HBO has long been the superstar of premium cable original programming, with Showtime lately nipping right at the network’s heals. Now even Starz has been getting in on the game (I’m really looking forward to Kelsey Grammer’s Boss). But Cinemax, home of skin flicks and “After Dark” programs? I’d have to see it to believe it.
Which is the primary reason why this week I chose to check out Strike Back, a British original brought to the U.S. for its second series (season to us Americans). Could Cinemax live up to the precedent set by its fellow premium channels?
The show follows an elite unit of the famed British agency, MI6, known as Section 20. From what I could tell of the background, Strike Back is a lot like Sleeper Cell in that knowledge of one season isn’t necessarily required to enjoy the other; many of the character’s are the same, but the stories are predominantly self-contained.
So whatever took place in season one, season two begins with the kidnapping and murder of John Porter (Richard Armitage). Michael Stonebridge (Philip Winchester) recruits rogue ex-Delta Damien Scott (Sullivan Stapleton) from a whorehouse in Thailand to help find Porter — and the terrorist known as Latif — and away we went.
Comparisons to other productions abound: similarities to 24 are obvious — although thankfully none of these guys is like Jack Bauer in the plausibility category — and I even felt a bit of the Transporter series throughout (I could see Jason Statham in Scott’s role in a second). Not to mention flashbacks to a slew of 80’s and 90’s action hero flicks from guys named Stallone, Lundgren, Van Damme, Norris, Schwarzenegger, and Willis.
But none of that diminished my enjoyment of the show. It was like a solid “B” movie, and one of the best parts is that the entire story won’t be crammed into one two hour sitting. The siege of the Indian hotel should have taken as long as it did, and it’s not something that should be wrapped up in forty-five action packed minutes. Scott and Stonebridge work well together, but they also work well, and the more time we get to enjoy them the better. That slow but pleasurable unfolding is one of the reasons I enjoyed The Kill Point so much.
It was a bit obvious that the “tourist” who ran after Stonebridge was a bad guy, but weak moments like that — which, let’s be honest, are hard to conceal from viewers who’ve seen this stuff so many times — were far overshadowed by an overall solid show that I look forward to tuning into next week. And how about Ramu Gupta himself (The Guru), Jimi Mistry, popping up out of nowhere as a Pakistani intelligence agent? When’s the last time you saw him in anything? Welcome back, Ramu!
One thing I am concerned about is getting bogged down in India/Pakistan politics. I’m sure a ton of research was put into it (one can hope), but that’s one of those things that even regional experts don’t fully understand (just ask Lord John Marbury). And it’s something that can easily overshadow everything else that’s meant to take place during this very promising show. Hopefully it remains just an ever-present undercurrent.
That said, I’m glad I checked this out. As a contender you still have a ways to go, Cinemax, but a solid effort with Strike Back 2: Project Dawn!
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Aug 15, 2011 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
I haven’t had a chance to watch the episode from this weekend yet, but it looks to me that, other than John Porter (Whom I thought was just kidnapped, not murdered, but again, haven’t seen it yet) none of the characters were the same.
Which, to be frank, kinda freaking blows. It isn’t like they were well developed, but why even call it the same show when the only thing you’re keeping is the name Section 20 and, apparently one dead character holdover.
*POST AUTHOR*
Really? I just assumed the team (minus Andrew Lincoln, who’s on some silly other show) was the same. That makes me feel better about how some of them didn’t quite mesh. But you should check it out … it was good.
I saw the first 5 minutes in a preview a week or so ago. Didn’t look nearly as good as the original. But I’ll catch up some time this week.
Yeah, without giving anything away, it would have been logical for Lincoln to return regardless.