Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Set between seasons six and seven of the TV series this film sees former counter terrorist agent Jack Bauer in a fictional African country where he helps at a local school. He is still wanted by the US authorities but refuses to return home. His peaceful life is turned upside down again when local warlord General Benjamin Juma starts a coup and his underlings kidnap local children to force them to fight in his army. The country's president requests help from America but the timing could hardly be worse; it is only two hours till the new US president is sworn in and the incumbent has ordered the evacuation of the US embassy. One of the boys from the school is killed and another injured as Juma's men try to press-gang them in a nearby village. The injured boy is picked up by Jack's friend Carl Benton who warns Jack that the rebels are on the way to the school. Jack gets the children to safety but is captured and tortured; luckily when Benton gets back they overcome their attackers and head towards the capital hoping to get there before the last helicopter leaves.This TV movie has a solid story that contains plenty of excitement and many elements that fans of the series are sure to enjoy. Of course given that the story is set over a much shorter time period than a whole series it does feel a little rushed at times and many plot threads remain unresolved; presumably as a set up for series seven; this is especially true of what we see happening back in the US. The African setting does make a nice change and even though it is set in a fictional country the idea of rebels forcing children to fight is all too depressingly realistic. The action is well handled and the final evacuation where desperate locals pressed against the gates of the US embassy while US personnel and their dependants board Hueys to fly them to safety was clearly inspired by the evacuation of Saigon during Operation Frequent Wind in 1975. Overall this is a solid '24' story; it isn't essential that one watches the series first but some knowledge would be useful and the number of unresolved issues would make it frustrating to anybody watching this as a stand-alone film.

24: Redemption is a television film based on the series 24. It was written by executive producer Howard Gordon and was directed by Jon Cassar. It takes place sometime between the sixth and seventh seasons, in real time between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm in Africa during the Inauguration Day of Allison Taylor,the new President of the United States.The main setting is Sangala, a fictional African country, where Jack Bauer,portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, tries to find peace with himself, and works as a missionary. Bauer is served a subpoena to appear before the United States Senate regarding human rights violations, but refuses to go, and a shadow organization among the United States government aids General Juma and his militia in a coup d'etat.Robert Carlyle plays Carl Benton, an old friend of Jack Bauer, who runs a school for rescued war orphans.Carlyle suggested that there is a very close friendship between Benton and Bauer, since he seems to let Benton come closer to him than others. Towards the end of the film, he sacrifices himself in order to buy time for Bauer and the children to escape. Gil Bellows plays Frank Tramell, a U.S. State Department official who is ordered to subpoena Bauer.Native South African actor Sean Michael plays Charles Solenz, a UN aid worker helping at Benton's school, and later abandons Benton and the children, claiming that the United Nations is "neutral" in the Sangala conflict.Siyabulela Ramba plays Willie, one of the war orphans under the care of Benton, who befriends Bauer. Ramba felt an emotional connection with Sutherland during filming, and believes their friendship shows through on screen. Isaach De Bankolé plays Ule Matobo, the Prime Minister of the nation, who is forced to evacuate the country during the coup. Among the antagonists in Sangala are General Benjamin Juma (Tony Todd), a former dictator and leader of the People's Freedom Army responsible for genocide in Sangala,and Iké Dubaku (Hakeem Kae-Kazim), one of Juma's lieutenants in the coup. In Washington, Cherry Jones plays Allison Taylor, the first woman to be inaugurated President of the United States. Among the antagonists in Washington are Jon Voight, who plays Jonas Hodges, a villain involved in a Blackwater-type organization.The TV movie is a more sober, stripped-down version of 24, and that's refreshing, and that it was the first time a terrorist threat did not take place in Southern California.Also, the depiction of the conflict in fictional African country Sangala is highly realistic and compelling.What would bother die-hard 24 fans is the lack of action,excitement and many elements that are present in typical 24 episode.But nevertheless,it still is one great film to watch.

24 IS BACK. IT'S BACK AND IT'S REDEEMED! Good movie and it's a definite change up from "evil terrorist plot starting" stuff, though I still found the boring political B-Plot tiresome; it was truly a horrendous subplot. I thought they were going to get away from this stuff? Anyways, it was a nice touch to hear Jack say "events take place in real time" at the beginning again; they haven't done that since the first season and props to Sean Callery, who adapted the 24-style music nicely to the setting. It was also refreshing watching an episode of 24 and not having to hear that damn CTU phone ring every 5 minutes.They also seemed to heavily borrow concepts from Blood Diamond and Last King of Scotland. Maybe a more appropriate title would have been 'The Last King of Scotland's Blood Diamond: The Series'. Also, what was the time difference between Africa and the States? Why was there day light in both places? And I guess Hillary won in the 24 universe, which must mean Powers Boothe = John McCain. Also loved the gratuitous tit shots when they were discussing important plot points over the phone.I was also pretty shocked when they killed the kids; a first in 24 and I loved how Jack took out their whole army, especially with that stealth knife kill and that jump from the tree was awesome too. Also loved the "Why don't you go hide in the shelter with the other children" line.They seem to be overdoing the whole Jack torture scene as it's reaching Mel Gibson self parody level now. Hmmm, The Passion of the Bauer? Though saying that, Jack's been in a Chinese prison for a year, you really think the Africans are going to mess with him? And I loved that KILL BY KNEE scene.I was sad when Carl died (damn kids always screwing things up) though it was an awesome way to go out and it was odd how they didn't give him the silent clock. And even more oddly, they did the silent clock at the end of the movie; so either Benton had just died or Jack's soul did. And the "He's not coming. He's DEAD!" line was cooold.The gun fight an the end reminded me of Black Hawk Down and I wish Jack would of shot that kid. I was also disappointed that the subpoena guy didn't die, although that was a sweet thing he did to get Jack back.Oh, and they must have paid a lot to get less commercials in the first half, though we sure did pay for it in the second half.

It has been some time since we last saw Jack Bauer. The writer's strike saw him run out of tough things to say and a generally negative response to a weak season 6 has seen him leave America and travel the world. We join him in a non-existent African country where he is spending time with former brother in arms Carl, protecting children at the orphanage he has set up. It is not all helping and healing though as his past pursues him in the form of a subpoena from the US Government to face questioning on charges of prisoner abuse (damn these liberals). However, just as Jack packs up to leave the country and move on again, a coup begins and rebels come to snatch up the children to be soldiers. Meanwhile in the existing country of USA , the first female President is being sworn in while, in the background, figures are covertly supporting the coup for their own reasons.Everyone has been saying how long a wait it has been since day 6 finished, using words like "impatiently" etc but for me (as a viewer since hour 1) I felt that the break was a good thing. Day 6 was such a lacklustre season and played like an exaggerated pastiche of itself that the break does feel like an opportunity to send the makers away to sit in the corner and think about what they have done - and don't come back till you're sorry! With this bridging special I did worry that we would continue the trend of Jack being the hub of everything in the world, perhaps with the coup either being about him or with him preventing the entire thing - after all, the Bauer family are seemingly to blame for all evil deeds in the world. Fortunately the special harks back to the approach of season 1 and 2 which has dark deeds at a higher level and Jack thrown into them for reasons out of his hands, rather than being the creator and driver of all things.This takes the form of a simpler plot where Jack is looking after the fleeing children in their short run to safety. It starts slow though, with a good thirty minutes of establishing material and scene setting before any urgency kicks in. After this we have the usual 24 material of action sequences, heroic/sacrificial deaths, neo-conservative subtexts (although that suggests they are subtle, which they are not), political going-ons and shadowy men doing hits on behalf of powerful men. All these are in place and, with the stripped down plot and Bauer influence, it does feel a lot more like the 24 I like. This is not to say it is perfect of course, because 24 never was - even when really good there was always plenty to make fun of it for. Here we have less that produced laughter but we still get handed a terribly clumsy attack on the UN in the form of a weirdly "European" character who is cowardly - clinging to "talking" like a weak-wristed liberal. Not only was this poor writing but it is a bit rich when you consider the real life conflicts in Africa and the level of US intervention in them, however even ignoring that it was a typically conservative piece of politics from 24 that must be a bit like a wet dream to Fox viewers!Talking of real-life for a moment, I did find the setting and scenario of this special to be a little off-putting. The pace and "24-isms" of the film helped me keep my head in the world of fiction but there is no doubt that the world of child soldiers and African coups is a little too real to be purely entertainment and not have an edge of sorrow to it. The film mostly ignores the latter but it does manage to produce the former despite this, again by focusing on what the series does and just doing it. The cast are reasonable enough, all fitting into the classic clichés of the show. Sutherland is gruff and tough as ever and has a bit of chemistry with Carlyle, who doesn't have a lot to work with here other than hanging out with Sutherland for a bit. Bellows, Jones, Gunton, Feore and Voight all represent new faces in the usual characters. They do offer some hope though if Day 7 can keep the political mystery that this film had.24: Redemption isn't a significant change to the series and those that do not like the series will not like this. However for those who found Day 6 to be a massive disappointment then it does represent a sort of redemption as it appears to be taking a slight step back towards what hooked us originally. This means the usual weaknesses as much as the strengths but it is still a quite entertaining film for 24 fans.