"24 Redemption": Is It January Yet?

You know the feeling you get when you’re sitting in a dark movie theater and the trailer for a movie you’re really excited about comes on the screen?

The trailer is really good and it just makes you wish that the movie would hurry up and come out already.

That’s how I feel about “24: Redemption.” It’s the really good trailer that makes me want season seven of “24” to premiere so bad I can’t even stand it…

After all, you don’t realize how much you miss something until it’s gone and from the first moments of “Redemption” I realized just how much I’ve missed every little thing about “24”—the type on the screen, “the following takes place” intros, the ticking clock, the split screens, the frenetic camerawork. I was so excited to see all of that I almost cried.

But for those of us looking for the adrenaline rush the shows gives us, we didn’t get it from “Redemption.” No, this movie was a totally different animal giving “24” fans something we’re not used to seeing from the show…

Instead of lots of action, we got real emotion. And it was an interesting change of pace…

[Warning: If you have not yet seen “24: Redemption,” stop reading now.]

The main premise of the movie was actually pretty simple. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has been traveling the world since we last saw him on that cliff. For the past year, he’s been traveling to avoid a government subpoena to appear before Congress and answer questions about torture. He’s landed in Sangala (a fictional African country) to help an old special forces friend, Carl Benton (Robert Carlyle), with his school.

When an aide from the American Embassy, Frank Trammell (Gil Bellows), comes to the school to serve the subpoena while issuing threats to end the school’s funding if Jack doesn’t comply (which, of course, he doesn’t), Jack decides it’s best if he leaves the place where he has started to find a home (not to mention bond with the adorable children). But when the ruthless General Juma’s (Tony Todd) forces come to the school to kidnap the children and make them part of the army that plans to stage a coup, Jack has to postpone his departure and go into full Bauer mode to protect the children and get them to safety at the US Embassy.

Now here’s where it gets a little complicated…

In the US, Senator Alison Taylor (Cherry Jones) is preparing to be sworn in as the new President. Outgoing President Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe) has ordered an evacuation of US nationals from Sengala, but President-Elect Taylor favors a US military response and appears to be considering some action after she is sworn in.

Roger Taylor (Eric Lively), the President-Elect’s son, has other issues as he gets a visit from an old friend asking for Roger’s mother’s help in getting him out of some trouble at his work. What the old friend doesn’t know is that he aided the mysterious Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight) in funding the rebel forces in Sengala. And what Roger doesn’t know is that his Secret Service agent is in cahoots with Hodges.

I told you it was complicated…

However, in this case, complicated does not mean bad because the conspiracy story is actually quite interesting. Although we know absolutely nothing about Hodges, you can tell he’s going to make a great villain (the shadowy ones always do). And they’ve turned the “innocent guy accidentally gets a hold of the wrong information and is in danger for having it” story on its ear by involving the President’s son.

And speaking of the President, she didn’t get a lot of time in the movie, but the time she did get she made the most of. Cherry Jones looks to be quite fierce in the role and I’m going to enjoy seeing where she goes from here. But I have to tell you that I already miss President Daniels (although there was a small indication that maybe we haven’t heard the last of him). Nobody does steely like Powers Boothe.

But the star of “Redemption” was, of course, Kiefer Sutherland and he was beyond sensational as we got to see aspects of Jack Bauer we had never seen before. Jack’s sweet compassion with the children was adorable and made our indestructible hero more human. Sutherland’s chemistry with his real-life friend Carlyle was tremendous which made Benton’s heroic death all the more heartbreaking (although I think there’s more to that than we saw if the season seven preview was correct). Watching Jack struggle between crying and sucking it up for the sake of the children was just stunning.

But what else would you expect from the best actor on television?

I loved the scene when Jack “broke down” in front of his torturers as he pretended to give up the location of the children. I have to admit I laughed as Jack “begged” for his life—not because it was stupid but because you knew Jack was setting them up for the kill, literally.

But Sutherland’s best sequence had to be at the end when Jack finally reached the US Embassy with the children. Trammell, who you just knew was a huge weasel, forced Jack to comply with the subpoena to save the children and then almost didn’t let the children in anyway. Jack’s rage, frustration, concern and sadness all spilled out in just a few moments.

And if Trammell hadn’t let the kids in those gates, you know what would have happened to him…which I’m actually kind of sorry we didn’t see…

As I said, “Redemption” was a different animal and quite frankly, it wasn’t at all what I expected. After all, the promos only showed us the action sequences because they knew that’s what we wanted to see. However, that’s not to say it wasn’t good because it was actually quite good and I’ll be terribly disappointed if Sutherland doesn’t get a Golden Globe nod for his most well-rounded portrait of Jack Bauer yet.

If you missed it, you can get another chance to watch when “24: Redemption” is released on DVD this Tuesday. Plus, you’ll get the Director’s Cut and some great special features that I’ll have a review of later this week…

I know I’ve asked this question several times before, but it’s worth repeating…

Is it January yet?...

Photo Credits: Kelsey McNeal/FOX, Greg Gayne/FOX, Kelsey McNeal/FOX