24 has been off the air for almost one and a half years. Now It is back with a season 7 prequel film. It sets the stage for the next season starting next month on 1-11-2009. Jack Bauer is on the run for a year since the end of season 6. He is staying in a fictional African country of Sangala about to be torn apart by a coup d'etat. He is dodging a subpoena to appear before a committee back in the USA to answer for the torture he did on terrorists to get his job done for CTU (which is now disbanded). The following two hours (3:00 to 5:00 PM) see him working with an old buddy Carl Benton (Robert Carlyle) to get a group of children safe from a rebel army who wants them as soldiers. Meanwhile, the first female President is about to take office in Washington D.C. where a friend of her son's is about to get in trouble for knowing about the plans a certain US businessman (Jon Voight) has for the rebel army.

24 is back with a bang. Taking it out of the country and LA breathes new life into it. The show is finally finishing production of season 7 after the writer's strike stopped it for a few months back at the end of 2007. Disc 1 has the broadcast version of 24: REDEMPTION while disc 2 has the extended cut (which does away with the ticking clock before and after the breaks- it goes for more of a film style edit without ad breaks).

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentary for the extended version with Kiefer Sutherland, Executive Producer/Director Jon Cassar, and Executive Producer/ Writer Howard Gordon

THE MAKING OF 24: REDEMPTION- a look at the making of the two hour TV movie including filming in South Africa and dealing with the weather (and differences in the way film crews are set up).
BLOOD NEVER DRY: CHILD SOLDIERS IN AFRICA- a featurette on child soldiers fighting wars in war torn African countries. Hear from experts on the subject and have 24 stars read stories from former child soldiers.

Rounding out the extras on disc 2 are the first 17 minutes of the first episodes of season 7 (I think they should have just included the first hour since the two night event will be four hours) and a four minute recap of season 6. Also included in the set is a trailer for season 7.

FINAL ANALYSIS: 24 is back with a bang and I can't wait for season 7 to finally start. The switch of places for the series brings a new life to it. I do wish the whole first episode of season 7 was an extra instead of just the first 17 minutes.

this DVD review is (c)12-3-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  

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