Very Cool!!!

Purely Joyful Movie!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Bad daytime soap opera with superficial TV actors & actresses, no real plot, no character development, and your typical anti-Muslim perspective. All of the main actors are from TV-land and unable to rise up from that style of acting: heavy looks, long stares, punctilious walks towards the camera, histrionic dialogue. A combo CSI and Days of our Lives.Dialogue is epigonic Mamet. "I know I'm right, but what if I'm not? Then we better pray". "We made a mistake. No it was my mistake." "I just bet my life on knowing the difference." There are just 4 alternating scenes, in no particular sequence: 1. Teletype-font subtitles appearing one character at a time with a staccato noise: "Situation room, NSA, Special Secret Bunker, Colorado"; "Kevin Farkas, Special Assistant Directing Manager for Counter-counter-terrorism"; "Ultra special really secret strategy session, Langley ...". This takes the place of any actual drama.2. Dialogue-heavy emotional relationship scenes between two main characters that either explain the plot or an aspect of their relationship. Usually it's a long discussion of a relationship. This shows how human they are while they wait to see where the terrorists will next strike.3. Meetings at huge conference tables, often with big TV screens in the background.4. Short bursts of action around some plot point. Most of each scene is filler - the camera follows police through streets & corridors that add nothing to the story but do help to make up the 6-hour running time. Once someone reaches for a camera and is shot; later it's death over a cell phone. Two of the good guys snap and almost kill bad guys. But they later find time to talk about their motivations at great length.I fell asleep for an hour or so during a conference room scene. I awoke in the middle of another. It hadn't made any sense before I fell asleep. I went back a few scenes and it was just the same thing.There are 4 types of characters: 1. Young women (and 1-2 guys) who have impossibly risen to places of power in security agencies. They run the teams, make decisions, talk directly to the US president.2. Haggard older women with scary makeup who run the agencies themselves.3. Three good Muslims, one of whom manages to defend Muslims by saying "It would be like blaming Christians for the KKK." 4. Hordes of Muslim bad guys.I suspect that the locus of the movie was "Let's make another anti-Muslim movie but with a twist: we'll have a couple of good Muslims; we'll show that the Saudis prosecute terrorists. But the head bad guy will of course spout a lot of Muslim rhetoric, utilize little kids, and murder randomly." My favorite scene is when the FBI guy explains how a character from Chechnya is actually a Muslim although though he's white - he even explains about the word Caucasian. So, yes, even white guys can be bad. And presumably black guys can be good.If you watch a lot of TV and you like the neocons, you'll probably enjoy The Grid. And you'll probably remember that white Muslims are as bad as any other kind.

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.

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.

We set aside a quiet time to watch the tape of the first show, and just completed the second episode. The photography is wonderful. Most of the actors/characters are multi-dimensional and the story line is quite balanced in developing them. The pace of the show keeps you interested and engaged. I am disappointed, however, that we have yet one more show where 'terrorist' really only means Muslim, or at best, Arab. Last time I looked, there were terrorists from all countries, races, religions and genders. Oh well, another reason to read a good book, listen to music or take a walk on the beach. (The sunsets here are incredible!)