24: Redemption - First Look

US, October 3, 2008 - IGN was among a group of journalists who attended an early screening of 24: Redemption today. Airing Sunday, November 23rd, the TV-Movie marks the return of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) for the first time since 24's sixth season ended, in May 2007. Thanks to the writers' strike, the seventh season was delayed a full year, until January of 2009, but Redemption serves as a prequel to Season 7, and of course as a way to tide fans over after this unusually long wait.

Minor Spoilers follow:

As previously reported, Redemption picks up some time after Season 6, with Jack now living in the African country of Sangala, where he's working as a missionary, alongside his old colleague Carl Benton, played by Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting / The World is Not Enough). Sangala is under siege by a vicious warlord, who is recruiting local children for his militia. And when that militia targets the kids under Jack's care, well… Let's just say Jack doesn't stand by and let it happen.



Redemption is an interesting experiment for 24 - while the movie does follow the real time format (as Jack tells us at the start, "The following takes place between 3:00pm and 5:00pm), it's obviously not part of the long, 24-hour uninterrupted storyline the series takes place in. There's even a prologue that uses (gasp!) a time jump, as are introduced to some of the militia during the day, and then cut to their rather horrific ignition of a kidnapped boy at night.

As the story begins, Jack has completely left his old life behind – clearly he has not been spending the time since Season 6 thwarting terrorists. Sporting several days worth of facial hair, Redemption introduces us to a different take on Jack, as we find him living a peaceful life, while carrying the weight of what he's gone through with him. As always, Kiefer Sutherland is excellent in this role. Some fans might be a bit disappointed that Jack actually isn't featured prominently in the first half of Redemption, but when the action picks up and Jack gets back to doing what he does best, it's definitely a thrill. More importantly, Sutherland nails some genuine moments of pathos Jack goes through, including a wonderfully acted moment where he's clearly fighting back tears, during a time when there simply isn't time to deal with them.

It's also very cool to see Jack in such a different setting - Redemption was filmed on location in South Africa, and this is a very different element for Jack to do his thing in than the Los Angeles settings we've grown accustomed to for the character. It certainly makes us curious what it would be like to follow the character through something even bigger in scope, such as the long-discussed 24 feature film.

There's also a lot of time spent in America in Redemption, where several characters are introduced who will be featured prominently in Season 7. Cherry Jones makes a solid first impression as President Allison Taylor, who we meet on the day of her inauguration. Appearing more briefly is Jon Voight as the mysterious Jonas Taylor, who is firmly established as a villain in his first scene. These characters look to be strong additions, as does Tony Todd (Chuck) as the ruthless warlord. In 24 tradition, there's also some sillier characters, including a sap of a UN representative who first doubts the threat of the warlord, and then turns coward when he realizes it's real. Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal) is saddled with another unfortunate character – an obnoxious government agent who comes looking for Jack.

24 fans hoping to see a lot of the familiar supporting cast should know that Redemption doesn't deliver much in that arena – there's no Chloe, no Buchannan… However, it was nice to see Powers Boothe and Peter MacNicol reprise their Season 6 roles – neither actor is back for Season 7 (at least that we know of), but their characters, outgoing President Noah Daniels and chief of staff Tom Lennox, get to do some nice onscreen passing of the torch as Taylor begins her administration, a rarity in 24 because of how separated the seasons are in the timeline.

Many, including us at IGN, had some big problems with Season 6. It's hard to say if Redemption marks a big return to form however, because it's not truly the next season. It certainly gets things off to a promising start though – this is very much a set up for Season 7, and while the specific story of Jack's attempt to rescue the kids is completed, a lot is left in motion for the series to continue and it's done so in a tantalizing manner.

At the end of the movie, an extended preview for Season 7 was shown. Some of the clips included had been seen before, dating back to the preview that debuted nearly a year ago, when the show was still set to return in January 2008 – including Jack discovering that Tony is alive and apparently a bad guy now. However, there were also many new sequences we glimpsed. There is a lot of action shown in the preview – including gun fights, car crashes and a big set piece involving an airplane. It definitely seems like they didn't skimp on going big this year.

The preview ends with Jack interrogating Tony, demanding to know, "What's the target?" Furious, Jack picks Tony up and slams him against a wall, exclaiming that if Tony doesn't talk, "I will kill you and you will stay dead this time!"