24: Live Another Day

So the clock started ticking again after all and the authors briskly take you into the story. 8 days was too long, but everything is relatively well explained even for those who have only just jumped on the band wagon. This loaded twelve part series offers all that’s good (and bad) in the last series just with less stuffing. The terrorist mother is pretty familiar, but tries to offer something new from a drone’s point of view. Heller’s gang is back, after all they got a bit left out in the sixth series, but mainly Jack is back. Pissed and nasty. Just the way we like him. Tension is at breaking point in the last episodes stretching to the limits of endurance. The series is pretty creative in working with the viewer’s assumptions and deals him several surprises. The last episode is uncompromising and ends with a samurai sword and the ten minute epilog is a fine way to say farewell, with the ending that touches your heart. But only after the fadeout. (06.05.2014)

After a four-year hiatus, Jack Bauer moved to London for a few hours, but even that didn't do much to counteract the ever-increasing monotony that 24 had become in recent seasons. After a couple of sneak peeks at the series you can predict most of the twists and turns, which still follow an established formula, but the brisk pace keeps it moving along nicely. Instead of 24 hours, this time we only spend 12 hours with Bauer. This makes the pace even faster, but it's as if there's no time for psychology in the big rush. The personal storylines are kept to a minimum and any relationships between the characters are only sketched out (Bauer himself surprisingly doesn't get much space), so the result is a slightly sterile action ride. A must for hardcore fans of 24 (like me). For others it probably won't say much. (15.07.2014)

Jack Bauer’s comeback would make greater sense if only the authors learned from the mistakes in the “original" series. But they said a firm NO and so everything stays as it always was. Instead of concentrating on Jack, we again keep on wasting time with white collars at their computers again spouting would-be technical claptrap about nothing that we heard in the past series about a hundred times, again there is some political milieu and... And simply everything. It doesn’t seem that the authors have anything more to say on top of what had been said in the past and so they recycle what worked the best in the best seasons. But it must be said that they have a great sales pitch and so it soon picks up an incredible tempo. It’s just a shame that the tempo doesn’t endure and in the final quarter it runs out of breath which irks the more if you already know how it works in a 24 and so it’s obvious who and how is going to betray/die and so on. The very end wouldn’t be that bad if the whole series didn’t find itself again at the point where it had already been (not only) once before. We simply need to come to terms with the fact that it’s “just" the ninth series with all the good and the bad from the previous eight seasons. Nothing more and nothing less. (06.05.2014)

Talks of a reboot or a functioning standalone miniseries were more misleading than I could ever have guessed. Characters who were absent for years reappear in the plot, subplots bring back the darkest ghosts from the past, and the whole structure of the opening episodes recalls the classic days of the original 24 as much as possible. A terrorist group can threaten the world with various weapons or explosions, and even when he is just a legend for most people, rather than a real person, Jack Bauer must intervene. And although I hesitated slightly, I couldn't help but be consumed by the excitement of the action scenes and nostalgic references. I occasionally shook my head at the technical abbreviations or devices, but in the end, I let myself be captivated. The final three episodes offer the essence of everything that captivated me about those hours  ticking away years ago. Perfect audiovisual presentation, tension that lasts until the last second, and an emotional experience that sometimes makes me feel almost miserable. Those moments when the necessity and zeal for saving others surpasses one's own need for happiness or even life itself work perfectly even for the ninth time. Surprisingly, William Devane earns the fifth star, effortlessly grounding the entire staff of the White House at almost seventy-five years old. (17.07.2014)