Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Leslie Hope, Elisha Cuthbert, Sarah Clarke, Daniel Bess, Dennis Haysbert, Penny Johnson, Zach Grenier

Director: Jon Cassar

Summary: Jack Bauer is a Federal agent who heads up the Counter Terrorist Unit. He is given the task of preventing an assassination attempt on Presidential candidate, Senator David Palmer. The 'assassin' is believed to be working on the inside of the Government and Jack may trust no-one. When Jack's family are abducted and the authorities suspect Jack of attempted murder, he turns to colleague Nina Myers who is his friend and confidant... Filmed in real time, Jack faces the worst twenty-four hours of his life as he battles for the recovery of his family and a government mole.

Follow 24 hours in the life of federal agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) in this innovative television series. Consisting of 24 hour-long episodes, the show uses split screens and a 'real-time' clock to tell a tense interweaving story that involves Bauer, his wife (Leslie Hope) and daughter (Elisha Cuthbert), a presidential candidate (Dennis Haysbert) targeted for assassination, and many others. This set includes every episode of the thrilling first season.

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Reviewed by: cooljimbop
Posted on July 21, 2005 8:43 AM

Wow! If only all TV was like this! Probably the most addictive show ever to grace television screens. The story is amazing, the acting is brilliant, the tension is often unbearable, and even the way it is shot is fantastic, with several things occurring at the same time. The fact that this is in near real time only adds to the amazingness. Seriously, if you haven't seen this yet you must. But be warned, make sure you have 18 hours spare, once you start watching you won't stop until the end. Mindblowing.

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Such a simple idea--yet so fiendishly complex in the execution. 24, as surely everyone knows by now, is a thriller that takes place over 24 hours, midnight to midnight, in 24 one-hour episodes (well, 45-minute episodes if you extract the ad breaks). Everything to take place in real time--on-screen and off-screen time the same--which means no flash-backs, no flash-forwards, no nice handy time-dissolves. Every strand of the plot has to be dovetailed and interlocked to make sure that things happen just when they should, in the right amount of time. Not that easy.

Creator Robert Cochran and his team of writers and directors have done a pretty impressive job in putting the jigsaw together and keeping the tension ratcheted up high, as Federal Agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) hares around LA trying to stall an assassination attempt on a black Presidential candidate and rescue his wife and daughter from the clutches of the Balkan baddies. Twists, turns, revelations and cliffhangers are tossed at us with satisfying regularity. It's not perfect: we get some hokey plot devices (instant amnesia, anybody?) and the final twist, once you start thinking back, makes no sense whatsoever. There are altogether too many huggy family moments ("I love you, Dad." "I love you, son"); and as for überbaddie Dennis Hopper's "Serbian" accent…

Even so, this is undeniably mould-breaking TV. Sutherland, rescuing his career from the doldrums in one heroic leap, fully deserves his Golden Globe. Sets and locations are artfully deployed--we gain a real sense of LA's splayed-out geography--and Sean Callery's score is a powerful, brooding presence. Like Murder Oneand The Sopranos, 24is one of those series future TV thrillers will have to measure themselves against.

On the DVDs:24is released in a six-disc box set. On discs 1- 5 there are no extras, but disc 6 includes the "alternative" ending and a preview of Series 2, presented by an urbane Kiefer Sutherland, that tells us precisely nothing. The transfer, in 16x9 widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Digital sound, does the high production values of the original every justice.--Philip Kemp

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Alternate Ending, Trailer - 1. Season Two Preview
Year:	2001
Release Date:	August 19, 2002
Runtime:	1106 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	24028 D V D
Keywords:	Six, Box, General, Series, Wide, Screen, Set, Thriller, Discs
Genre:	Thriller