24: Redemption (2008)

Simply Perfect

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"24" loves themselves some prequels. Including Redemption, the creative team made five of them in the latter years of the series existence. Even the aborted feature-film got itself one!However nice they are for the fans, the prequels made especially for the show were usually mixed bags of half-realized ideas in hindsight, shameless product placements or simply redundant little vignettes. Among those charges, "Redemption" is only guilty of one or two of charges, depending on who you talk to. Either way, it's a soulful reminder of the lead character we started watching about 13 years ago, who he is now and where he's going.As much as 24 made great action set pieces, it didn't stop the show from losing sight of the human doing the shooting. What doomed the season that Redemption proceeded is that mostly everything about Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) felt too routine, given the circumstances. He returned from two years of torture by the hands of the Chinese government with barely a scratch on him it seemed after awhile. Early on when African embassy worker Frank Trammell (Gil Bellows) corners Bauer with the subpoena meant to jail him for the numerous instances of torture he's perpetrated in seasons past, his natural reaction is to run. He's sacrificed almost all of his livelihood for saving the millions of hypothetical Americans he's sworn to protect, yet the last thing he rations that he wants to surrender is his freedom. This early moment plants his feet firmly onto the ground. Jack Bauer is a dedicated hero, sure, yet he's not stupid, even if self-preservation rarely occurs to the character. When does the services of a grateful nation become greedy exploitation?Of course, it's not as simple as that. Redemption's writer Howard Gordon, moves his troubles to the background of the more pertinent problem of a growing coup by an genocidal African warlord (Tony Todd).Yet, the rapidly unfolding coup in Sangala somehow works in what it says about Jack Bauer without really commenting on it. The series format of CTU and Jack regularly chasing down shady terrorist collaborators precluded the threats from being the vague, "Stop this or innocent people will die and/or get hurt."And Jack shepherding Benton's (Robert Carlyle) orphans — who are also running to avoid being child soldiers — to the American Embassy for asylum gives a great sense urgency that the series, frankly, hasn't had at least since season four. It also distills the character down to his essential elements: His conscience won't allow him to run away from conflict, as much as Jack wants to. Even it costs him his freedom, which he's forced to surrender by episode's end. As result of having only two hours of screen time, the plots feels more tightly focused than usual. The script by Howard Gordon throws around a lot of talk about America acting as moral authority, especially by President-Elect Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), to prevent reprehensible acts by monstrous people. That line of logic doesn't work in reality, yet within the shows context, it fits right in its mission statement. Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight), the shady businessman funding the African uprising for-now unknown reasons, is real monster of the film. By the end, the democratic state of Sangala has fallen, leaving thousands left behind to become cannon fodder, as in the case of the child soldiers, or victims of genocide, as with everyone else. Of course, this being "24," it features things that DO NOT work under any circumstances. The writers never properly determined how to provide actor's with definition to play weak- willed people, which befalls actor Kris Lemche who plays an unfortunate former addict and broker (See what I mean?) that uncovers Hodges plot. At it's best, this show finds meaning in the chaos whenever it allows our heroes to lose a few rounds to the terrorists they're combating. With Redemption, the good guys lose a round to Hodges, whose not only kills Lemche, but also plots to eliminate the soon-to-be First Son.Things don't look good for everyone as the film wraps up, yet with people like Jack Bauer and President Allison Taylor in the world, "hope has a fighting chance," to quote the tagline.

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!

I watched 3 seasons of this show and just quit because although I liked it, after a while it got old. I only have 5 seasons on DVD so I just postponed watching it until the show is canceled and I can watch them all without having to wait for them to come on DVD.I watched this movie not sure if it was directly connected to the show, and although I think the main story here is only shown in the film, the side story is to do with the show and I was lost. I had no idea how Jack got where he was or who any of these characters were...so you do need to watch the show before you watch this movie.Jack is in Africa staying with an old friend who has a camp for kids. There are armies trying to recruit these kids and make them soldiers to fight against "the man". With no help from the U.S. Jack must try, along with his friend (Robert Carlyle)to get the kids to America safely.The TV show always happens so fast and in the blink of an eye it's over, but this movie was so slow in getting to the point and it was shot in a 2 hour period and on two different continents and I'm not sure why no one happened to notice that with it being two different time zones that it would not be daylight in both.The movie was basically an extended episode and had a director from the show filming it and many of the actors were from the show. Keifer Sutherland is always good and Jack has become the character he will forever be remembered as. Some other actors from the show that I didn't know until this movie were Jon Voight, Poweres Boothe and Colm Feore and was glad to see them on board. The movie also had Tony Todd and I always love seeing him in anything. Robert Carlyle did a great job here and it's nice to see him in the various roles and seeing how well he can pull off each job he takes on.I must say the movie might be a nice bridge for the seasons, but standing alone it's reminiscent of 80's b-movie action. I could not recommend it to anyone except a fan of this show. 2 out of 10 stars.

This film carries the story on from the end of Season 6 of the hit TV show 24. Having not seen any of the TV series I had no idea what to expect, but to my joy I really enjoyed it and will be starting the long slog of watching 24 from the first episode.My favourite actor of all time Kiefer Sutherland does an amazing job as always portraying Jack Bauer. Appearances from Robert Carlyle and Jon Voight just add to the viewing pleasure. Plenty of action, a lot of gun shots and a few explosions just to add some adrenaline.A must watch for any action fan and any fan of Kiefer Sutherland.My rating 10/10