Where is Jack Baur? Somewhere in an African crisis country. What’s he doing there? Helping an old buddy from special forces times to run a missionary and school. He has retired form all those Los Angeles evils, and he needs to retire as remotely as possible, because the Congress is looking for him for questioning about inadequate torture methods. When the revolutionary forces start rising and recruit more and more kids as child soldiers, Jack needs to help them get to the embassy for evacuation. He does not know that the coup is being supported from within the White House, where the new president is about to be inaugurated, unaware that there are forces at work who will make her administration a nightmare.
An interesting experiment to provide a two-hour real-time episode, but there are some flaws: the usual effect of being bounced around by fate and tragedy and plotting does not take place, as there is not enough time for plot twists. Even for the key action, they run through the jungle, pursued by some avenging revolutionaries… not enough substance to make it really interesting, as the nature of the film is serving as a preparatory setting for the forthcoming season. And that means the parallel setting in Washington needs to be pursued, the new president introduced, her background villain presented, and some separate drama placed there, as well, to avoid boredom.
Altogether nice and entertaining, but not more special than a half-episode of a regular season. The hope remains that all that time the writers and producers had to think about how to revamp the 24 principle will pay off and we will be rewarded with something special and fresh.
thomas4cinema 