29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

More amazing action with Jack Bauer…, 26 Mar 2006

24 must be one of the best TV shows around. Incredibly exciting, with complex plots, great special effects, and top-notch acting, this is literally edge-of-your-seat television.

Season 4 was not my favourite season, but it was still fantastic. Unlike seasons 2 & 3, it gets going straight away, with a massive train explosion in the first minutes, and you immediately become gripped by the action. The pace is maintained for the first 12 or so episodes, but halfway through it does slow down and begins to drag slightly in comparison. However, even 24 at its slowest is still faster-paced than most shows, and the action soon picks up again with some cracking final episodes that had me actually biting my nails.

As usual the regular actors all do a great job – Jack is intense and sexy, Tony does a brilliant job of portraying a hurt and confused man on the edge of giving up, and Chloe is consistently hilarious in her own off-beat way. The new characters are a bit more hit and miss – Erin Driscoll and Edgar Stiles are both brilliantly portrayed, but Marianne is very cliched, Curtis is boring without any personality, and Audrey is a little annoying – she appears shocked every time Jack has to hit someone.

Overall though it’s amazing television, and the sort of programme that once you’ve bought the boxset, you’ll end up watching about 6 episodes in a row because it’s so exciting.

The boxset itself is attractively presented – a plastic book-style design with a glossy cover and a cardboard slipcase. I also have to say a word about the special features – WOW! An entire extra disc of features includes:

-Breaking Ground: Building the New CTU (approx 18 minute documentary on building the CTU set and shooting there)
-Blood on the Tracks (approx 15 min documentary on shooting the train explosion, including interviews with the directors and special effects guys)
-Lock and Load (short documentary on the weapons used)
-Nissan Short Film (a beautiful 20 minute promotional film – not much relevance to 24 though!)
-24 The Game (Kiefer Sutherland introduces a behind the scenes look at the PS2 game)
-The Longest Day music video (video for the trance version of the 24 theme)
AND A MASSIVE 40 deleted scenes, which can be watched with or without commentary from director Jon Cassall. Many of them are several minutes long and include entirely new characters or subplots. They also clear up lots of loose ends, such as what happened to Behrooz.

A word of warning though – try not to look at the pictures on the DVD menus, as they often show scenes from the ends of episodes, and can give some of the plot away. Other than that, buy it and enjoy!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

Solid entry in the 24 timeline., 14 Nov 2006

I want to start, predictably enough I suppose, by comparing season 4 to the seasons that went before it, as I feel that it is unfairly maligned by many; the criticisms generally levelled at series 4 tend to be that it has overly predictable plot twists, a weak storyline and is generally a bit tired, and yet these are the criticisms I would aim at season 3. For my money season 4 is a massive return to form after the weak season that preceded it; just compare the opening episodes. Series 3: nothing much happens, we meet the major players but it’s all a bit pedestrian, and in fact nothing really kicks off until about 7 or 8 episodes in. Series 4: as per usual the initial crisis is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg, but it’s action-packed and puts you right on the edge of your seat just like the first two seasons did. So while I wouldn’t for a minute suggest that series 4 could rival the amazing first two seasons, it’s 16 or so hours’ worth of top quality tv.

Turning to the series itself, it’s obviously difficult to talk plot without giving anything major away, so I shall confine myself to saying that they have (in my book anyway) made good decisions in terms of which well-known characters to bring back and which to cut out of the story, most of the new characters are good additions, and they’ve also had some good ideas in terms of how to develop things in the 18 months between seasons 3 and 4.

The central plot is the usual crusade against terrorists (I don’t know why people complain that Jack’s always up against the same old terrorist types – he does work at a place called the Counter TERRORIST Unit, people), but this series’ bad guy, Marwan, is far smarter than those who have preceded him (actually Stephen Saunders was pretty smart too I suppose), and the CTU gang have a much harder time than usual in foiling his plans.

I would also say that series 4 is top of the pile thus far for moments of jump-out-of-your-seat-and-cheer action set-pieces, with much more gunplay than usual (some people may disagree, and I must admit I haven’t seen 1 or 2 in about a year but I don’t remember this much all-out action from any other season). There’s one particular moment, just before the end of episode 7, that had me grinning from ear to ear, naturally I don’t want to elaborate too much but just look out for it.

Overall, as I said near the beginning this isn’t vintage 24 in the vein of series 1 or 2, but it’s a damn sight better than the sluggish series 3, and as with any series of 24, still leagues ahead of any other tv series out there (apart from Firefly, but that’s another story). Not to mention the fact that without the ending of season 4 the barnstorming brilliance of series 5 would not be possible – just as good as seasons 1 and 2 but I’d better leave it at that or I’ll end up reviewing that here too.

P.S. earlier comments make it sound like I don’t like series 3. This is not the case, I think there’s a lot of good stuff in there, I just don’t think it can hold a candle to the rest of the 24 canon thus far.