Posted by
John Caile on Monday, November 24, 2008 11:53:59 AM
Just when you thought the action hero was dead, the hit show "24" is back with a vengeance. If you're looking for Starbucks loving, politically correct, metro-sexual "girly-men" - forget it. Tough guy Jack Bauer is ready, willing, and able to dispatch the bad guys with speed, skill, and yes, violence - good, old fashioned, righteous violence.
More importantly, unlike so many of the gutless wimps who inhabit our culture today, Jack does not suffer from paralyzing ambivalence. He recognizes the difference between right and wrong, and he has no hesitation in doing what's right.
While "24" has always remained politically aloof (one never knows which political party the various presidents portrayed in the show belong to), the writers do take delight in skewering the politically correct - people and institutions that represent the kind of ineptness and cowardice that Jack despises are all fair game.
The UN naturally comes to mind. With its history of bumbling failure in combating terrorist regimes and their often genocidal policies, UN types are an obvious target. In the opening hour, vicious rebels in a strife torn African country are rounding up young children to use as cannon fodder in their ongoing civil war.
Jack is friends with the principal of a small rural school, and when he learns that rebels are on their way, he asks the local UN representative for help. The UN guy (conspicuously holding the now infamous UN "Blue Helmet") claims that "the UN is neutral in this conflict." With undisguised disdain, Jack suggests that, if he won't fight, he should "hide in the shelter with the rest of the children."
When the rebels arrive at the school looking for conscripts, Jack, though hopelessly outnumbered, becomes a one-man army - using guns, knives, and even explosives, he dispatches dozens of the rebels with wild abandon. But despite his best efforts, Jack is wounded and captured.
However, the school principal, having retrieved some weapons from a secret compartment in his office, comes to his rescue, shooting several rebels and setting Jack free. Together, they pile the young boys into a bus and head off for the American embassy.
Meanwhile, the sniveling UN bureaucrat has jumped in his Land Rover and taken off on his own, leaving Jack, the principal, and the children to fend for themselves. But later, the UN employee is himself captured by the rebels. Predictably, he not only tells them where the children are headed, he attempts to buy his freedom by ratting out Jack as the man who killed the brother of the rebel captain.
When Jack arrives at the American Embassy, he is then confronted with yet on more agonizing dilemma - the embassy official will allow the children sanctuary only if Jack turns himself in on an old charge of "torturing terrorist suspects." Displaying a level of integrity that is becoming increasingly rare, Jack finally accepts the deal - he is willing to sacrifice his own freedom for the sake of the kids.
Now, "24" also has numerous sub-plots involving intrigue in the White House and various shady characters and their covert agendas, not to mention the impending inauguration of the first women president.
But the real allure of the show is, and always has been, the sheer joy of watching a 21st Century version of the classic warrior, a man who refuses to adopt the nauseating political correctness of those around him. A man who recognizes the reality of evil in the world - and will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to defeat it. A man willing to give up everything to protect the innocent.
And we love him for it.