Below Average
Summary
A dully executed show that does too much repeated yet tired cliches as opposed to offering something new or fun.
Plot: Bob Lee Swagger (Ryan Phillippe, MacGruber) has long retired from his job as a Marine Corps sniper but when his former commanding officer, who has become a Secret Service Agent, Isaac Johnson (Omar Epps, First Time Felon), asks him to scout for potential sniper nests in Seattle in time for the U.S. president’s visit, he says yes to the job. However, when the Ukrainian president dies from a sniper shooting in Seattle, Bob becomes the primary suspect. He must go on the run to prove his innocence and, with the help of unlikely allies, uncover a Secret Service conspiracy while protecting his family. The cast of characters also include: FBI agent Nadine Memphis (Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Flashforward), CIA black ops agent Hugh Meachum (Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan) and Bob Lee’s wife Julie (Shantel VanSanten, Gang Related).
Review: Despite Mark Wahlberg and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura being executive producers, and the showrunners changing up a few things, thus just leaves me wishing that Wahlberg and Antoine Fuqua had just continued their 2007 movie instead with at least two more sequels. The show got mediocre to decent reviews and that’s pretty reasonable as if you’re patient and don’t expect much, you might find some reasonable entertainment here. If you’re like me where you have low-expectations but have found little to hold your attention, you’ll tune out long before the season is up despite not that many episodes.
I’m not going to bring up the countless outside problems concerning various cast and crew-members getting injured on or off-set as that doesn’t effect the actual show quality as far as I can see (feel free to Google those incidents if you must). I will say that despite being a fan of the cast and different types of fugitive and assassination thrillers, and despite me forcing myself to accept this show on its own format (since it’s only fair), that it’s more trouble than it’s worth. They had various familiar Action movie character actors guest-starring unsurprisingly, they decided to have heavy focus on Bob and Isaac’s Marine lifestyle and where it all went sour prior to the present-day events. They had as much mystery as they did chase sequences yet nothing truly stood out.
It’s barely what one would call a trite show yet it isn’t standing out on it’s own two feet too well either. I find the source of the problem is that the focus of the show varies enough but never truly captures ones attention span completely because it’s just too over-familiar. If one wants to binge-watch it on Netflix and see if it is a slow-burn, then they are welcome to do so. But in a honesty, you’re not missing much even by lazy summer TV standards.
