Reviews & Ratings for
"24" More at IMDbPro »

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356 out of 519 people found the following review useful:
An entertaining, classy and action-packed drama that breaks new ground in the television world!, 21 February 2005

Author: James Lamont (jameslamont) from London, England

This show can best be described as the most innovative, ground-breaking television show of the past 50 years. The reason this show is so ground breaking is the fact that it has used split screen cameras, and a real time format to create the element of a quality made show.

The show follows the worst days of likable, down-to-earth hero Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and each episode chronicles every hour of the day, and is shot in real-time. What makes this show so unique are the character relationships, the shows writing and the attention to detail.Whether the shows themes are about kidnappings, bomb threats, personal vendettas, assassinations, or terrorist attacks the themes are handled in such a compelling way that the viewer is hooked at every jump and turn.

The viewers really learn to care about Jack as we learn more about his life and his past. Kiefer Sutherland was perfect for the role as Jack Bauer, so much that many people describe him as "born for the role". Dennis Haysbert does a superb acting job as Sen David Palmer and the show has an excellent group of characters who make the support team of the show and these include Carols Bernard as Tony and Elisha Cuthbert as Kim Bauer. A big bonus of the show is that 24 is constantly surprising viewers in unexpected moments, and you never know what to expect on the show. Anything can and does happen.

The scripts on this show are top class and they deserve a mention in their own right. The attention to detail as I mentioned earlier is prominent with the real time aspect of the show. There are very rarely any mistakes with the time aspect of the show, and this is a strength of the show. The show always uses multiple split screen camera shots and this is innovative work because it helps to make the show seem realistic and also in real time. You will also see most of the camera focused on Jacks point of view and this is to make the show from a humans point of view and it helps to bring the viewer more involved in the show.

The story may change; new characters may arrive and leave but one thing always stays the same; the underlying story of the show is about one mans fight to do what is right. If there is a bad aspect to this show it may be that some of the action sequences are a bit too predictable, but this is rare and should not detach from the viewers viewing pleasure of the show. This show will make you feel every emotion under the sun but nevertheless it is gripping, thrilling storytelling of the highest calibre. Long may this show continue and the legacy of this show will be remembered for many years to come. Miss this at your peril 10/10

332 out of 499 people found the following review useful:
One of the most original and compelling series ever, 11 December 2004

Author: MarshallDillon from germany

Yes... I love this series. I bought it on the big DVD pack with the complete first season, because it isn't available in German television right now. Anyway, I love it because it's not only the concept which makes it thrilling, even without that real-time style it would be extremely exciting and suspenseful. Also, it stars one of my top ten favourite stars, Kiefer Sutherland, and a truckload of exceeding supporting actors. Elisha Cuthbert, Leslie Hope, Sarah Clarke, Xander Berkeley, Dennis Haysbert... I could go on forever, even the characters who die after two episodes are very convincing.

Overall one of the things you can't stop watching after you've seen five minutes of it.

287 out of 436 people found the following review useful:
A Bona-Fied TV Classic!, 12 May 2002
Author: G-Man-25 from Iowa City, IA

This show definitely has re-written the book on intelligent and credible suspense on TV. Extremely well acted, written and directed. Truly gripping, heart-stopping suspense from one hour to the next. The show is so well done that you can easily forgive the very few plot devices that seem a little weak. When a show gets 99% of everything right, it's very hard to quibble. Keifer Sutherland has never been better as the flawed hero. "24" deserves to be a model on which all future TV suspense thrillers can be compared to. A+++

231 out of 375 people found the following review useful:
24 is the best drama television has ever seen, 16 April 2005

Author: aparker62687 from New York

This is the most creative, intelligent, well-written, unpredictable, and suspenseful program that I have ever seen, and this is coming from a man who watches a lot of television.

Throughout its four seasons, 24 provides a cliff hanger at the end of most episodes to keep you attached and has provided some of the most unpredictable twists that I have ever seen, including the ultimate shocker at the end of the first season (which I won't go into because somebody may read this before watching the first season).

As far as acting goes, there isn't a weak-link on the show. Kiefer Sutherland leads a cast of exceptionally impressive and compelling actors/actresses that make the show great week after week.

I would strongly recommend that if you do not already watch 24, start now because you're really missing out.

197 out of 319 people found the following review useful:
Superb Television, 12 November 2002
Author: johnm_001 from USA

I didn't watch "24" during its original, first-season run, so I can't comment on how it played, week after week; but, I did watch all 24 episodes on DVD, over a four day period. WOW! From beginning to end, this show is the most riveting and suspenseful thing ever captured on film. It is a masterwork of deceit, and its success is in the fact that it never allows the viewer to relax for a second. You are never sure who you can trust. Certainly one of, if not the best 24 hours of television, ever! Highly recommended!

127 out of 181 people found the following review useful:
How can a show start so great then slide into muddled stupidity is beyond me?!?!, 18 November 2002
Author: hawksburn from sydney, australia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

WARNING: There are spoilers contained within. If you don't want to know certain plot twists I suggest you skip my review.

Let's just say that at the beginning I loved this show. Addicted to it you might say. Great premise, brilliant execution, smart acting. The whole idea of it and the way it was done, just excellent. Anyway, that's the first 8 hours. The second 8, yeah ok I'm still watching every Monday @ 8:30. Twists and turns seem to be happening with more & more regularity, but I'm still clued up to the plot, haven't lost track. Last 8 hours I'm thinking "What the hells going on?!?!". No, I haven't become disoriented and confused, I'm just wondering when did this show go from being reasonably believable to becoming logically incomprehensible?!?!

I trace it back to the episode where the car rolls down the hill and explodes and Jacks wife, thinking her daughter has just died, collapses in shock then wakes up and spends the next few episodes in trauma-induced amnesia. From this point on the show is trying to constantly top itself from episode to episode with "most unbelievable twist". Up until then, perfect. Between the hours of 12am & 10am it's got a sharply executed plot that could frighteningly ring true, all the characters (good and bad) are believable. It also gives the viewers enough time to get their bearings, to take in the consequences of what's unfolding before them. The betrayals, the red herrings.

After 10am it lapses dramatically. The show seems to become too smart for it's own good. It piles one twist on top of another without giving any time to work out how it all fits together. [WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER] I wasn't at all surprised that it turned out to be the head female agent (I forget her name) who was the traitor. One could see it coming a mile away. Not because the clues were apparent, just because there was no other real character to logically pin it on. Then having done that, having made that decision, I was left thinking of all the previous episodes and wondering "How?!?!", it didn't make sense.

The reason I was gripped by this show was first and foremost because it was intelligent and believable. Secondly because of the (cutting edge for U.S tv) narrative structure and direction. This all fails once the 2nd half becomes nothing more than a popcorn flick. If it had started out that way or maintained the initial equilibrium it kicked itself off with, I would've enjoyed it more. The change from one to the other is what ruined it for me. It turns from serious thriller into James Bond.

110 out of 149 people found the following review useful:
10/10 always!, 17 February 2009

Author: joseyankie from Portugal

What i found amazing is how can anyone criticize 24 ... The actors are not boring, they all have their own role on the show. Each season speaks about a terrorist problem, and what's the problem? do they look so much alike? no! If you start to watch a episode with all the suspense and REALLY GREAT action, you'll keep sit on the couch till it's end! Watching 24 won't make you smarter or add anything new to your brains, but will definitely entertain you more than any other TV show for 43minutes and you'll pray till next Monday arrives! If you expect a drama, or worst, a similar show to any of those recent movies such as "body of lies", you can turn your head to the other side, 24 only offers what best the TV got, the pleasure of be inside the screen..

It's a perfect 10 in 10 for 24 and Jack Bauer!

212 out of 355 people found the following review useful:
TickTockTickTockTickTockTickTockTickTockTickTockTickTock...., 9 June 2004
Author: tfrizzell from United States

A creative and revolutionary television program that could best be described as "High Noon" for the 21st Century X and Y generational groups starved for cinema-like ideas and executions. "24" (representing the number of hours in a day) runs an hour a week, in real time, and advances to a staggering climax as an anti-terrorist specialist (Kiefer Sutherland) races against the clock to save the day. Assassination attempts, germ warfare and anti-American enemies are constant obstacles for Sutherland, daughter Elisha Cuthbert, president Dennis Haysbert and an innumerable cast of others. Regulars come and go, guest stars make lasting impressions and cliff-hanger sequences will leave you gasping for air and possibly grasping your chest to calm your heart down. So many things happen over the course of one day on this show (you would not believe everything that goes on over such a short period of time) that it is sometimes hard to remember everything and at times many situations are trivial anyway (there is so much time to fill that it is near impossible to make every minute count). Sutherland and Haysbert (who made their names on the big screen) are top-flight performers and they prove to be the biggest assets. Excellent direction and good scripts (for the most part) have lingering effects on the audience as the clock ticks and tocks to a mind-numbing finale each season. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

104 out of 141 people found the following review useful:
One of the best series ever made for television, 5 June 2007

Author: martin-1598 from Netherlands

24 is a great TV series. It's design and story lines are really a thrill to experience. The day out of the life of agent Jack Bauer is one of a kind. The series plays in real time (including the commercial breaks).

I can certainly recommend to watch this series. It's even more fantastic, if you not watch it as it's aired, but record some episodes and then watch them in in a pattern of 2 per evening for some days after another. In this way you find yourself addicted to the adrenaline which 24 unleashes.

This is TV as it was designed. I must admit that I look forward to the movie which is planned. I hope not that it's a normal movie, but that they put elements of the real time (or something similar) into it. At least the thrill should be similar.

I just finished Day 6 (season 6) and now have to rehab from my 24 addiction again.

173 out of 282 people found the following review useful:
Quite possibly the worst show I've ever seen, 16 May 2006

Author: petesake33 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The fact that so many seem to love this show makes me seriously question my faith in the American public. This show is so bad it's actually, well, just bad. The acting, the writing, the plot development, the technical details and just about everything else is bad to the point of being comical. The show should be renamed "2.5", because that's about the total of viable screen time that was stretched out into this daylong abomination.

Perhaps if the writers had thrown in another overused, Hollywood cliché, 24 could've been worse. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. They already used up all the clichés. I find it amusing that anyone was surprised by any outcome of this show when all of the supposed twists and turns wouldn't have been more obvious if they were scrolled, news-ticker style, across the bottom of the screen. Just a few snippets: 1. First, let me start off by saying that if real counterterrorism agents are half as inept as those on "24", then we're all really screwed. These guys couldn't catch a drunk first grader if he came up and bit them in the ass. Cliché is one thing. Stupid is quite another.

2. Hey, you know what would be great? If, when Jack goes to meet his CTU mentor in a darkened, deserted building, the guy got shot right before the was about to give him the key piece of "evidence". Of course, it would only be exciting if this happened right as they were about to make it to safety. Nah, that wouldn't be telegraphed, would it? 3. When Nina discovers that Mason has been keeping from Jack that his family has been attacked at the safe house, she immediately begins working the computers. Tony, seeing this due diligence, asks her if she's checking the hospitals. Tony says this is a good idea. Tony, of course, is a moron, since, raving terrorism expert that he is, should have done this hours ago. Don't blame Tony. The writers made him do it.

4. Or how 'bout when the Drazens attack the DOD prison? Gee, you think a top secret government prison would at least have enough surveillance to detect 8 foreign nationals setting up a communcations bunker 300 yards from a top secret prison? In broad daylight? 5. Of course, once inside the aforementioned prison, which is underground, presumably shielded against some form of electromagnetic radiation in order to protect communications and which is also, by the way, in the middle of freaking nowhere, it's remarkable how everyone's cell phone works.

6. I love how Jack goes six-guns-a-blazing in the last episode, nine-mil in each hand blasting away at the Drazens on the dock. Of course, as a former spec ops soldier, I'm sure he'd know that, aside from totally screwing his aim, all he was really doing was expending his ammo twice as fast. And not hitting anything while doing it. If this guy was specs ops, we're doubly screwed.

7. If it was so easy to cut the power to the prison, why the hell did they need to pay some jackass from the power company? 8. Terri Bauer deserved to get killed. Not for any plot reason, but because Leslie Hope couldn't act her way out of a paper bag. Gee, if it was my husband and kid, I might be distraught, instead of spending the entire time wandering around a secure government facility like a 12 year old on Vicodin, with a goofy smile on my face. I think the producers wrote her out so they wouldn't have to justify paying her again.

9. And speaking of Terri Bauer, wouldn't you think that the hub of the United States' West Coast counter terrorist operations would be at least secure enough to prevent a complete stranger from, you know, wandering around the joint or anything? 10. The NSA dude who got capped in the New Orleans bar: So let me get this straight, an NSA officer is hanging out in a French Quarter bar with an unsecured laptop full of classified information, as well as an encryption device to access, all the while chatting away about it on an unsecured cell phone inside a bar full of complete freaking strangers? Right...

11. Is it me, or did Dennis Hopper sound like he was Dracula from Transylvania? What's up with the accent, D? He sounds like a Marvel comic.

12. You know what would make for compelling TV? If the wife and daughter get kidnapped and all 3 spend about 3 hours of screen time reassuring each other they'll be OK. Couldn't we just accomplish this with a couple lines of dialogue and just move on? 13. What would've happened if Kim Bauer got caught sneaking out of the house? I guess the show would've only been one episode.

14. Why did Rick and Dan have to hang out with the girls in a furniture store? Wouldn't it have been more convenient just to hit them over the head and them bring them to Gaines? 15. At the safe house, why was the CTU agents assigned to guard duty sitting inside the tree trimmer of an electric company truck? What would he have done if he needed to get out quickly? Can't exactly jump down, can you? Of course, since he was trying to be discreet, I'm sure no one would've noticed a truck parked out there for hours on end, working on the same telephone pole? You know, like trained countersurveillance experts or something. On second thought, let's just make the professionals as stupid as possible, so that we can insure more episodes and, thus, greater ad revenue.

Please, do yourself a favor. If you own this DVD set, burn it immediately. You will be glad you did.

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