The type of story that The Terminal List is one that we have seen many times before. It’s simple to adapt the concept of revenge for the big screen, and watching characters exactly it has produced some of the greatest heroes and anti-heroes in history. Vengeance always makes for good entertainment, from Jason Bourne to the Taken flicks. The first episode of The Terminal List, which stars Chris Pratt and is directed by celebrated filmmaker Antoine Fuqua, has all the makings of the next great action series. The only issue is that it is dreadfully boring and never manages to draw enough from some intriguing plot points to warrant its existence. The Terminal List is surprisingly boring despite its awful content, despite how much the fans adore it. The shooter is a bit extravagant in every way. Swagger never runs out of ammunition or fuel when he’s evading capture, and he appears to be almost able to teleport to any given area when required. It’s a decent plot if you can get past that. For his part, Phillippe does a great job of coming across as a nice guy who also happens to be the century’s greatest marksman. He is a good guy who is calm under pressure and who will do anything to protect his family. The fact that the conspiracy extends much further even though the initial story is technically over is an improvement. So much so that Swagger tries to save the day three times during the three seasons.
The Terminal
The Terminal might have turned out to be tiresome to watch if Pratt’s flawless portrayal of a well-written protagonist and some excellent action choreography weren’t present. Pushing a man into violence when violence is what he has spent his entire life honing is a mistake. This well-known anonymous passage from Chris Pratt’s The Terminal List depicts a broken, aggrieved soldier who is driven to the brink. In a pivotal scene, Pratt’s James Reece character, who is portrayed by him, says the aforementioned quote. This sentence strikes me as a moment of vulnerability for someone who appears to be a living example of a systematic war machine, with emotions supported by reasoning, and it perfectly captures what The Terminal List is all about. Reece embarks on a quest to uncover the truth and exact revenge on the victims. Antonio Fuqua’s excellent first episode sets the tone for the rest of the series and is a fantastic start to the show. Every second of the awful succession of things that happened to Reece is described in detail. The show takes its time to convey to us the true severity of Reece’s trauma. He even becomes an unreliable narrator of sorts for a while due to recurrent flashbacks and interesting dream-like episodes. However, the succeeding episodes do not build on this beginning. Ordinary actions and sequences are stretched out and heaped on top of one another, and the larger story takes a while to come into focus.
The final three episodes of the series, which don’t do too many unusual things yet still manage to surprise us occasionally, are where the show ultimately finds its strength. Particularly in these episodes, the action choreography is delightful to behold. These “submissions” are written clearly, and the authors appear to have studied many previous traditional greats in the genre, such as Rambo. Particularly memorable is a thrilling pursuit sequence that takes place in the woods. Unfortunately, even in this case, Reece’s eventual escape from the pursuit is rather convenient. Another possible explanation for the show’s latitude in shifting its moral stance on who to kill and who not to kill is convenience. Such inconsistencies are detrimental to a series that works so hard to convince us to support the protagonist’s cause. Furthermore, such convenient agreements are not appropriate for a character like Reece. He appears to be modeled after characters such as Frank Castle (Punisher), Jack Reacher (Reacher), or Jack Ryan from a distance (the TV series). They are all tough, indestructible soldier figures who appear in tales of retribution, false accusations, and government conspiracies. Reece stands out in the unafraid, comprehensive portrayal of his flaws; Pratt’s melancholy eyes nearly linger on our screen for a while. More often than not, he loses, and the human condition only serves to highlight his victories, such as those epic action scenes in which he single-handedly annihilates everything.
Shooter
In the end, Shooter is just a mediocre action program that lacks creativity or focus. There is only so much lead character Bobby Lee (Ryan Phillipe) can do with this because of the underdeveloped characters, some weak dialogue, and the overly complicated plot. Before ultimately tripping over its ambition, Shooter has a solid premise and a decent focus in the first two episodes. The shooter simply lacks the creativity and conviction to carry through the show’s ideas when the plot is revealed and more of the story is revealed. The plot centers on retired soldier and ex-marine Bobby Lee Swagger and his family as they live in the American outback’s rural countryside far from the nation’s crowded metropolis. Bobby ends up becoming the main suspect in the attempted assassination when secret service agent Isaac Johnson (Omar Epps) arrives and asks for Bobby’s assistance in locating a fugitive sharpshooter. Bobby Lee strives to establish his innocence while evading police and the secret service in their search for the real sniper because there were other people involved and falsely implicated in the murder. On paper, it appears to be a fun cat-and-mouse game, so perhaps this is where Shooter should have concentrated its efforts.
Shooter’s music and action scenes are its one strong point. Both of these are skillfully filmed, utilizing a combination of handheld camera movements and a few unique angles to capture the action. Additionally, there is some excellent editing that portrays some realistic gun battles and the stress throughout the sniper scenes. The overuse of the handheld camera, however, doesn’t assist with other aspects of the program; when a more solid camera would have been a preferable choice, the shakiness becomes extremely distracting during sequences with smartphone and tablet screens that we need to read. It’s a small complaint, but once you do, it’s difficult not to, and it ultimately lessens the experience. The characters, which I already noted, also end up being somewhat of a problem. Ryan Philippe, the star of the show, does a surprisingly good job of portraying the compassionate ex-marine. Phillippe portrays the part brilliantly with a combination of stern expressions, deliberate speech, and a desperate want to be with his family. The rest of the cast, who has little to work with, cannot be saved, though. Characterization is lacking in the narrative, which portrays everyone as having the same goal and sums them up with clichés like “greedy bad guy,” “crooked cop,” and “quirky FBI agent going against the grain.”
The shooter is a merely serviceable action series overall. Shooter primarily relies on a fast-moving plot and some well-shot action scenes to make up for its weak character development and overly ambitious plot. However, the show’s greatest draw ultimately lies in its action, and some of the choreography is quite lovely. This is not a large, cerebral action series, and it lacks the subtlety to achieve a Jason Bourne or Kingsman vibe. Ryan Phillippe is its saving grace. His outstanding performance propels the show ahead, but in the end, he stands out as the one saving grace in a production that falls short of expectations.
