On July 1, Amazon Prime premiered the mini-series 'The Terminal List', consisting of eight episodes. Over eight hours, the viewer can watch Chris Pratt step away from his usual role as a cheerful goofball saving the world and carry out a bloody vende...
Today, a serious battle for viewers has broken out among major streaming services. If Netflix was once the undisputed leader, now at least four other giant platforms are competing with the 'tudum' platform. Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, HBO Max — each service fights for viewers in various ways. Releasing an entire season at once (yes, now not only Netflix does this), allocating large sums for high-profile and risky projects, inviting celebrities to various positions, covering different geographical territories (focusing on Indian, Korean, and other countries' film production), providing a field for experiments, developing exclusive content in the form of books, comics, and even games!
Maybe 'The Terminal List' won't bring a big influx of subscribers for Amazon, but the mini-series can definitely be called an unusual project in Chris Pratt's acting career. Viewers are used to Pratt running, flying, cracking jokes, listening to music, and foiling plans for world domination by aliens or alien fathers. Here, the hero himself is a father. A father who turns out to be broken by the world around him.
Dinosaurs are still in fashion, as are Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and a little Sam Neill. The final part of the adventure action movie with a sci-fi flavor, 'Jurassic World', is being released worldwide.
Open materialWhat's the plot?
Lieutenant Commander James Reece (Chris Pratt) leads a squad of fourteen Navy SEALs on a mission to neutralize an extremely dangerous chemical agent from an Eastern country. But the soldiers fall into an ambush, the operation codenamed 'Odin's Sword' fails, and only Reece and another officer, Vickers (Jared Shaw), survive.
The commander is deeply affected by the loss of his squad, and something is clearly wrong with his health. His military memories are jumbled, his mind is clouded, and hallucinations are indistinguishable from reality. He is sure he returned home on the same plane as Vickers, but he is assured that Vickers flew on a plane with the fallen comrades earlier and committed suicide upon his return.
James refuses to believe the suicide story and is convinced the case is fabricated. His comrade was actually murdered, and many people higher up the social ladder are involved. After the solemn funeral, the commander decides to check his health, which has been troubling him since the operation, but an attempt is made on his life during an MRI procedure. Barely fighting off the attackers, Reece realizes that not only he but also his family is in mortal danger. But the realization comes too late...
War leaves scars not only on the body
'The Terminal List' is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jack Carr, who himself served in the special forces (and takes descriptions not from his head, but from personal combat experience). The writer is also an executive producer of the series, and the screenwriting team included guest authors with military backgrounds to make the project as realistic as possible. Among the producers is also the name of Antoine Fuqua, director of 'Training Day' and 'The Equalizer', who personally directed the first episode. From all this, it follows that the creators wanted to achieve the highest quality result, and their efforts were not in vain: it turned out to be a very solid series about revenge, family, political games, and the consequences of war.
Moreover, the eight-episode series was released on the eve of the American national holiday — Independence Day. In this regard, the series naturally raises the theme of patriotism, but it is presented not as trivially as is often done. The screen does not constantly show waving American flags and say that the USA is the best and greatest power. On the contrary, it shows that not everything in the country is so rosy and wonderful. People who sincerely believe in the rightness of their country and defend its interests at the cost of their lives end up as victims of the state.
'The Terminal List' shows, perhaps, one of the most important aspects of patriotism for any country. The fate of a soldier who survived the war. Not a general or head of state, but an ordinary officer who carries out orders and believes in the rightness of his cause. People are used to shouting that a true patriot must love and honor his country. Ordinary soldiers are often blind patriots and go to hot spots to defend the interests of their state, but the people sitting in headquarters rarely think about the consequences of military actions for the survivors.
On the battlefield, various outcomes are possible, but death is not always the worst of them. It is one thing to die on a mission and find eternal peace, but quite another to return home and bring the war in your head, which accompanies, torments, and slowly kills you every day. In the end, the authorities will only thank you for your service and, if you're lucky, award you a medal for services to the Fatherland, but what is the likelihood that the command will ask about the psychological health of the survivors? What mental scars do soldiers bring back with them? What fate awaits them in the end, and will they withstand peaceful life after the events they have experienced?
In the series, the creators try to sharply pose these questions to the audience. Hence, the version of the officer's suicide does not cause a big stir in the press or suspicion among investigators, as such things happen often, because people simply cannot bear the consequences. The lack of psychological help and support from the state leads veterans to the conclusion that death is a much more humane outcome than life with PTSD, depression, and the guilt they place on themselves for the lives of their comrades.
It's all mixed up inside me
An action-packed drama, a political thriller, a straightforward action movie, a story of bloody revenge — 'The Terminal List' incorporates all of this. Brutalism and masculinity flow through the project in abundance. Even the female characters played by Constance Wu, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tyner Rushing, and Christina Vidal embody courage and independence, rather than being victims or objects of protection.
Clicks of the safety catch, sounds of weapon reloading, gunshots, and explosions. Anyone who likes this will be satisfied. The sound quality in the series is such that you involuntarily begin to understand why some people romanticize weapons. The fights and action scenes are also staged at the highest level. It is reasonable to assume that the actors underwent tough special training before filming the series.
In the foreground, of course, Chris Pratt shines. 'The Terminal List' is his benefit performance as a psychologically broken veteran who has lost everything. Pratt proves to the audience that he is capable not only of comedic roles as a slacker but also looks quite good in a dramatic one. Perhaps the actor loses to his colleagues Keanu Reeves ('John Wick') and Jon Bernthal ('The Punisher') in similar roles, but to say that he completely failed to convey the emotions of rage and emptiness would be a lie.
Flashbacks with the family his character loved incredibly help Pratt convey emotions. Memories with his wife Lauren (Riley Keough) and daughter Lucy (Arlo Mertz) emphasize the weight of the loss he endures. Reece constantly realizes how happy he was with his family and what wonderful times have left him forever. The flashbacks fuel the anger at the perpetrators and the bitterness of loss in the hero, and also convey his difficult mental and physical state.
Among the supporting characters, Taylor Kitsch as Ben Edwards, Reece's close friend, and the aforementioned Constance Wu as the brave and persistent journalist Katie Buranek stand out the most. Kitsch's character helps the main character cope with difficulties on the battlefield and always supports him throughout the journey, while the journalist takes on the case and helps 'on the home front'. Both Kitsch and Wu look great in their roles and do not appear as cardboard cutouts complementing James Reece's story of vendetta.
But... As smooth as everything may seem, there is always a 'but'. And in 'The Terminal List', there are rough edges. For example, the started line of the 'unreliable narrator' is cut off already in the second episode. The creators maintained excellent suspense for two episodes, where the viewer did not understand how justified the motives of the surviving SEAL were, but abruptly ended it and straightforwardly indicated Reece's motivation. This sudden abandonment of the idea left a slight aftertaste of deceived expectations and simplified the project by an order of magnitude.
After that, we only observe high-quality murder scenes and the commander's progress through the names on the list. The brutal and cunning reprisals against the villains, bringing pleasure and justice to James Reece's soul, become slightly tiresome towards the finale, but the impression is brightened by a rather original and complex conspiracy against an ordinary Marine.
What's the verdict?
The Amazon project starring Chris Pratt turned out to be a solid, brutal action movie about the machinations of the state and revenge for them. The mini-series 'The Terminal List' is unlikely to become something outstanding, but it can definitely be called a good, high-quality eight-episode show. Fans of the genre will enjoy the dark (even the song Trigger by Mississippi Twilight in the opening and the dark color palette throughout the eight episodes suggest that there will hardly be anything to rejoice about) and brutal story of a strong man killing the villains who took away the most precious thing in his life.
The series will most likely not be a flagship in the Amazon Prime Video lineup like 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel', 'The Boys', or the highly anticipated 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power', but as an acting experiment in Chris Pratt's career, the project has definitely lived up to expectations. And stories of revenge, where high-ranking scoundrels who always get away with it receive their comeuppance, never grow old and will remain relevant for a very long time (as proven by projects from 'Léon' to the famous trilogy of Park Chan-wook).
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