Very well executed

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

After reading the existing user comments I find it rather hard to add 10 lines, but I'll give it a try.After the demise of the cold war it was obvious the movie industry would crack down on international crime and terror is an obvious victim.In the Grid the revered 'special relationship' between the two United realms is drawn to attention.The rivalry between the two nations intelligence organisations is far less than between each country's different services. However the rivalry in the movie does not stand out very clearly and could have been elaborated on with indication of the effect on the available intelligence to the executive decision makers.One thing that stroke and irritated me was the naive character of the American 'first lady'. We see a very immature and young female with no heavy pondus to level the influence the script gives rise to over the heavy guys in the political intelligence environment. Julianna Margulies does not create a believable character and her statements and actions in the meetings seems ludicrous and could only satisfy a female teenager. I see the flaw as a way to entice young females to endorse the movie by getting the traditional power setup look stale and inefficient. It is a cheap measure and too unrealistic to be taken seriously.Also leading the English brigade was another two women in charge of men adding to the suspicion the film caters to a female audience.On the other hand the English female first dame is much more credible and her subtile acting talent soars like the sun over the desert. You instantly get the feeling how well this very, very intelligent agent softly manipulates her partners and how she holds control of the situation. (Jemma Redgrave). Personally I also found her a very attractive women, which does help :-) Likewise excellent stands the English actor Bernard Hill out. The American actors are overall stiff stereotypes.Also performing excellently was the super terrorist and his ability to manipulate his cadres seeps eerily over the screen.Deducting from the overall good experience was the out-of-place romance finishing off the agent relationship. The scene add nothing to the plot except for fulfilling a stereotype scene.Continuity was overall good except for the hairdo in the bed scene of Emily Tuthill, who I once again want to point point out as the highlight of the movie in opposition to several of the former reviews who even found her icy. I can't believe someone wrote that.

1. Either I'm at right angles to the rest of the world(knowing me, that's a possibility;)) or the characterisation of this was actually pretty good. With all due respect to iceman Jack Bauer, good guys who are not all-out professional are easier to relate to IMO.2. As for the jihadis, well at one extreme there was Kaz who I wanted to get blown up by his own bomb in the middle of nowhere. So mate, why do you want to take part in mass murder? You feel you have to prove your manhood? What a sicko.At the other end of the scale was the Egyptian doctor guy.In theory not that bad a person, wants the best for his patients etc etc. Wanted out after the Lagos bomb. Got suckered back to the jihadi cause a bit too easily for my liking though but then again his only target in London were the Arab oilmen who he though were responsible for stonewalling the development of his clinic. Then again he did back up Kaz's efforts in Chicago but he also questioned the younger guy's reasoning. Complicated.3. Brave gamble by Raeza at the end there but I had a hunch he'd lose it.4. So Acton was backing up Muhamed's crew yet he's still around? What's that about?All in all though this was a job well done IMO.

Just before THE GRID was broadcast I came to this page and found out that THE GRID was a BBC / American co-production and had first been screened on US television . This utterly surprised me since all the trailers seemed to make a big thing about the British cast ( Most notably Bernard Hill who not only appeared in every trailer for this but every single trailer for the Olympic games too ) but upon watching the first episode it becomes very obvious the amount of American involvement in this drama . This might not have been a bad thing since American television has brought us some great dramas in the last few years ( Am I the only Brit who loved OZ ? ) but THE GRID isn't one of them Despite having only one director and two credited writers THE GRID feels it was produced by a commitee numbering several hundred people and this shows through on screen Will it appeal to Tom Clancy junkies ? - Check Are there bedhopping scenes to appeal to SEX AND THE CITY fans ? - CheckAre there both good and bad Muslim characters to show that not all Muslims are terrorists . We don't want allegations of racism with this show - CheckThis is a drama /thriller that is trying to appeal to the entire TV audience on both sides of the Atlantic and this is where the mini series fails . Maren Jackson might be a hot American babe while Emily Tuthill will appeal to those viewers who like frosty English ice maidens but are their sex lives that important to the plot ? ( A plot which I thought was overstretched ) Mind you when you've got dialogue like" Come to spoil the tea party ? " " I've no intention of spoiling your tea party . I drink my tea in Long Island - Ice cold " I guess you might expect a bit of sex since it sounds like it came out of a blue movie So THE GRID fails down to the fact there seems to be too many cooks pouring some iced tea

This comment contains spoilers, unless you've seen the third episode.The release of "The Grid" could not have come at a better time. One of the primary conflicts in the series is the bureaucracy involved between the various American and British intelligence agencies, right when we're in the midst of all this stuff in the real world about an "intelligence czar" and a national counter-terrorism center. One of the series' merits is that it shows what could happen if the government lets bureaucracy get in the way of actually fighting terrorism.Some have objected to "The Grid" on the basis of its being racist. I have two counter- arguments. The first is that Muslim extremists are the group identified by a lot of Americans as the primary terrorist group in the world, so involving any other group would not "click" with audiences. Sad but true, I know. The second counter-argument is that the series makes an effort to humanize the antagonists. Ragib Mutar, for example, gets unwillingly caught up in the terrorist plot, initially only because he wants the best for his patients, and he suffers greatly for his involvement.Most of the actors are good enough to hold up the story. The exceptions are, unfortunately, the two main actors, the only ones who are named in the trailers: Julianna Margulies and Dylan McDermott. Neither of them seems to be able to evoke the appropriate emotions on screen. I can't speak for Margulies, but I know McDermott is a fairly good actor (from seeing him on "The Practice"). Here, he's either not trying or he's miscast.The supporting actors are excellent, especially Tom Skerritt, Jemma Redgrave and Bernard Hill. Hill was a superb choice to play Derek Jennings - he is a natural tough guy and very British. He even looks like a grizzled veteran. You don't see him really act like one until the third episode - see below - but when he does, he's amazingly convincing. Redgrave creates mystery around her character very well - you can never be sure exactly what she's thinking or what her intentions are. We see that the character can be very cool and calm, but at other times she shows emotion, but you get the feelings those emotions might be fake.Especially during the pilot episode, the action seemed to drag a bit too long. The pace only really started to pick up towards the end, where the FBI raids a warehouse. I never really felt a lot of suspense and adrenaline except for one scene in the third episode involving Derek Jennings in an elevator. That made my heart pound crazily. You see Bernard Hill's skill as an actor - you can tell he's suspicious of the assassin, but you can't tell that he knows who he is. You wonder if Jennings' experience and training will save his life or if he will become just another victim.I look forward to the finale, when all the intricate plot threads will finally come together (hopefully). I will definitely be watching it, and I hope it doesn't go downhill.