Entertainment
The Terminal List review: ‘A wasted opportunity in this Chris Pratt series’-Keith Watson-Entertainment – Metro
It serves up action but lacks in character depth.
It serves up action but lacks in character depth (Picture: AP)
It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but in episode two of The Terminal List the camera scans across the bookshelf of Navy Seal commander James Reece and reveals that his favoured reading matter includes Sun Tzu’s classic The Art Of War and the 21st century bestseller The Accidental Guerrilla.
That tells us all we need to know about the mindset of the hero/anti-hero of the piece, signposting his transition from straight-up military man to rogue vigilante.
Based on a book by real-life Seal Jack Carr, The Terminal List stars Chris Pratt as Reece, a soldier whose mind is deeply shaken by the death of a dozen soldiers from his unit on a mission that goes disastrously wrong.
Haunted by horrible memories on his return, grilled by suits on his version of events, Reece can’t decide which way is up. But then he starts to suspect he’s been played for a fool.
It’s an interesting premise, not least because the first 15 minutes of The Terminal List is devoted to the chaotic shoot-out that triggers the plot.
We don’t have a clue what’s going on, which while extremely confusing, at least gives us a gate pass into Reece’s mental confusion.
There’s a lot of action, that’s for sure (Picture: AP / Amazon Studios)
Chris Pratt (left) stars in this thriller series (Picture: AP / Amazon Studios)
There’s a story to be told here about the dangers of PTSD and how soldiers cope in the aftermath of tragedy but, though it pays lip service to those issues, The Terminal List is more concerned with the conspiracy theory that takes root in Reece’s mind and the action he takes to confront it – the inevitable killing spree.
It’s a wasted opportunity. By going down the vigilante route, The Terminal List serves up some pulse-pumping action scenes but offers little in the way of light and shade for the characters.
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Reece is grieving, his life’s in tatters, yet his only response is blind rage. And while Pratt makes for a serviceable killing machine, it would have made for a stronger series if he’d been given the space to dive deeper into his character’s maelstrom of a psyche.
Still, if you love action thrillers driven by revenge, The Terminal List hits the target. But it could have been so much more.
The Terminal List is available on Amazon Prime Video now.
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