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The Movie:
24 - Season One
A Review by Mark McLeod
November 8th 2002
Television. What can be said about television that hasn't been said before.
TV or the boob tube or as it's often been called has always been looked
down upon by certain people who believe that the caliber of entertainment
it provides is geared towards the lowest common denominator a person who
likes predictable and easy to follow stories that wrap themselves up nicely
in 30 or 60 minutes. Most series that try to extend story lines past one or
two episodes run into problems as viewers come into the action late and
complain about being unable to pick up the story.
The television serial is certainly nothing new and it's done all the time
in daytime TV with soap operas carrying story lines for multiple days,
weeks and in some cases even months. It's been attempted during prime time
with varying level's of success throughout the years. Most recently with
the show "Murder One" who in it's second year decided to try and follow the
events of one murder case and trial for an entire season. It managed to
make it to the midyear marker before wrapping up and choosing to focus on
smaller 4-6 episode arcs for the remainder of the year. The problem. Viewer
ratings. Viewers were scared to miss an episode fearing that they would not
be able to pick up the story when they returned. Those who missed the early
episodes never gave the series a chance and so while the idea was
innovative and unique they dropped in hopes of salvaging the show. The show
would go on to be cancelled later that same season. Flash forward a few
years and the Fox network announces an ambitious new project entitled "24"
which takes the serialized nature of television to the next level by
presenting an entire season of shows that take place all within the span of
one calender day. 24 episodes each representing one hour in one day of the
life of Jack Bauer. The show interested me and I did tape the first four or
so episodes but never had a chance to watch them. Fearing I'd never catch
up, I taped over the episodes without watching them and put any plans to
catch the series on hold until the reruns. However I quickly learned that
there were no plans to rerun the series and I decided to watch one or two
shows in the middle of the season. I was pretty impressed with what I saw
but didn't have the background information I needed.
"24" chronicles twenty four hours in the life of Jack Bauer (Kiefer
Sutherland) an agent with a government agency known as the Counter
Terrorist Unit (CTU). On the day of the California Presidential Primary the
CTU receives information from a highly creditable source that an attempt
will be made on the life of Senator David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) the
first African-American presidential candidate. Bauer is assigned to the
case and with the help of his team including Nina Meyers (Sarah Clarke) his
assistant, Jaime the computer expert and Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) he
begins to get to work on the case. However this isn't simply just another
case as word comes down from above that the plot against the senator may
have ties within the organization leaving Jack unsure of who exactly to
trust. Meanwhile Jack's daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) has turned up
missing and his wife Teri (Leslie Hope) who he's recently reunited with
after a separation is driving all over town with her friend's father a man
he doesn't know or trust. Elsewhere Palmer is notified about the threats
by secret service but feels as though they are nothing different then the
run of the mill threats he receives every day. Palmer is more concerned
about a potentially damaging story coming out about his son's past then an
attempt on his life.
Did I mention all of the above happens within the first three hours."24" is
a show that need's to be seen to be believed. It has more going for it then
just about any other television show I can remember seeing in my 20 years
on this planet. I'd reveal more about the plot but to do so would
ultimately harm one's enjoyment of the show. I haven't had a chance to make
it through all twenty four episode as of yet but my initial plan to view
the first three quickly expanded into four or five and before you know I
found myself seven hours into the series. All I know is the show grabs you
from the opening minute and makes it hard for you to press the stop button
on your DVD remote. I'm not at all surprised that this show has developed
such a following so quickly. If a busy guy such as myself can put his life
on hold for three or so hours at a time, you know you have something good.
Part of what makes the show work as well as it does is it's ensemble cast
lead by Kiefer Sutherland. Sutherland a second generation Hollywood star is
Jack Bauer an ordinary man thrown into extraordinary circumstances. He has
to handle the complex task of infiltrating and finding a group responsible
for a presidential threat as well as deal with his newly reinstated
marriage and his daughter Kim who does anything but what's she told.
Sutherland was nominated for an Emmy for his performance and there is no
surprise why. He makes the show what it is. However he couldn't do it alone
and is surrounded by some very excellent talent. Dennis Haysbert plays
Senator David Palmer and adds to the tension with his unorthodox methods
and general lack of worry through out the opening of the series. Jack's
right hand woman and suspected traitor Nina Meyers is played by Sarah
Clarke. She brings the right combination of beauty and brawn to the screen
keeping the viewers on edge as to her true motivations. Also appearing in
key roles are Leslie Hope as Teri Bauer and Elisha Cuthbert as his
troublesome teenage daughter. The series also offers cameo appearances and
guest starring roles from the likes of Dennis Hopper and Mia Kirshner.
Fox has made the right decision in releasing this series to DVD so quickly.
Due to the way the story unfolds in hourly segments people like myself who
may have missed early episodes felt as though it would be too hard to catch
up on television so they never tuned in. Now people have the opportunity to
go through a day in the life of Jack Bauer with relative ease and not have
to worry about waiting another week for the cliffhangers to be resolved.
Series Rating : 8.5/10
The DVD
VIDEO: The saga that is "24" is split into 6 discs with each disc containing 4
episodes. During it's initial television airing the series ran in the
1.33:1 or 4:3 standard framing on Fox but was also presented on their
digital high definition channel in 1.78:1 widescreen. For this DVD edition
Fox has included the 1.78:1 or 16x9 anamorphic widescreen version of the
series. Going into this review I had very high expectations in terms of
image quality due to the fact that Fox constantly puts out very high
quality digital transfers and that the series was so new that the print
elements would no doubt be in excellent shape. My expectations were met and
then some. "24" looks and feels like a major motion picture. The 1.78:1
anamorphic widescreen framing gives the series a very cinematic look to it
with razor like sharpness and careful attention paid to even the smallest
details. Characters don't look flat and lifeless. They appear to be three
dimensional and look as if they were standing right there in front of
you. Since a good part of "24" takes place in the dark, I was a bit
concerned on how the exterior scenes during those hours would play out but
detail is still very strong in even the darkness and low light conditions
of the early hours. During the daytime scenes it's very hard to find
anything in terms of problems. Color usage while normally drab and boring
on most television series looks great with rich and pleasing hues
throughout. Problems are few and far between with only some minor
compression issues appearing from time to time on window blinds and brick
buildings. These may have something to do with the fact that Fox decided to
cram 4 episodes on each disc or just might be faults of the compression
technique itself. I also noticed some light grain during the occasional
scene. Print flaws are almost entirely non existent though I did see one
or two pop up during the episodes I sampled. All in all this is a very
nice transfer that's really quite impressive considering the program's
television origin. There are a few minor issues sprinkled throughout but
for the most part I really can't find much to complain about. The biggest
compliment I can pay to the transfer is that it doesn't look like TV,
instead it comes off looking like a 16 hour film.
Video Rating : 8.5/10
SOUND:
Initial press materials listed this set as containing Dolby Digital 5.1
audio and that had fans in Region 2 upset as their recent release contained
only Dolby Surround (2.0). However those fans have nothing to worry about
as this release maintains the exact same audio specs as it's Region 2
counterpart. FOX presents "24" with the original 2.0 surround sound audio
mixes that aired during the last television season. After getting over my
initial disappointment it became clear that while a 5.1 remix would have
been nice there was absolutely nothing wrong with the 2.0 mixes. "24" is a
very suspenseful program which makes full use of both the video and audio
aspects of television to provide a compelling and exciting program. The
audio mix offered provides a loud, aggressive and surprisingly dynamic
audio presentation. Given the number of things that can be occurring at any
minute, this mix presents each element crisply and cleanly allowing the
viewer to understand even the most complicated and layered scenes with
relative ease. The musical score commands a nice presence that fills the
room adding greatly to the suspense level. Surround channels are used
frequently for both ambient and primary sound with gun fire, tire squealing
and other split surround effects. Dialogue is clearly heard even when
multiple conversations are being held in different sections of the screen.
In terms of bass during the action scenes the subwoofer does offer up a
generous amount of shaking but certainly nothing that will result in noise
complaints from the neighbors. This is a very strong Dolby 2.0 presentation
that is without a doubt one of the best I've heard in recent memory. I can
only imagine what this would have sounded like in DD 5.1. Perhaps Fox will
release Season 2 "A New Day" with a full on discrete six channel mix after
it's television airing. That said it's hard to find anything wrong with the
audio presentation included on the disc. I might have had the volume a bit
higher in the mix but that's just my two cents.
Audio Rating : 8.5/10
EXTRAS:
Here's where things can get a bit disappointing. Due to the nature of the
series the Fox network decided against reairing the series throughout the
summer in rerun form. Instead of doing what has become standard they
decided to instead release the entire first season on DVD. However given
the limited amount of time in which they had to release this series before
the second season started there wasn't much of a window to create and
prepare bonus materials. So instead of a feature packed box set like the
"X-Files" there is very little in the way of bonus material on this set.
The extras are included on the 6th and final disc in the box set and
consist of an alternate ending to the first "24" hours which is provided
with optional commentary from writer Joel Surnaw as well as an introduction
to season one / look ahead to season two with series star Kiefer
Sutherland. Fans will be disappointed to learn that there are no audio
commentaries included on any of the episodes.
Extras Rating : 5/10
Final Thoughts:
As I sit here seven or so hours in the first season and anxiously awaiting
the third hour of the new season I can only ask myself. Why I wasn't
following this show from the absolute start. The answer is a simple one, I
got behind and felt as though catching up would take far too much
time. Thankfully FOX realized that their was a large group of people like
myself that would become hooked if they were given a second chance. They
could have simply repeated the show throughout the summer but in keeping
with their original strategy of making "24" more than just a show and more
of an event they found the best way would be to release the series on DVD.
After all the fan base of the show would pick it up and so would those who
missed it during it's original airings. "24 : The First Season" features
excellent anamorphic widescreen video transfers as well as above average
Dolby Surround sound. Sadly it's lacking in the extras department but that
I'm willing to look past that given the overall quality of the series
itself. Here's hoping that "24 : Season Two" adds in some bonus material
because in reality that's all this set is missing. A must own for fans of
the series and a welcome second chance for those who missed it on TV.
Product Rating : 8/10
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