24: Season Four
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Movie Reviews of 24: Season Four
Movie Review: Multi-layered Plot Makes Season 4 One Heck of a Ride!
Summary: 5 Stars
All Jack Bauer wants is to enjoy his new job as an advisor to Secretary of Defense, Heller. He's even become seriously involved with the secretary's daughter, Audrey. He's been out of CTU for 18 months after the new director fired him because she didn't trust him after his heroine addiction. Jack is obviously happy with his new job and new relationship. However, one has to ask, is this really the kind of life that Jack Bauer wants? It might be. But even he realizes very quickly that he's much better at something else: stopping terrorists. Right from the get-go, Jack is visiting CTU to discuss the budget. There is a situation brewing, and Jack can't help but give his input on a mission. Someone during these season says that "Jack is the best at what he does."
CTU is a different place now. Tony is gone. Michelle is now assistant director of Los Angeles Division of CTU. Kim is happily settled down with Chase. There are new faces at CTU now, and a new crisis that may very well be greater than anything they've faced before.
Jack faces the most cunning and dangerous terrorist to date. His name is Habib Marwan who is brilliantly played by South African actor, Arnold Vosloo. This is a plan that has been in the works for years. There are many terrorist cells involved, and they've got many attacks ready to go. However, as with many "24" plots, not everything is as it seems. It may take a good number of episodes to really grasp what the overall goal of the terrorists is, and what they're doing. I won't give away any details here about the different plots. It's important that viewer be given the fun and suspense of finding that out. But just when you think one crisis has been averted, a new one pops into place. But is there a connection between them? Or are they separate?
New faces here are Erin Driscoll, played by Alberta Watson, as the new director of CTU branch in Los Angeles. She's a hard woman who is not very bending or compromising on things. She is not at all comfortable with having Jack at CTU, and even less so when he becomes involved. But, even Driscoll can't deny that Jack is needed. She's a smart, professional woman, who seems seasoned and knows what to do.
Chloe is still at CTU as their top analyst, whose annoying personality is still fully present. She always manages to state the obvious at the wrong time, as if she's the only one who sees what everyone else already understands. Many of her interactions are funny, and she's still likeable because she's so good at her job. I'd hate to think how the terrorists would be stopped without Chloe at the helm of analyzing data and finding links.
A new computer analyst is Edgar Stiles, played by Louis Lombardi. I like Edgar because he represents everyone. He represents the common employee. This isn't to say he isn't good at his job, because he is. He is simply a bit naive to how things work. He doesn't know when to speak up sometimes or when to keep his mouth shut. Either way, Lombardi plays him with an almost child-like innocence; a man who is finally being baptized by fire during this crisis.
Season 4 pretty much starts right off and never lets up. This is a thrill ride that pauses only briefly before taking off again. When it's finally over, you almost have to remind yourself to breathe again. It's that intense, but in a good way! I don't think there is any other episodic television series that keeps the thrills, action, suspense, and overall intrigue going for 24 straight episodes. Season 4 is the same as other seasons of 24; once you start, you find it very difficult to stop. I don't know anyone who watches 24 on DVD and is able to stop after a single episode. You always feel that you HAVE to find out what happens next! The genius of the writing should be credited for that.
Once again, the performances of everyone, especially Kiefer Sutherland, is top-notch. Jack Bauer isn't the guy you want for a friend, but he is the guy you want in situations like this. The biggest reason for that is that he is willing to do whatever it takes, whether it be putting himself in a hornet's nest of terrorists, or risking the lives of those he cares about to save the country. Secretary Heller explains to his daughter, "we need people like Jack who will do whatever is necessary." Americans have truly found themselves a bonafide hero in Jack Bauer, and I think that's one of the reasons that people love to watch "24."
Movie Review: Another really bad day for Jack turns out to be his very best day ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to admit, I initially was not a fan of this show. While I thought the first season was entertaining it required SEVERE suspension of disbelief, especially with regards to the real-time premise of the show's format. I mean, come on... just how can Jack really get across L.A. traffic in like 5 minutes anyway? Just ONCE I would like to see an entire episode devoted to Jack stuck in rush hour traffic having to rely solely on cellular communications with CTU but then again, that does not make for suspenseful television now does it? ;) Or how about devoting one episode with Jack on his lunch hour? Nope. This guy never eats nor sleeps nor requires a restroom break of any kind because he is JACK F---ING BAUER!
I made a pact with my friend. I agreed to watch Season 4 if he would agree to watch Lost. It only took me a week to burn through Season 4 and I have had so much fun that any doubts I had about 24 as an enjoyable series have been completely erased. Jack Bauer is the real deal. He makes Jason Bourne look like an amateur. Kiefer Sutherland is so intense and so focused every minute he is on screen that you believe that the peril he is facing, no matter how ridiculously contrived, is real.
What makes season 4 the best day yet is due mostly to its perfect chemistry of suspenseful plot twists, frenetic pacing and editing, interactive character development and explosive action. The writers seemed more concerned this season with creating jaw-dropping "I can't believe they just did that!" action than focusing on the soap opera-ish melodrama that watered down previous seasons. While Elisha Cuthbert's Kim Bauer is pleasing to the eye to look at, thankfully she is out of the picture here so Jack can stay focused on his most intense day ever without the juvenile distractions. Still, there are a few breaks in the action where our characters get caught up in their personal feelings and rivalries getting in the way of their professional judgments that make for a few brief groaners but are quickly subdued by the more immediate threats at hand.
Arnold Vosloo from The Mummy is this season's main baddy and he is the perfect intellectual foil for Jack Bauer. He is always one step ahead of Jack who struggles desperately to keep up with Habib Marwan's diabolical acts of terrorism. The most surprising thing is that Marwan, more often than not, succeeds and leaves the viewer with their jaw hanging wide open in disbelief.
This season features the return of familiar characters from earlier seasons including Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, Mike Novick, and CTU nerds Chloe O'Brien and newbie Edgar Stiles. We are also introduced to several new faces at CTU including Curtis Manning, Erin Driscoll and Bill Buchanan. Kim Raver is Jack's love interest Audrey Raines and her father, Secretary of Defense James Heller, is played by Rolling Thunder himself... William Devane. After spending a real-time day in crisis with these characters you'll feel like they are all members of the immediate family.
Sean Callery's rousing and adrenaline pumping electronic score is the perfect compliment to the onscreen action and elevates the level of suspense faster than mercury rising in a thermometer. Not since Mark Snow's electronic cues for X-Files has there been a more perfect accompaniment of incidental music to parallel the onscreen action.
24 Season 4 is more entertaining and suspenseful than most blockbuster action films and has cast the die for other series and films to follow in its aftermath. Bruce Willis' John McClane may have inaugurated the age of the everyman action hero, but Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer has taken heroism beyond the call of duty and has redefined, by very definition, the ideal Action Star. At a time of political unrest and uncertainty in this country and the threat of terrorism abroad, one cannot help but feel a sense of restored patriotism by Jack's heroic deeds. Indeed, Jack Bauer has become a Real American Hero.
Movie Review: A few flaws, but nonetheless the best drama on network TV today
Summary: 5 Stars
"24" just keeps getting better and better, and I'd say seasons 4 and 5 are easily the best yet. Season 4, for the first time, illustrates that the writers developed a single, multifaceted story arc to last through the entire season, rather than just making stuff up as they went along, as was sometimes the case in the first three seasons (particularly season 1, since they only had a 12-episode order to begin with and had to provide a resolution in case the show wasn't picked up for a full season). Better still, it's an intriguing and realistic arc, with <<<<<<< SPOILER ALERT >>>>>>> one of the best plot twists I've ever seen on television, namely when it becomes clear that the hijacked Stealth fighter will be used to shoot down Air Force One.
That said, the season isn't perfect. There are two notable disconnects in the season, at points where it seems like the producers checked out the comments on the online "24" fan boards about the first few episodes and decided to make some changes. Nearly all of the characters introduced this season, except for Audrey Raines, are abruptly eliminated by episode 12, almost as if the viewers hated the fact that Jack was the only major character to return from the previous seasons and the producers had to scramble to bring everyone back to the table. (Thankfully, this list didn't include Kim.) Thus, hello Tony, Michelle and Chloe; adios Erin, Sarah and Secretary Heller. The introduction of President Logan and reintroduction of President Palmer and Mike Novick also follow this trajectory, although I'm guessing that was also partially done to set up the story arc in season 5 (which I won't spoil here). I do not get, however, why Mike Novick - who worked for Democratic senator/president Palmer for 20 years - would suddenly be recruited to work for the new Republican VP; that's just not how it works in real life.
Plot holes/flaws: as several reviews have noted, Behrooz just completely disappears without any sort of explanation, but one thing not mentioned is that Edgar never receives any sort of reprisal for his failure to go over the LAPD hourlys and realize that the Air Force pilot scheduled to fly the Stealth was missing, which directly led to Air Force One being shot down. This tragedy *could* have been prevented, and I can't believe Edgar wasn't ever called on his failure to prevent what ultimately becomes either the death or permanent incapacitation of President Keeler (unfortunately that's another plot hole, never explained in season 5). Also, the writers were clearly going to set up a romance between Michelle and Buchanan before deciding barely two episodes later that it would interfere between Tony and Michelle getting back together, so they hastily had Bill claim "we just went out a few times but it didn't go anywhere," never mind that the clear implication from the earlier episodes was otherwise.
A bigger qualm I have is that this particular season (unlike the other four) seems to go out of its way to lampoon "politically correct" types and defend the idea of torture as an intelligence extraction tool. Now granted, in the context of the show I think torture is totally justified, but considering that these episodes were airing right around the time the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal was erupting (which is definitely NOT a justifiable use of torture), I think the writers could've been a bit more sensitive to current real-life events. The introduction of an Amnesty International lawyer, and the gleeful method in which Jack evades procedure to get at his defendant and then extracts info out of him by breaking all his fingers, is particularly egregious.
Nonetheless, this is the BEST drama on network TV (and on par with the best on TV, period, e.g. "The Sopranos") by a long shot, and I still rate this season five stars!
Movie Review: 24 Season 4 - Drama At It's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been a 24 fan since the series premiered & I must say this past 4th season has been not only its best season, but the best season of drama tv I have ever seen. I don't say that lightly-I'm a big fan of other shows such as Nip/Tuck, The West Wing, Lost, Rescue Me, Over There, and House. The concept of 24 is simple: it follows a day in the life of superagent Jack Bauer in real time. Here is a concise episode guide following the events in Jack's day in Season 4-
(7 AM - 8 AM) Jack returns to CTU, where he was formerly director, to discover a train explosion which he believes to be a diversionary target.
(8 AM - 9 AM) Jack gets reinstated by CTU when the Secretary of Defense is kidnapped. His only lead is a hacker who hacked into the terrorists' database.
(9 AM - 10 AM) The terrorists get to the hacker first and Jack has no choice but to follow them.
(10 AM - 11 AM) To buy time for a satellite tracker, Jack is forced to delay the terrorist by robbing the grocery store he's in.
(11 AM - 12 PM) Jack's diverson is successful as the terrorist leads Jack to the compound where the Secretary of Defense and his daughter Audrey are held.
(12 PM - 1 PM) Against orders, Jack infiltrates the compound in a dramatic rescue. Meanwhile, CTU learns that the kidnapping was a diverson & the terrorists plan to melt all the nuclear plants in the continental US.
(1 PM - 2 PM) Now safe, Audrey, also Jack's girlfriend, goes with Jack to try and ID one of the men she recognized when held captive. Soon afterwards, they get ambushed and Jack relies on his old friend Tony Almeida to help them.
(2 PM - 3 PM) Temporarily safe, they make an ID on Audrey's captors.
(3 PM - 4 PM) Jack and Tony follow up on the lead, where they meet a reluctant Dina and Behrooz Araz.
(4 PM - 5 PM) In hopes of finding the terrorists ultimately responsible, Tony interrogates Dina.
(5 PM - 6 PM) Dina reveals the orchestrator of the terrorists' plans-a man named Marwan. Jack also learns the location of the override device to prevent the nuclear plants from melting down.
(6 PM - 7 PM) Jack heads over to Marwan's employers, whom decide to destroy evidence in order cut their ties to the day's events.
(7 PM - 8 PM) Jack has some help as he fends off the mercenaries sent to kill him.
(8 PM - 9 PM) Jack orchestrates a mock-hostage situation so he can get close to Marwan.
(9 PM - 10 PM) Now kidnapped, Jack is released when his kidnappers plan a trade to buy time for their contingency plan.
(10 PM - 11 PM) CTU raids Marwan's compound only to have him escape. Things get even worse as the terrorists shoot down Air Force One.
(11 PM - 12 AM) Jack and Marwan struggle to obtain the nuclear launch codes that dropped from the plane.
(12 AM - 1 AM) A suspect is brought in with information about Marwan's plans & Jack has to use alternative methods to extract the information.
(1 AM - 2 AM) Jack's latest efforts at finding Marwan are stalled by the Secret Service.
(2 AM - 3 AM) Jack illegally breaks into the Chinese Consulate to extract a man who knows Marwan's whearabouts.
(3 AM - 4 AM) Jack gets closer to finding Marwan as the terrorists launch a nuclear missle.
(4 AM - 5 AM) Jack captures Marwan only to find him uncooperative. Meanwhile, an unexpected lead pops up from the Secretary of Defense's son.
(5 AM - 6 AM) Jack follows up on the lead as the Chinese Consulate discovers what happened on their grounds.
(6 AM - 7 AM) The lead pays off as she reveals both the whereabouts of Marwan & the location of the missile. Though the terrorist plans are thwarted, Jack is ultimately forced to feign his death to prevent his capture by the Chinese. As the season wraps up, Jack Bauer must take on a new identity.
Movie Review: Quite Possibly the Best Day Yet
Summary: 5 Stars
24, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting, thrilling, and engaging dramas in television history. It is very tightly scripted, characters are well-developed (for the most part), and the 24-hour clock adds a great feeling of urgency to the mix. Its first 2 years were beyond amazing, and while its third year was still great television (a definite cut above most of the other shows on TV), it just wasn't up to par with the amazing 1st and 2nd seasons. I was a little worried that everything would be going downhill from there and that the show had peaked after only three seasons. I couldn't have been more wrong.
A year and a half after preventing an outbreak of a very deadly virus across the country, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has left (read: been fired from) CTU by the new Director, Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson), due to his old heroin addiction. Driscoll replaced Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) after he put national security at risk in order to save his wife Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth). Since then, there have been a lot of changes at CTU-Los Angeles. Aside from a renovation, the only person who remained there is analyst Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub). New members include Curtis Manning (Roger Cross), Edgar Stiles (Louis Lombardi), Sarah Gavin (Lana Parilla), and Ronnie Lobell (Shawn Doyle) in Jack's old position. Jack moved to Washington, D. C. to be an aide to Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane), and is currently dating Heller's daughter, Audrey Heller Raines (Kim Raver).
The season starts out with a bang, literally, as a train is blown up outside of Los Angeles. We see a man in dark clothes and a helmet remove a briefcase from one of the passengers and flee the scene. Meanwhile, a computer programmer named Andrew Paige (Lukas Haas) discovers some strange codes floating around the internet, and calls Chloe (whom he is friends with) and asks her to investigate. This same day, Sec. Heller is in LA with Jack and Audrey, because he plans to give some sort of speech. The secretary makes a quick stop at his liberal son's house in order to persuade him not to protest at the rally, as it would be an embarrassment. As Heller is leaving, he and Audrey are kidnapped by the same terrorists who blew up the train.
This is a very different season from the previous three. In the preceding years, the audience knew before the season began what the year was going to be about; assassinations, nuclear bombs, and a virus. Furthermore, the characters within the show knew the threat by the end of the first episode, and, for the most part, that threat was carried throughout the entire season. This year however, no one knew what was going on. This year was a mystery to both viewers and characters. Furthermore, things kept building. There wasn't just one threat; what happened at the beginning of the day would merely be a diversion for things still to come.
This was also the first year that didn't have ubervillain Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke), the CTU mole that killed Bauer's wife and was involved in the plots invloving the attempted murder of David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), the nuke in LA, and the cordella virus outbreak. Also, this year saw the return of another villain, and their return was a very welcome surprise.
This season was full of amazing twists and turns, but perhaps the most shocking of them all was the major character who died this year. So far each year, one major character has died at some point in the season (SPOILERS: S1 was Terri Bauer [Leslie Hope], S2 was George Mason [Xander Berkeley], and S3 was Ryan Chapelle [Paul Schulze]).
It is very hard to pick a favorite season for this show, as they have all been amazing (even S3). Although, if I had to pick a favorite, this would probably be it.