Pardo (Mayans MC), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Basic Instinct, The Firm), Tyner Rushing (Under the Banner of Heaven), Sean Gunn (Hey, a Guardians reunion!), the aforementioned Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad, Spartacus), and an extremely wasted Riley Keough (Zola). Pratt and Wu are joined by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), J. It also kind of draws things out past the point of being engaging as you may go snow blind amidst the single-minded savagery.
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This odyssey gives Reece, and the story, a series of kills that allows for action, intrigue, and for Reece's quest to become more desperate and foreboding. As it is, the series pauses every now and again to let us know Reece, whose need for revenge grows darker and deeper, isn't exactly a star-spangled avenger, but it also drops the idea that he could be on the totally wrong path, which is an exciting opening element that tricks you into thinking you might in for a different type of military-based crusade.Īfter the set up, The Terminal List - which has a double meaning since Reece both has, and is on, said list - then sprawls and spreads out into a political thriller as Reece and reporter Katie Buranek (Constance Wu) tumble down several rabbit holes of conspiracy, all to find out why Alpha Platoon's final mission may have been been purposefully sabotaged and why Reece's wife and daughter were also targeted for execution. soil after a disastrous op leaves everyone on his team KIA except him - being a very disturbed and unreliable narrator.
The first two episodes lean heavily into Reece - back on U.S. It never all quite pays off the way you might want it to though, since it teases going in unique and inspired directions only to fall back in line with a more traditional model, but the bright spots are still worth noting. The Terminal List weaves together different action-thriller elements, mostly successfully. Reece is a stern, dutiful legend amongst Navy SEALs and can take down entire squads by himself, and while that has its place - especially in a blood-soaked tale of vengeance - the way the story's dosed out means we never see Reece as anything but dour and/or in mourning.
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That being said, it's glaringly obvious that Pratt's strengths are not on full display here, despite him being able to swap in for a gung-ho John Rambo type.
It would have tightened the pacing and allowed the weight and drama a clearer path to success.īecause Pratt is naturally charismatic - a trait which he's chosen, for whatever reason, to curtail in recent years (even progressively throughout the Jurassic World trilogy) - protagonist James Reece shines through with more life and light than you'd usually find in a character who's basically Frank Castle. Could this have been a movie? A shorter series? Probably. Naturally, hindsight is 20/20, so there's no true answer as to the best way to adapt this story, but eight full-hour episodes finds this saga stretching to fill time, often falling back on "asked and answered" sentiment, repeating the story's soft, reflective moments until they wind up cannibalizing each other. When The Terminal List works, it works well. In that regard, The Terminal List fits in well, even occasionally delivering devilish twists and engaging action, but it also wallows incessantly in heaviness, beating the same drum over and over until much of it becomes dull. The Terminal List, adapted from the first of Jack Carr's five "James Reece" books, is an earnest but overlong revenge thriller featuring Chris Pratt in humorless Heartland hero mode, for story that hits all the important "Big Dad Energy" beats that Amazon's been chasing after its success with both Bosch and Jack Ryan.