DVD
24
Season 2

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Sarah Wynter, Elishia Cuthbert, Xander Berkeley, Carlos Bernard and Dennis Haysbert
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
RRP: £49.99
25033DVD
Certificate: 15
Available now


Eighteen months after the assassination attempt on his life, senator Palmer has been elected to the White House. The LA Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) are informed of a threat to national security and Jack Bauer is pulled out of retirement to help prevent a nuclear bomb being detonated by terrorists in Los Angeles...

The second season of 24 improves greatly on the first season in a number of ways, but there are many aspects that don't quite work, To start with the real-time device doesn't really stand up to close scrutiny this time around. It is just not feasible that all the events that unravel could have occurred in 24 hours. Okay, this was a problem with the first season but this time around there is way more going on.

Kim Bauer's inclusion seems a little pointless and the things that happen to her (when you consider these are the events of one day) are ridiculous. She is on the run for murder, involved in a car crash, caught in a hunter's trap, almost attacked by a wild cat, trapped in a house with a weirdo and abducted by aliens... Okay, the last one I made up, but the way her luck was running it might as well have been included. Not only that, but there seemed to be too many shots of her running towards the camera with her breasts bouncing all over the place - not a complaint, just an observation.

Before you think I hated this season, let me just say that I didn't. I loved it. There's some fantastic acting - especially on the part of Dennis Haysbert, Xander Berkeley and Penny Johnson Jerald - and, ignoring Kim's scenes, loads of dramatic tension. The last four episodes really need to be viewed together - you're really not going to want to take a break between them.

There are some great extras on the DVD including 45 deleted scenes that can be viewed independently (on the final disc they include optional commentaries) or viewed throughout the episode or separately for each episode. There are two not to be missed deleted scenes include one that (and this won't spoil anything) ties Nina Myers into everything and a very funny alternate ending - which the commentary explains was done to stop the ending being leaked on the Internet.

There is also a two part documentary: 24 Exposed which takes a behind the scenes look at the filming of the series; a Featurette that looks at the preparation that went into blowing up the CTU building: On the Button - The Destruction of CTU; and episode commentaries from cast and crew.

Oh, and see if you can spot the ex-Neighbour's actor in Palmer's cabinet and Rosanne's daughter in CTU.

A fantastic collection that improves dramatically on the first season release.

Darren Rea

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