British SAS special ops team comes in hot with guns blazing in BBC America drama

By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/27/07 — If you play the first person shooter game “Half-Life: Counter-Strike”, then you’ll feel right at home with this BBC America gung-ho anti-terrorist drama. It’s guns and glory…without much story.

Season premiere episode “The Killing House”, written by Rob Heyland, introduces two fresh recruits, played by Jamie Draven and Sendhil Ramamurthy. Draven plays the role of the rookie soldier who the audience is supposed to identify with. However, he exhibits such creepy detachment you wonder if he’s one of the bad guys. A bright spot is Ross Kemp, who plays the enthusiastic squad leader whose simple joy in life is to come to grips with the bad guys and kill them. Kemp reminds me of Michael Chiklis from “The Shield.”

According to “Ultimate Force”, the British SAS have a policy of, “You don’t stop for a man down”. Unlike the U.S. Marines, the unit Red Troop is trained to leave their men behind. The rationale is stopping for casualties results in more casualties. That may be true in the field, but it’s not very heroic for drama. At least in “Pirates of the Caribbean” there were “guidelines” about not leaving a man behind. The opening sequence of the show is of Red Troop walking away.

The cops don’t like the rough tactics of the cowboys of Red Troop, with top cop on the hostage scene saying he won’t turn over control unless ordered by the Home Secretary. The whole hostage situation could have been easily averted if the suspicious Bobby who spotted a clumsy bad guy didn’t let him pick up the gun he had dropped. There are other story improbabilities, such as the bank security expert unable to anticipate what will happen to him if he’s trapped in the bank in a hostage situation. With the cops being fumbling pacifists, it’s up to Red Troop to save the day.

Maybe in a gritty drama the lighting is supposed to be unflattering, but must everyone look in need of a tanning salon? During the hostage standoff, the boys occupy a nearby posh hotel, using it as a base of operations. They relax with a heavy meal of steak with fancy deserts, completed with expensive fine red wine they’ve pilfered…which could explain why they wait until morning to liberate the hostages at the bank. Perhaps the happy diners of “Ultimate Force” could occupy E! Network’s “Sunset Tan” in a future episode?

And speaking of the boys, why are there are no women among the killers of “Ultimate Force”? It’s all macho guys, with the women watching admiringly from the safety of desk jobs. It’s “Painkiller Jane” without Jane. “Ultimate Force” does have a nice theme song, something in the style of “National Treasure”, by composer Rick Wentworth. The body count is significant in “Ultimate Force”, with the camera reluctant to turn away from the splatter. If you need a break from “Quake” or “Doom”, this could be your show.

BBC America, Tuesdays, 8pm

http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/264/index.jsp

Robin Rowe is a film and television reviewer for Hollywood Today and co-founder of ScreenplayLab (www.screenplaylab.com).

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 6:29 am and is filed under Blogroll, Politics, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.