Same carnage, different day.
Fox’s real-time thriller “24” is back without Jack Bauer, but with a compelling new combatant in the war against terror in former Army Ranger Eric Gardner (Corey Hawkins from “Straight Outta Compton”) — a man on the run from acolytes of a terrorist mastermind he and his fellow soldiers had killed in Afghanistan.
Though not as seasoned as Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack, Eric appears to be just as smart, tactical, handy with a variety of weapons and explosives, and seemingly impervious to body blows. He also leaves a bloody trail of bodies behind, but, at least early in the season, sidesteps the torture issues that dogged the original version.
But other problems with the original also dog “24: Legacy” — seriously unconvincing subplots that will, with some straining, play into the main drama but in the meantime feel like padding (one involving a Chechnyan teenager and her chemistry teacher is a whopper); and stereotyping up the wazoo, from the paint-by-numbers Islamic terrorists out for revenge (and something else) to Eric’s drug kingpin brother, with whom he hides his wife while the bullets are flying.
Fans of “24” aren’t going to care, because that’s the “24” formula. Subtlety is for suckers and snowflakes. (Since “24: Legacy” takes place in the same universe as the original, they’ll also appreciate the return of disgraced former CTU agent Tony Almeida, played by Carlos Bernard, the only old cast member in the revival, although at least one other analyst gets name-checked.)
Newcomers to the franchise — there may be a quite a few, as “24: Legacy” gets the prime spot right after the Super Bowl — may get sucked in, mostly thanks to Hawkins’ charisma, although Miranda Otto is also very watchable as Rebecca Ingram, the tough CTU director who is leaving the agency to help her husband, played by Jimmy Smits, run for president. And who becomes suspicious of his right-hand woman. Who happens to be Muslim. (I mentioned there were a lot of subplots, right?)
It will be interesting to see how dark this “24” goes, and where it takes us. The series debuted in the still-smoking wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and came to embody a national mood that its creators could not have anticipated. Now, with a Commander-in-Chief that many Americans did not anticipate, one who has professed his belief that torture works and relishes using the label radical Islamic terrorists, there is likely still an appetite for meat this red.
Grade: B-
“24:Legacy” premieres Sunday following the Super Bowl post-game coverage on Fox.
Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy or like her on Facebook. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook, and check out Remote Possibilities, the TV podcast from Vicki Hyman and co-host Erin Medley on iTunes, Stitcher or Spreaker, or listen below or here.
Ep. 63: Why we can’t stop watching ‘The Affair’ and ‘Quantico’
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