We were excited about Season Eight of 24, happy to hear that a movie may (finally) be on the cards, then not surprised that his eighth day would indeed be Jack Bauer’s last as 24 was cancelled.
It’s been a turbulent year for 24 and with the end in sight for the TV series there were fears that the much discussed movie would be dead in the water.
Not so, according to Mr Bauer himself as TotalFilm learned when they sat down with Keifer Sutherland who, though not giving much away confirmed that the first film (leading to the assumption that 24 will continue as a movie series – audience and box office permitting) was scripted and won’t be based in the US.
Those who remember the 2008 24: Redemption TV film set between Days 6 and 7 may find this news familiar, and while I enjoyed the two hour film its deviation from the film’s episodic, real time structure hurt it.
The quote drawing most interest for me is this one:
“The film will be a two-hour representation of a 24-hour day…so all of a sudden, the restrictions of the real-time aspect are lifted. Which is huge.
To put it in context, in the series, every crisis had to come to us, because we couldn’t move. Who wants to see Jack Bauer sit on a plane for four hours?
But in the format of the film, it will be very feasible to go from Eastern Europe to London in the space of 24 hours, so all of a sudden there is so much more latitude. The skies have opened up!
At least this shoots down the rumour of Jack Bauer meeting a timely demise at the end of the show’s run, and films such as Serenity have followed a cancelled TV series, and drew in crowds of fans already missing their TV favourites.
Though I’ve not kept up with the series I’m hopeful that an elevation to a bigger stage will break 24 from its limitations and find a new way to tell its stories.
