, while Taylor thinks otherwise. Elsewhere, Taylor's son Roger (Eric Lively) and his girlfriend Samantha (Carly Pope) get wind of information from a friend about suspicious money transactions where he works at a local brokerage firm. But neither he or Roger are aware that a corrupt corporate mogul, Jonas Hodges (John Voight) , is scheming with General Juma to overthrow the government for monetary purposes and will do anything to keep his nefarious plans under wraps. Save the day !. Hope has a fighting chance !. History will be made, a new enemy will rise, and the only hope to stop him has disappeared... until now !. To the world, he's dead. But soon, he'll become the most wanted man alive !. The terror alert level has just been raised !. Every Second Counts !. A new day begins !. He's tried to escape it. He's tried to silence it !. But for Jack Bauer...instinct never dies !. Who do you trust when the people who are sworn to protect you, conspire against you? !. To stop these attacks Jack Bauer has to be sacrificed !.

This 24: Redemption(2008) belong to 24 (2001-2010) series stars Kiefer Sutherland asJack Bauer (195 episodes, 2001-2010) , Mary Lynn Rajskub , Carlos Bernard , Dennis Haysbert , Elisha Cuthbert , James Morrison , among others . In this concept drama, each season takes place within one 24 hour period . In 24 Kiefer Sutherland gives a nice acting as counter Terrorism Agent Jack Bauer who races against the clock to subvert terrorist plots and save his nation from ultimate disaster. And in 24: Redemption(2008) Jack must face the toughest challenge and events of the film taking place between seasons six and seven of the series, and are continued in season seven , the opening sequence marks the first time in the history of the series events did not transpire in real time and it takes place between 3:00 p.m. GMT (10:00 a.m. Eastern Time) and 5:00 p.m. GMT (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time). Dealing with continuous coups in the ungovernable countries of Africa and a relentless denounce against the forcibly recruiting kiddies into African armies and their brainwashing and their obligation to kill enemies . Stars a very good cast , such as : Cherry Jones as President-Elect Allison Taylor ,Powers Boothe as ex-President , Bob Gunton , Colm Feore , Robert Carlyle , Jon Voight , Peter MacNicol , Gil Bellows , Hakeem Kae-Kazim , Isaach De Bankole, Kris Lemche , Eric Lively, Carly Pope , Sebastian Roché , Sean Cameron Michael , Tony Todd , among others .

This telefilm was lavishly produced by Brannon Braga, Manny Coto, David Fury, Paul Gadd , Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon and well directed by Jon Cassar (Forsaken, Terra Nova, Between , Nikita, Daybreak , When the Bough Breaks) who made several episodes of the successful series . While filming the first episode of the 24 (2001) fourth season, he filmed the opening CTU scenes in such a way that the audience first sees the changes made to the building at the same time Jack Bauer does. Cassar has a strong friendship with 24 star and fellow Canadian Kiefer Sutherland. After Sutherland won the 2006 SAG Award for best actor in a drama, he gave the trophy to Cassar as a sign of his appreciation.

I must confess that I've never really watched the 24 television series too date, but that didn't in the least inhibit my enjoyment of '24 Redemption'. In recent years, a great many espionage-thriller films have been touted as being 'realistic' and gritty...the Bourne trilogy, Mission Impossible 3 and Casino Royale the most prominent among these. But '24 Redemption' goes beyond mere pseudo-realistic presentation by bringing us virtually as close to the real world as a documentary. The military coup that engulfs the fictitious African nation of Zangala is no campy world domination scheme...its the kind of situation you could very well find yourself staring at in the evening news.

But the realistic element reaches its zenith in the depiction of the protagonist Jack Bauer. Again, I'm not as familiar with Sutherland's character as I'd like to be, so I don't know how he's been portrayed in the past. But Jack Bauer as seen in this film, comes across not so much as a badass super-agent/action hero (ala Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt) but rather as a very human character...a soldier weary of war, running away from the ghosts of his past and yet finding himself confronted by even more violence. He is both emotionally and physically a vulnerable individual. Quiet unlike the steely countenance of Bourne of the outward flamboyance of James Bond, Bauer's reactions to the situations he faces in this film are deeply rooted in his emotions. True, he is every bit the professional soldier too...but ultimately, a human being.

'24 Redemption' may not be the most entertaining thriller out there...but if you want to watch a movie about the kind of action hero who CAN exist in real life, defusing the kind of situation which CAN arise in the real world; if only for the novelty if nothing else...then this is the ideal film!