Prime Video has developed a sizable portion of its programming that could be called “Dad TV.” Without trying to stigmatize or stereotype their viewers in the slightest, the truth is that shows like “Bosch,” “Jack Ryan,” and “Reacher” all appeal to a relatively similar audience. They’re all based on hit series of books with male protagonists who generally subscribe to an old-fashioned code while also trying to adapt to a changing world. It makes perfect sense that a TV adaptation of the novels of Jack Carr would get a big budget from the streaming giant. A former Navy SEAL who writes books about military heroes that have an admittedly conservative worldview, Carr pens page-turners with titles like “True Believer” and “Savage Son.” One of the most popular novels from the Naval Special Warfare vet was the 2018 thriller “The Terminal List,” now an 8-episode series starring Chris Pratt and Constance Wu. Dragging a 400-page paperback out to eight hours proves, well, terminal for a series that has more problems than just bloat. The self-seriousness that hooks a reader on the page can be deadly monotonous on the screen, and no one involved here figured out how to give this drab thriller any life off the page.
Pratt’s best asset as an actor is charm, as evidenced by the success of characters like Andy Dwyer in “Parks and Recreation” and Peter Quill in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” He’s not exactly believable as a strong, silent killing machine, a role that feels like it would have been played by Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson in the 1970s. And yet, that’s what he’s saddled with here, playing the heroic and stoic James Reece, a Navy SEAL who is caught up in a mission gone very wrong in the premiere, ably directed by Antoine Fuqua, who gives the show some energy in the first episode that sadly dissipates after he leaves.
Reece comes home a hero, one of the few survivors of a tragic mission that ended in the deaths of U.S. soldiers. As an investigation into what happened on the mission to apprehend one of the world’s most wanted terrorists unfolds, Reece instantly suspects that he’s not being given every piece of information. In fact, it’s worse than just being kept out of the loop. Reece starts to believe his own superiors and the U.S. Government are lying to him, covering up what really happened. As he starts to question the truth about the disastrous mission, a brutal attempt is made on his own life that destroys everything Reece believed in. Has his own government betrayed him? Reece decides to turn the tables, and with the help of old friends like Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) and a tough journalist named Katie Buranek (Constance Wu), he starts using the skills he developed as a SEAL to wipe out the enemies in his own country.
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It sounds like a fun, brutal read, but it’s stretched into a monotonous slog in TV form. The show’s writers are forced to mete out the revelations about Reece’s missions and the obvious corruption underneath in a way that drains the project of any momentum at all. It becomes a series of brutal action hours, which may be enough for some of the aforementioned “Dad TV” subscribers, but even they will have trouble investing beyond the immediacy in what’s ultimately a hollow piece of storytelling. It’s the kind of show that plays both “War Pigs” and “Masters of War” on its soundtrack, so subtlety isn’t remotely on the menu, but the show is stubbornly two-dimensional in terms of tone. One of the reasons “Reacher” is a bit of a hit is because it injects its source material with a sense of humor and willingness to be a little rough around the edges. “The Terminal List” is deadly serious all the time. Admittedly, the action of the end of the series premiere kind of demands that but it makes for a tedious, draining TV experience.
Pratt not only has to play a vengeful soldier but gets a heady dose of grief at the end of the premiere that weighs him down further, and then “The Terminal List” drops a ticking clock in his own body, giving him a medical issue that forces him to act more urgently and question his own reality. All of it serves to take an actor who can be charismatic and drain any opportunity to use that screen presence. It needed a stronger physical performer, someone who more believably looks like he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. Wu is also miscast in that she struggles with the world-weary tone required here, although this feels more like a writing problem in that no one could have played this inconsistent character well.
It leads viewers to look outside of the lead pair for entertainment. Jai Courtney shows up in the third episode, and he really shifts the tone of the series, giving it a much-needed villain. Kitsch is an underrated actor, and the show would have actually been significantly more interesting if he and Pratt had switched parts. The great Riley Keough plays Reece’s wife, and again there’s a temptation to re-cast, putting the unpredictable actress in the less thankless role of the unpredictable journalist. When the most interesting thing about a new action series is playing a what-if game of recasting it, there’s a problem.
Will the target audience for “The Terminal List” care that it should be better? Jack Carr is a strong right-wing personality—the source material here apparently contains a number of Conservative talking points and liberal takedowns that have been reduced even if one can still sense the project’s political stance—and there’s not a lot of television that appeals to that audience. A big-budget action series that plays to Fox News viewers feels like a slam dunk for Prime Video, especially with the timing of an Independence Day premiere. After fireworks, BBQ, and a few beers, it should get the job done with the same brutal simplicity as its protagonist. It’s too bad that no one will remember it by the end of Summer. [D+]
“The Terminal List” debuts on Amazon Prime Video on July 1.