Pratt fails to fully engage
It’s not without its charms, but this military thriller is hampered by predictable plotting, and exposes its star’s acting limitations,
Chris Pratt’s return to small-screen storytelling after a seven-year absence is something of a deep disappointment.
While The Terminal List (now streaming on Prime Video) is not without its pyrotechnic and conspiracy theory charms, the eight-part military thriller is not only hampered by predictable plotting and melodramatic ‘‘twists’’, but it also exposes the limitations of the 43-yearold actor’s skill set.
Thanks to Parks and Recreation and the Jurassic World, Lego and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises, Pratt has carved out a career as an action-man with swagger, a guy who’ll save the world and deliver a pithy one-liner – or three – while doing it.
David DiGilio’s (2006 Antarctic survival drama Eight Below) adaptation of Jack Carr’s 2018 novel (the first of a series of five so far) requires him to be far more introspective, troubled and agitated. And he appears to struggle with all three.
We know his Navy Seal Lieutenant Commander James Reece is supposed to be distracted, confused and potentially deeply affected by what he experienced on the Syrian coast, as well as a resulting concussion, but there are times where his ‘‘glassy-eyed, checked-out look’’ comes across as something from the Uncanny Valley cooked up on a computer, rather than a human actor.
Clearly aiming at the same audience who revelled in John Krasinski’s take on
Jack Ryan and turn in 13 Hours (in hindsight, maybe he would have been a better bet for this material), The Terminal List begins with a haunted-looking Pratt, quoting the Bible in voiceover, while surrounded by coffins.
Two weeks earlier, his Alpha team’s incursion into Syria to take out a chemical weapons specialist (Operation Odin’s Sword) ended in disaster, when they were ambushed by loyalists and the ensuing fire fight and panic resulted in an explosives tripwire being triggered.
While feeling a certain amount of survivor guilt, Reece is also angered by his superiors’ lack of acknowledgement for what went down and belief that it was partly caused by the actions of one of his own men. Even seemingly damning audio evidence fails to convince him.
‘‘I don’t know if it’s the Iranians or the Russians, but they’ve altered our voices, or done a deep fake,’’ he rages. And if that wasn’t enough trauma, the only other survivor, Ernest ‘‘Boozer’’ Vickers (Jared Shaw) is found dead almost immediately after the pair return home.
Certain that it cannot have been by his own hand, as the police are claiming, Reece attempts to persuade others of his view, but only succeeds in proving his powers of memory may be somewhat clouded.
But while wife Lauren (a woefully under-used Riley Keough) urges him to get an urgent MRI, he’s increasingly sure they’re being followed.
While there are echoes here to the somewhat similarly themed, underrated 2019 British thriller The Capture (with its returning military hero and allegations of digital manipulation), this lacks that show’s subtlety or nuance.
Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua very much directs the opening salvo with the emphasis on action over intrigue, revisiting the key incident multiple times, as Reece wrestles with his conscience and his recollections.
In other hands, this might have made for compelling television. As it is, it just fails to truly engage or absorb.