Like all non-reality series last year, 24 was affected by the writers’ strike. Unlike most of their contemporaries, 24 decided to delay the series seventh season, rather than have to write a storyline for a shortened run. While on hiatus, 24: Redemption, a two hour television movie was put together to prepare fans for the debut of the seventh season in January of 2009.
At the end of 24’s sixth season, Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) was tired and ready to give up his life of fighting terrorism for a more peaceful existence. Redemption opens nearly a year after the close of season six. In Washington, DC, it is the inauguration day of the nation’s first female president, Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). Traveling the world in a self-imposed exile, Jack finds himself caught in a military coup in Sangala, Africa while visiting his friend Carl Benton who runs a school for orphaned children (Robert Carlyle).
Bauer has been served a subpoena to appear before the U.S. Senate regarding torture charges, but refuses to appear. Frank Trammell (Gil Bellows) an official with the State Department warns that the embassy may cut funding for Benton’s school, if he continues to protect Jack. As a result, Bauer decides to leave.
The coup d’etat is led by General Juma (Tony Todd). He is a former dictator, removed from power. He has connections in the United States that want him back in power and have given him advanced weapons and technology to defeat the current government. Unfortunately, Juma does not have enough men to enact his plan. Colonel Ike Dubaku (Hakeen Kae-Kazim) has been kidnapping young boys and indoctrinating them into Juma’s cause by brainwashing them to kill. Though Jack had intended to leave, when Benton’s school is targeted, he stays behind to help.
In Washington DC, Chris Woodley (Kris Lemche) is ordered by the conspirators to erase all information that would incriminate them. Instead, he decides to call his friend Roger Taylor (Eric Lively), the son of President-elect Allison Taylor, who is only hours away from being sworn in. Woodley meets Roger and tells him about the possible conspiracy. Roger reluctantly agrees to help, but when Woodley returns home to retrieve the data he was instructed to erase, he is stopped by men who work for Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight), one of the conspirators. The men take the information and kill Woodley, burying him in cement to hide the body.
As Allison Taylor takes the oath of office, Jack is arrested and leaves with the children from the orphanage via helicopter. Redemption is a great primer for 24’s seventh season. The movie reveals quite a bit of detail about the events in occurring in Sangala, but at the same time a limited view of what is happening back in the states. There is a brief introduction to the new presidential administration, the bad guys, and how they will fit into the Sangala coup d’etat. In effect, it reveals enough detail to leave you curious about season seven.
The DVD has the broadcast version and an extended cut, which is on two DVDs; Disc one is a single-layered DVD with the broadcast version (1:26:54). Disc two is a dual-layered DVD with the extended cut (1:42:04) and special features. As for the differences between the broadcast and extended versions, there are various extended scenes that have little impact to the overall story — despite about fifteen minutes of new footage. Here are a couple of examples of the extended footage: Dubaku gives a slightly longer speech to his army, and some additional footage of Roger and his girlfriend getting ready for the inauguration.
Redemption is a must-own for 24 fans. The story is exciting and engrossing. As only a casual fan, I can’t wait for season seven to premiere in January; The first seventeen minutes of the upcoming season, provided on the DVD has me on pins and needles.
The video in this release is given in an anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color format. The picture quality is quite good. It suffers from a slight grain, but detail remains sharp and clear. Overall, the picture is relatively clean and should look good on big screen televisions.
The audio track on this release is in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround. In general, the sound quality is very good and provides an audible and clean track. The dialogue is a little flat while music and sound effects come off rich and vibrant. Additionally the 5.1 track is dynamic and makes good use of the surround sound capability. The release also has closed captioning and Spanish subtitles.
24: Redemption has a few notable extras:
• An Audio Commentary is included for the extended cut with executive producer/director Jon Cassar, executive producer Howard Gordon, and executive producer/actor Keifer Sutherland.
• The Making of 24: Redemption (21:56): is a behind the scenes featurette with cast and crew talking about Redemption from production issues to filming in Africa to characters to the storyline.
• Blood Never Dry: Child Soldiers in Africa (15:03): is a featurette about the real problem in Africa and includes 24 actor Carlos Bernard and various experts on the subject.
• 24 Season 6 in Four Minutes (4:50): is a quick overview of the key events from season 6.
• 24 Season 7 Sneak Peek (17:02): is the first seventeen minutes from season seven.
