24: Redemption
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Robert Carlyle, Gil Bellows, Jon Voight, Peter MacNicol, Powers Boothe, Cherry Jones, Eric Lively, Colm Feore, Carly Pope, Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Created By: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran
Premieres: Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 8:00 – 10:00 PM ET on FOX
After six seasons of 24, I’ve a developed the tiniest bit of sympathy for people who try to take Jack Bauer down, especially when they don’t know what they’re up against. Such is the case in the special TV movie 24: Redemption. It’s been forever since we’ve seen Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) in action. The two-hour movie, which takes place in real time, finds Jack Bauer in Sangala, Africa. After the events that took place in the sixth season, Jack headed overseas to lick his wounds and duck a subpoena that’s been chasing him for the past year. The U.S. government wants him to return to the States to account for some of the mean things he did in an effort to save the country from terrorism.
Most recently, Jack’s been passing the time helping his old Army buddy Carl (Robert Carlyle) with a small school in Sangala, Africa. Things in Sangala are heating up as a local military group lead by Colonel Ike Dubaku (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) has been recruiting (which I’m pretty sure translates to “kidnapping” in Sangalanese) kids and training them to become murderous soldiers. So far, the school’s been safe, thanks to Carl and Jack’s efforts but when the students become a target, Jack and Carl work to protect the children and attempt to get them back to the embassy before the last evacuating helicopter leaves the ground. The clock is ticking.
I won’t go into the details of Jack, Carl and the kids’ efforts to escape because these are obviously the highlights of the movie. I will say this. Jack Bauer in Africa is just as badass as he is in the U.S.
Over in America, the set up for the new season is taking place. President-elect Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) is just hours away from taking office. Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe), the exiting president, is preparing to pass the torch after a single term in office. His final act as president is to make a decision as to how the U.S. will react to the impending military coup in Sangala. Taylor realizes that it will be she who has to deal with whatever consequences come from Daniels’ decision.
The movie also introduces Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight), a mystery man with some shady business going on with the bad guys in Sangala. When Chris, a pill-popper involved in what he thinks is an embezzlement scheme reviews some documents he’s supposed to be destroying, and realizes there’s more to this business than he originally thought, he contacts Roger (Eric Lively), an old party friend who also happens to be the son of the new president, hoping he can get some help sorting out the issue from his highly connected friend.
24: Redemption works on two levels. For one thing, it brings Jack Bauer back to the small screen and fills us in on what he’s been up to since the end of season 6. It’s a relief (though not totally surprising) to see that he hasn’t lost his edge in the year that’s gone by. And then of course, Redemption sets us up for the seventh season, introducing new characters, a new backdrop (Washington, DC) and of course, plenty of new conflicts. The action and drama that unfolds in the two hour movie is engrossing enough that you might not even miss some of the old faces (like Chloe’s adorable scowl) and the familiar four-tone ring of the interoffice phone at the L.A. CTU headquarters. As for the African plot, the travesty that’s taking place in Sangala is both stomach-turning and heartwrenching but the story works well for the movie and provides a good excuse for Jack Bauer to tear things up, while at the same time, demonstrating that he still carries plenty of emotional baggage from the things he’s seen and done over the course of his career.
If you weren’t already excited for the new season if 24, which premieres this January, this movie should do the trick.
We’ve got some photos in the gallery below and Redemption-related videos here
