Strike Back: Season 1 (Cinemax)

Few quasi spoilers : Watching the Amazon Prime Version of Season 1. The story development is interesting and locales pretty interesting, The first half of each episode is cool but then the finale is always a bit absurd. For instance, in the beginning, British Intelligence brings in a Pakistani ISI operative, to help them nail/thwart some major terrorist plot in India without the knowledge of Indian intelligence. First, given the heightened tensions between those two old friends, uh, I mean enemies (politically that is, not the people) , there is no way anyone of any import from the ISI could enter India and it not be known to Indian powers-that-be. That aside, the British would never trust the Pakistanis over the Indians and to top it all, the guy is a renegade. How stupid can the Brits be ? No George Smiley's in this crew, All Tinker, some Soldier, little Tailor and No Spy !And it is funny how one Pakistani renegade is one step ahead of all the Intelligence Agencies thereafter. I mean if this guy is after such serious weapons, American intelligence, firepower and drones would be tracking this clown all over the planet. And it's not like this dude is hiding in Pakistan, or Afghanistan, or Dubai or Qatar or Saudi Arabia, he's traveling the world in style, this Latif character. And the only folks interested in his shenanigans are some obscure British Intelligence agency - that is what makes this lack authenticity, where are MI6, the SAS ? Also, somehow one guy, who is the British super-soldier supposedly, comes in to rescue members of the team, all of the time, that is also a bit ridiculous, for the situations at hand, they'd come in light, in force, and with firepower, no choppers anywhere. And then this super-soldier extracts a "promise" to defuse a bomb to save a fellow operative on his, i.e. British Intelligence team, that was a laughable piece of direction , a "promise" from a deadly operative from the other side, come on !Great story development, superb locations, nice tie-in to global trouble spots, the Janjaweed in the Darfur, Sudan is a nice touch but the entire series suffers from far too many disparate strands being tied together - but am plodding through but expectations dampened considerably after the fiery 12/11 Bombay Pakistani Terrorist attack reprisal recreated in New Delhi. The start was very good as a story frame - let's see how this progresses.What is incredible is with all the information about impending weapons deals, attacks, you have the 2nd most modern armed force in the world going toe-to-toe with soldiers of fortune, desperate peasant bandits (ruthless but basically untrained murderous forces like the Janjaweed, some IRA killers and so on) with AK 47's - that is laughable. British forces would never engage or be authorized to without overwhelming air cover/boots on the ground and that does not mean Armies, but sure it is not this sort of one-man army kind of thing. It is amusing, and their commander is a woman, which the British have a history of appointing female heads of MI-5 (not MI-6 if I am not mistaken), Stella Rimington and Eliza Manningham Buller. Ms. Rimington also turned out to be one of cooler heads about terrorism, risks to damaging freedoms in free societies in the name of security, so the British tradition in the field has had exemplary female leads, and this commander is no exception.Oh, lot's of gratuitous sex and nudity, and the ex-Delta Force guy is a regular guy, not sure why he is even involved other than some convoluted connection to the Latif dude, seems like he adds little value, almost no smarts, and actually makes the American military look bad, a lot smarter guys work in the US Military though he does have a 'photographic memory' and always seems to be working alone. There is a 'Deerhunter' reprisal in the way he is brought back, anyway, watch it, it's better than a lot of the drivel out there.The smartest guy in the room is the Pakistani protagonist a la 'bad guy' no question, that is the story line, guy's like an Einstein amongst ordinary minds. One final edit, one of the worst parts of this show is watching the British super-soldier character who is supposedly SAS and all that, but he is colossally stupid, it's actually detracting from the show, his genuine dumb and slow processing of information and perpetually poor decision making, makes me want to turn show off, luckily the British commander, Rhona Mitra is quite a character and the yank ex-Delta guy turns out to be smarter as a character, warts and all, and he gets the babes ALL the time, that is painful and funny.Probably the best thing about the show, while frustrating to the viewer perhaps , but the bad guys and they come from all parts of the world though not yet from the Middle East - the Sunni extremists have not made an appearance yet, the 'terrorists' and the 'ruthless' often win the encounters, survive potentially lethal assaults, get some of the women (the terrorists are men by and large), and are often reasonably smart, smarter than the British Intelligence ! Enjoy.My suggestions keep your expectations in check, just a lot of promise, and great locales and threading with real world hot spots.

---The entertaining BBC/CinemaX series starts "good" and gets better with each episode: much like the actors' accents.According to IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base), the "British" lead actor is played by an American and the American "Section 20" operator is played by an Australian: yet, they seem perfectly cast for their respective roles.If the Amazon rating system allowed for 1/2 stars I'd rate this season 4.5 Stars or somewhere between "I Like It" and "I Love It" as the writing (at times) works a little to hard to be "cool" :and, some of the military tactics/character choices seem questionable and inconsistent (e.g. expressly declaring not to shoot at a helicopter because it has a nuclear warhead on board in one episode but then shooting at a truck with the same type of nuclear warhead tied to the flatbed in a different episode).For Fans of "The Unit", "MI-5", and international special forces type film/TV, and soft-core, this series may be described as Seal Team Six meets "MI-5" with an injection of testosterone and plot thickening, story-line essential, soft-core scenes in nearly every episode.If this carried a movie rating, it would most definitely be "NC-17" for explicit sex scenes and excessive violence.Military tactics rank near "The Unit" and seem about as realistic as TV drama permits given the notion that TV stars can neither be encumbered nor can they have their faces or pecs obstructed by standard military tactical gear - especially helmets (except for the pilot episode).If you can overlook some of the minor inconsistencies, graphic sex and violence, and a penchant for dropping F-bombs during chase and combat scenes, you may find this series entertaining -- when in the mood.

If you like stories of good versus evil, where good fights hard to win, sometimes at great personal cost, Strike Back is a series you'd enjoy.It's the story of a small British special forces operations group called Section 20. The action takes them all over Europe, Africa and Asia in the ongoing fight against terrorists and other dangerous individuals. I would compare it in some ways to 24; it's a covert action team, frequently skirting rules and sometimes balancing the greater good against the letter of the law. There are lots of impressive technological tools, lots of action, and occasionally flashes of wit. Since it's a cable series, it's a little harder edged than 24, so if language, bloodshed or nudity trouble you, this is not the series for you.I watched Episode 1 of Season 1 for free on Amazon Prime, and was hooked so hard I immediately bought and started binge watching the rest of Season 1. I learned later that Season 1 was actually Season 2 on the BBC, which had 6 episodes in the real Season 1 following the adventures of Section 20 operative John Porter, who has a small but important role in Season 1 of the Cinemax series. I then power watched Season 2, and am waiting for AP to release Season 3. I also hope to be able to find a way to watch the original BBC Season 1 with John Porter.If you like action, exotic locations, tough guys with British accents, tough women with British accents, and the occasional inclusion, possibly gratuitous, of attractive naked women (kidding. They're ALWAYS vitally important to key plot developments, so far as I can tell), you would enjoy this show.I enjoyed it so much I'm already bummed out to learn that Season 4 will be the wrapup for the series, but at least I can look forward to its release on cable later this year, and then, hopefully soon, on Amazon.

J’ai découvert cette série en 2012 lorsque elle passait sur Canal +. Il s’agit de la VRAIE première saison de cette série, d’abord produite et diffusé Grande-Bretagne, puis elle a été reprise par les Américains avec la chaine Cinemax. En effet, cette saison composée de 3 épisodes d’1h30 chacun permet d’introduire les personnages qui viendront dans les prochaines saisons produites par les américains.Les histoires sont inspirées des romans écrit pas Chris Ryan, ancien SAS (Spécial Air Service), inspirés de ses années de service en tant que soldat britannique.Résumé de l’histoire :« Cette saison 1 mets en mets en avant 2 personnages : John PORTER, un ancien agent du (SAS) et Hugh COLLINSON, un officier de la Section 20 des services secrets britanniques (MI6). Tous deux et plusieurs autres soldats ont participé à une opération de sauvetage à Bassorah, la veille de l'invasion de l'Irak en 2003, dans laquelle deux soldats anglais trouvent la mort sans savoir qui est le responsable.Ces 3 épisodes vont nous permettre de suivre à la fois les différentes interventions à travers le monde de PORTER/COLLINSON mais aussi un autre scénario parallèle suit les soupçons de PORTER sur le véritable assassin des soldats morts en Irak. »Cette mini-série est très rythmée en action. Les scénarios et la réalisation sont de qualités et très réalistes. Il n’y a pas des explosions toutes les 30 secondes parce qu’une voiture tape dans un mur. Nous sommes vraiment immergé dans un univers militaire avec de l’action, des complots, espionnage un peu d’humour aussi, mais aussi un coté psychologique. Il ne s’agit donc pas que d’une simple série d'action musclée. Malgré un univers plutôt brut et disons « masculin et testostérones », même ma conjointe a été séduit par le concept de cette série (à moins qu’elle est juste un coup de cœur pour Richard ARMITAGE ^^)Les personnages sont très bons et bien interprétés. On y retrouve donc Richard ARMITAGE (Thorin Ecu de chêne dans la Trilogie « The Hobbit ») et Andrew LINCOLN (Rick Grimes dans la série « The Waliking Dead »)En ce qui concerne le coffret DVD :Composé de 3 CD, vous avez la possibilité de regarder les épisodes en VO ou VF.Guide des épisodes:Mission Irak, première partie et deuxième partie (DVD 1)Mission Zimbabwe, première partie et deuxième partie (DVD 2)Mission Afghanistan, première partie et deuxième partie (DVD 3)Article reçu dans les temps et bien emballé. Bon rapport qualité / prix et obtenu avec une réduction.Je recommande cet article.Si ce commentaire vous a intéressé ou s'est avéré utile, cliquez sur « oui ». Ça fait toujours plaisir de se savoir utile et/ou lu.

Diese Serie ist ein richtiger Knaller. Actionreich und brutal. Sexy und tabulos. Jenseits aller Konventionen räumen zwei weiße 007 Machos unter Arabern und Afrikanern auf. Trotz aller Übertreibungen bleibt die Story stets glaubhaft und spannend. In bester James Bond-Craig Manier zeigen hier die Briten/SAS, wem die Welt gehört - nur alles eine Stufe härter und nackter als bei 007, aber vom Actionniveau und weltweiten Schauplätzen durchaus vergleichbar. Eine gelungene Besetzung sind Stapledon/Winchester.

Informar a quien le resulte de interés que la presente edición (Alemania-ASIN: B008CXJB8O) incluye Inglés, Francés, Alemán y Español Latino, en lo que a Audio se refiere. En el capitulo de los subtítulos, están los ya citados idiomas, (el español también es español latino) además de otros muchos. En la ficha técnica de Amazon no indica que haya subtítulos en español.Y dicho esto, me gustaría añadir dos comentarios:1) Que puesto que Amazon tiene la pésima costumbre de mezclar todos las reseñas publicadas sobre un mismo producto sin discriminar la edición de la que se trata (DVD, BR, Edición UK, Alemania, España, etc.), todo en el mismo saco, al no haber modo, por tanto, de saber a qué producto en particular se refiere cada comentario, deberíamos nosotros, los interesados, incluir siempre la referencia ASIN en el comentario.2) Tenía la esperanza de que, al tratarse de una edición europea, el español del audio y/o de los subtítulos fuese español/castellano; pero, como ya he dicho, lamentablemente no es así. Lo cual no deja de sorprenderme. Suelo comprar películas y/o series en EEUU que incluyan español al menos en los subtítulos; allí siempre es latino, pero entiendo que tiene su lógica, dado el inmenso mercado latino estadounidense. Pero que películas/series editadas para Europa no incluyan español/castellano es una vergüenza y un despropósito, que sólo puede explicarse a partir del país de auténtico sainete en el que España se ha convertido. ¿Alguna vez hemos dejado de serlo? No somos 'nadie' en el mundo, ni siquiera en Europa. Y éste es otro síntoma más. Y, desde luego, que seamos uno de los países con más pirateo del mundo, en el que uno casi siente vergüenza cuando confiesa que ha comprado legalmente una película o serie (en vez de piratearla) mientras que los que sí piratean alardean de ello, no ayuda nada en absoluto. Que éste sea un país de golfos y pillos (y además le haga a la mayoría mucha gracia creyéndose los más listos del planeta) ha de tener sus consecuencias: el desprecio cada vez mayor hacia este país por parte de las grandes productoras. Cada vez más desearía haber nacido en países como Alemania, Francia, Reino Unido, Suecia, Noruega, Suiza... Y, la verdad, encuentro esto tan triste como decepcionante.Nota: Aún no puedo pronunciarle sobre la serie porque no he comenzado a verla. He leído buenas críticas y espero pasarlo bien con ella.

Love this series Strike Back from the UK. Well acted and full of action and suspense. Two soldier, following orders for the UK Section 20, a secretive section of the British Military. Full of action, adventure and spy games. Based on Two Special Operatives, and their team, doing special missions across the globe. It’s a fun and exciting show to watch, and it’s go, go, go from start to finish. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Enjoy.

While this series has some glaring flaws and inconsistencies, that doesn't stop me from loving it. Let's start with the problems. Virtually every episode has one or more shoot-'em-up scenes with a massive body count, often of a dozen or more, and the sequences are pretty much set up like the violent shooting video games that young people have been playing for the past 20 or more years (I assume it's thus being marketed to that audience). Also, there isn't much analysis of why the bad guys are THAT bad, and sometimes, the rationale can be pretty superficial - I thought this to be particularly true at the end of (North American) season two, though I'll offer no spoilers on that one. Finally, unlike, say, Game of Thrones, where "anyone" can die, we can feel pretty confident that the two protagonists are going to make it to the end of the season, so long as there are no problems with their contracts, or they don't drop this show to take on something even bigger (and this one is pretty big, mind you).Now, on the positive side... It goes without saying that Philip Winchester as Stonebridge and Sullivan Stapleton as Damien Scott are absolutely inspired. This is a buddy show, and these two guys are perfect buddies in that time-honoured tradition - with Winchester the "straight" guy and Stapleton the "loose (but dependable) cannon." They are also allowed at times (never for long) to have fun, and that element of intermittent delight was never written into the (earlier) UK season one (see my review of Chris Ryan's Strike Back). As to the production budget, it's obviously of good size, and thus we are able to travel the world (literally) with our protagonists. The screenwriting is excellent, the dialogue regularly engaging and deeply insightful, and the soundtrack/music are state of the art - outstanding. The same goes for the cinematography/camerawork, and the Blu-Ray picture is crisp and clear (you will not get that in UK season one, which is equivalent in terms of the competency of its actors, but produced on a much lower budget). Finally, it should be obvious from what I have written that these are characters you will care about (Mr. Stapleton sustained a head injury in Thailand earlier this year, and I'm concerned for him in the same way I would be for a friend).... but, more than that, these are characters who will teach you about yourself and the world: that is, they often face moral dilemmas, and are able to handle them in such a way that it is necessary to reflect on one's own life and choices, and how we might measure up in the same circumstances. The moral dilemmas feel VERY real - they are not staged or strained, and the actors are at that highest level, in that they have the ability to take us to the unexplored places of our own lives.In conclusion... this series (originating in the UK) was a surprise. I hadn't heard anything about it until seeing the first season blu-ray on display one day while shopping. So I'll rate this one my "lucky find of the year." (Last year, my lucky find was Orphan Black, so I think my standards are reasonably high.) If you can handle the extremely high body count, you will be rewarded with every episode. There is very little time wasted at any point in this series.