| 24: Season Seven [Blu-ray] | User Reviews Send this to a friend | | 24: Season Seven [Blu-ray] | | |  | | Manufacturer: Twentieth Century Fox | | Customer Rating: | | | List Price: $69.99 | | Sale Price: $27.00 | | Availibility: Usually ships in 24 hours |  Free Shipping Available | | Buy Now |
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Stills from 24: Season Seven [Blu-ray] (Click for larger image) | Product Details |  No details are available for this product | Video Reviews | 24 - Season 7 Finale Preview | Customer Reviews |  Stunning | | Review Date: May 19, 2009 | | Reviewer: C. Higginbotham, | Just got finished watching this on TV and yes I am one of those "stupid people" who will go out and buy this tomorrow. And I will watch it again as soon as I do because that's just how great this show really is. I cant understand why people who are supposed to be such big fans of the show are actually angry they are releasing the dvd early. Wouldn't that be what you want?
But anyway...on to the show....
24 Season 7 will go down as one of the premiere seasons in the shows history. Maybe, from start to finish, the best since Season 1. After a lackluster Season 6, I think it was safe to say that the writers and producers of the show had a clear opportunity to start over and start fresh. And they did. What we got was a smart, tight, and extraordinarily acted season with the same raging action and plot twists but still with a different feel to it. By relocating out of L.A and into D.C. we got the chance to see Jack Bauer out of his element for the first time. At first I was skeptical of this, as many were. But after the first episode of the season I realized that my skepticism was for nothing. The move to D.C. was perfect and it brought so much to this season. And as we progressed from twist to twist, from villain to villain, the one thing that stayed apparent was that this season was absolutely brilliant. Nothing will ever compare to the originality of Season 1. And the show's creators know that. But they weren't trying to replicate that. Instead they were trying to bring us a season that we will remember, instead of tossing away like we did with season 6. Season 7 was a triumph and it's just another example of why we keep watching. |
Season 7 reestablishes 24 as one of the TV's best | | Review Date: May 19, 2009 | | Reviewer: Ron Cronovich, Kenosha, WI | Like most fans, I was disappointed in Season 6, but willing to give 24 another try based on its past greatness. Season 7 surpassed my expectations.
While 24 is an action show, its best moments for me are the pivotal ones in the lives of the characters we care about so much, especially Jack. (Like, in Season 2 Jack talking with Kim while flying the plane, then Mason showing up and talking to Jack about what Jack should really be doing with his life; or, in Season 3, Jack and Nina's final confrontation; or in Season 5, our last visit with David Palmer.) There are several such memorable moments in Season 7.
This season benefits from a great cast, including some returning favorite characters (Tony, Chloe, Agent Pierce, and a couple others) and some great new ones (FBI Agent Renee Walker, super talented & resourceful and a possible love interest for Jack in Season 8 - if he lives that long), and uber bad guy Jonas Hodges, played to a tee by Jon Voight.
Season 7 borrows the more successful plot elements from previous seasons, and does them well in a new context. Jack, once again, is working on the outside, with the help of Chloe on the inside. Jack, once again, must infiltrate a group of bad guys by pretending to be one of them, and must pretend to kill someone he - and we - care about to convince them of his loyalties. There's a well-placed mole, feeding intel to the bad guys and keeping them a step ahead of our hero. There's a Sherrie Palmer-like character in the President's daughter, and, finally, once again, a President with principles - like David Palmer.
I am hoping the writers try some different plot elements next year instead of rehashing the same formula. Stop making Jack prove he's a good guy - sheesh, he's saved the world 6 or 7 times over, you'd think people would have learned by now. Give him some real resources and the unconditional faith of the leaders he serves.
But, after the disappointing Season 6, the writers did a fantastic job, and Season 7 brings the comforting feeling of the old 24 magic. Most fans, I think, will easily forgive the writers for reusing some past plot points. And while not all seasons of 24 portray their villains as 3-dimensional characters with plausible motivations, Season 7 gives us a nicely fleshed out villain in Jonas Hodges, and another guy who's pretty bad reveals his true motivations to Jack in Episode 24, and it's pretty plausible and satisfying.
In the end, despite the terrorist threats to the nation, and all the great action and stunts and car crashes, Season 7 is more intimate - it's about Jack facing his demons and about other characters we've long known dealing with theirs. And as a bonus (I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler), Kim's reappearance sets things right with fans - she doesn't wind up in any cougar traps - far from it - and she makes a positive contribution when it counts most. In my view, everything wraps up perfectly in Episode 24. The writers don't explicitly show the actual resolution to certain things, like what Renee is about to do when we last see her, or what will happen after the very final scene. But they show enough to make it clear how things turn out. And it is very satisfying.
If you have not seen 24 Season 7 yet, I envy you for the treat you're in store for. |
How TV Shows SHOULD Be Released to DVD | | Review Date: May 19, 2009 | | Reviewer: Jon, | I've watched every episode when it aired on TV, including the season finale, and absolutely loved that I could go out and purchase the entire season on DVD the very next day.
The market demand for TV entertainment is changing, and Fox and 24 are leading the way in meeting the demand. New episodes every week, DVD quality episodes streaming online the next morning, and the DVD set released the day after the season finale -- well done. |
Preserving the Constitution by whipping out that full interrogation packet - Jack Bauer's at it again | | Review Date: September 20, 2009 | | Reviewer: H. Bala, Carson - hey, we have an IKEA store! - CA USA | After a lengthy hiatus, Jack finally has another really bad day. I don't know how many more times Jack gets himself out only to be pulled back into the counter-terrorism gig, but 24: SEASON 7 demonstrates that there are still legs on this thing. In the show's internal continuity, four years have elapsed since the events in Season 6, and in the interim Jack had roamed from place to place in search of some kind of inner peace. Except I'm guessing that wasn't ever gonna work out.
The damnable writers' strike of 2007-08 delayed Season 7 for one year - which, as it turns out, was a blessing in disguise for the writers of 24 as they'd been stuck for ideas - and it wasn't until the 24: Redemption television movie came out that I finally became convinced that there really was gonna be a seventh year. I frankly thought 24 was done. But here's Jack Bauer again, scarred and wracked with guilt, his methods condemned, still saving the world.
As mentioned, four years had passed, and things haven't stayed the same. There's a new American President, a woman. CTU had been shut down, its tactics questioned and its operatives scattered. In Washington, D.C., Jack Bauer is on the verge of being indicted for past acts of brutality. But then a daring, broad daylight kidnapping puts Jack's trial on hold as the FBI seeks his expertise. Especially since one of the kidnappers is identified as Jack's old friend Tony Almeida, who isn't quite as deceased as everyone had assumed. From there, things quickly worsen.
I think it's a boost in the arm, switching things up, moving to D.C. and taking CTU out of the equation and putting in the FBI as Jack's new intel and tech support - although one character would refer to the FBI agency as "CTU Lite." This introduces a running theme (and a hot button topic), that of Jack's ruthlessly doing whatever it takes to achieve his objective versus the FBI's strictly by the book methods. There's a new supporting cast brought in, with FBI agent Renee Walker impacting Jack the most. Agent Walker, in some ways, demonstrates how someone, under extreme duress and in light of horrific circumstances, can be swayed into adopting Jack's perspective. Her boss and friend cautions her: "Renee, we're FBI, not CTU. We honor the law." But how do you hold back when the price of idealism is possibly thousands of murdered lives? The most startling thing for me, though, may have been when Janeane Garafalo shows up as an FBI computer analyst. Talk about wonderful counter-casting.
Season 7 basically unfolds in three stages, starting out as a follow up to 24: REDEMPTION as Jack and the FBI go up against the murderous warlord of Sangala. 24 still reeks of extreme paranoia and pervasive conspiracies, so it shouldn't be a surprise when Jack and Walker learn that things go much deeper than the Sangalan plot. There are layers and layers of duplicity.
In another front, there's good focus on the President, effectively portrayed by Cherry Jones, as the American government once again falls under siege. There are sub-plots involving the suicide of her son and the alienation of her daughter. And, as usual, you never quite know who you can trust in the White House, in that most elite inner circle.
It's pretty cool that Carlos Bernard is back, which means that Tony Almeida is back, or rather a darker, even more smoldering version of Tony. But it's almost like old times seeing him and Jack side by side again. They're eventually joined by other familiar faces, including one of my old favorites, Glenn Morshower, as straight-shooting Special Agent Aaron Pierce, the only guy other than Kiefer to have appeared in all of the seasons so far.
Political intrigue, deadly espionage, riveting human drama, that blurring of ethics. 24 continues to be one of the best - if not THE best - thrill rides on television. That ominous beat we hear each time we glimpse the digital clock counting down, it's still pulse pounding to me. As the episodes progress, I fall in line with the pervasive mood of the show, and I trust no one and I constantly look for twists because there are plot reversals everywhere. We're still treated to storytelling that is complex and both plot and character driven, and the series still rides on the strength of its technical merits. And, except for Jack, each character in the show is expendable. Key players bite the bullet. Jack's actions provoke debate even as he remains the best guy out there to clean up the mess.
24: SEASON 7 comes in six discs, with a cast & crew audio commentary on a whopping 12 episodes: "8am-9am" (Producer/Director Jon Cassar & actor Carlos Bernard); "10am-11am" (Producers Manny Coto & Brannon Braga, & Carlos Bernard); "12pm-1pm" (Producer/Director Jon Cassar & actor Annie Wersching); "4pm-5pm" (Producer David Fury & actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim); "5pm-6pm" (Producers Manny Coto & Brannon Braga, & Annie Wersching); "7pm-8pm" (Producer/Director Brad Turner & actor Tony Todd); "8pm-9pm" (Producer/Director Brad Turner, Composer Sean Callery, & actor James Morrison); "9pm-10pm" (Producers Evan Katz & Juan Carlos Moto, actors Annie Wersching & Bob Gunton); "1am-2am" (Producer Howard Gordon, Carlos Bernard, & Jeffrey Nordling); "5am-6am" (Producer Evan Katz, actors Mary Lynn Rajskub & Glenn Morshower); "6am-7am" (Producers David Fury, Alex Gansa, and actor Glenn Morshower); and "7am-8am"(Producers Howard Gordon & Jon Cassar). It's always fun soaking in the actors' behind-the-scene commentaries, but I'm wondering how come Kiefer didn't drop by for a few words?
Other special features include: 14 deleted scenes with optional commentary from Producers Stephen Kronish & Paul Gadd (including an emotional 6-minute scene with Kiefer and a familiar face); "The Fimucite Festival Presents: The Music of 24" - Composer/conductor Sean Callery and the Tenerife Film Orchestra & Choir perform the score from 24 live at the Guimerá Theater in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands (13 minutes long); "Hour 19: The Ambush" - we follow the f/x crew as they prep to blow up a building near the L.A.X. area (12:45 minutes); and "24-7: The Untold Story" - the show's writers reflect on the disappointment of Season 6, on the need for the show to reinvent itself, and then on the long, strenuous struggle to come up with a working story for Season 7 (almost 16 minutes long).
Some things to look out for and maybe even savor:
- First and foremost, Jack just being Jack, getting the job done, inhabiting that grey moral area; Kiefer Sutherland rules all
- Tony Almeida alive and very much in the thick of things
- The ongoing Ugly Chick Cyber War between Garafalo and Mary Lynn Rajskub
- Yet another indecisive turnip for an American Vice-President (I don't know, 24 seems to enjoy featuring VPs who hem and haw)
- If you're a fan of POPULAR, then nostalgia might kick in as Carly Pope shows up for a few episodes; oddly enough, her character's name is still Sam
- One of the no-nonsense bad guys looks like a leaner, meaner Tracy Morgan |
JACK IS BACK AND 24 TOO !!!!!! | | Review Date: April 20, 2009 | | Reviewer: D. Brookins, Tampa, Florida United States | | I was really angry when 24 was delayed because of last year's strike. I was wrong. the 24 writers were given time to think about the Season 6 misstep and write a season full of redemption. Folks Jack is back !!!! This season may be the best season ever. I had previously thought that season 4 & 5 were the best. But season 7 is turning out to be full of action, excitement, lots of twist. The producers made an excellent choice for the new President - Cherry Jones and there villians are good too. the actor that played Candyman and the always entertaining Jon Voight is having a stellar career as an older actor. I love Jack's new FBI female partner. Great show !!!! The best on TV... |
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