Well, maybe, not everyone, since they often travel a dark path in order to get to redemption, and may have lost sight of what it was they were trying to achieve in the process. Yet there continues to be more and more of this setup in film and TV, and the latest is the adaptation of Jack Carr\u2019s book The Terminal List<\/em><\/strong>, which follows a Navy SEAL working to unravel a massive conspiracy and stay alive after returning home from a disastrous overseas mission.<\/p>\n Prime Video\u2019s new series stars Chris Pratt, an actor who has gone from a goofy supporting player on NBC\u2019s Parks and Recreation<\/em><\/strong> to a megastar in just over a decade. His leading role in Guardians of the Galaxy <\/em><\/strong>and related Marvel Cinematic Universe properties has made him extremely recognizable, one of the famous Hollywood Chrises (not to be confused with Evans, Pine, or Hemsworth). Anchoring another Prime Video project, The Tomorrow War<\/em><\/strong>, highlighted his action skills with some comedy still present, and now he makes a much more dramatic pivot with this dark thriller.<\/p>\n Portraying James Reece feels closest to a small part Pratt played shortly into his stint as the dim-witted Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation<\/em><\/strong>, that of a Navy SEAL on the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty<\/em><\/strong>. This return to television is notable for Pratt since it\u2019s his first time on the small screen since that mockumentary series, and, like another actor made famous for his many looks at the camera, John Krasinski, he\u2019s choosing to get serious on Prime Video with his own action series, one that\u2019s not too far off from Krasinski\u2019s TV follow-up to The Office, Tom Clancy\u2019s Jack Ryan<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Establishing Pratt\u2019s resume is crucial to the perception of this show because he is such a known quantity, and audiences might expect to see him in a more lighthearted part like the ones that have brought him such success in the past.<\/p>\n In this series, however, there isn\u2019t much to laugh about, and there are many disturbing moments that show how fleeting happiness can be and the human potential for evil. Reece does feel like the good guy but it\u2019s still not always possible to root for him as anything but the best option among a slew of even worse choices whose aims were clearly never good.<\/p>\n The launch of The Terminal List<\/em><\/strong> continues an inconsistent but prevalent tradition of Prime Video to put out an entire season at once, matching the model that only Netflix seems to have solidly stuck by while other streaming services prefer the multi-episode debut followed by one new episode per week. Dropping all eight episodes on the same day means that audiences might be able to binge the entire series at once, a desire that might be provoked by the combat-heavy end of the first episode but isn\u2019t matched by the otherwise tedious pacing of the rest of the show.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Terminal List<\/em><\/strong> should appeal to a specific type of viewer, someone who enjoys series centered on military or government agent personnel. Digging too deep into the plot will likely only lead to convoluted and not entirely coherent answers, putting this series on par with something like 24 <\/em><\/strong>for its emphasis on action and violence above all else. There\u2019s also a degree of The Punisher<\/em><\/strong> mixed in, though Pratt\u2019s charisma is notably different from that show\u2019s star, Jon Bernthal. Any viewer\u2019s enjoyment of The Terminal List <\/em><\/strong>will be highly dependent on their perception of Pratt and their desire to engage in a culture of brutality and misery too often seen on television.<\/p>\n Grade: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of Abe Friedtanzer\u2019s articles<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/The-Terminal-List-2.jpg\")
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