TV Review: ‘Countdown’ | Moviefone

‘Countdown’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.

Releasing on Prime Video on June 25th with three initial episodes, ‘Countdown’ stars Jensen Ackles (‘Supernatural’) as Detective Mark Meachum, a headstrong LAPD office recruited for a multi-agency task force assigned to stop a serious threat to Los Angeles.

The cast for the new show, created by Derek Haas (‘Chicago PD’) also includes Eric Dane (‘Grey’s Anatomy’), Jessica Camacho (‘Watchmen’), Violett Beane (‘Death and Other Details’), Uli Latukefu (‘Black Adam’) and Elliot Knight (‘The Boys’).

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Initial Thoughts

Have you ever pondered what would happen if a truck carrying a load of episodes of your average network procedural collided with another hauling 1980s and 1990s action thrillers? If so, your answer is appearing on Prime Video as Haas, a writer and producer behind the likes of ‘Wanted’, ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ and the various Chicago-set TV series that are numerous enough to fill a whole night of NBC’s primetime schedule has essentially built his dream series.

Whether or not it represents your dream or your idea of a nightmare might depend on your tolerance/love for dialogue that is growled rather than spoken, action scenes set to propulsive rock tracks and every trope imaginable spun in admittedly fun fashion.

Script and Direction

Haas and his writing team certainly know what type of show they were aiming to make here –– it is unashamedly action packed and about as subtle as being beaten around the head with a DVD copy of a straight-to-home-entertainment thriller.

The Prime Video budget means that the show was able to actual shoot in and around Los Angeles rather than relocating to Atlanta or some other city, and that mean the show has the shiny/grimy backdrop that makes it feel that much more authentic (even if the writing and some of the performances are purely synthetic).

This is clashing egos and team bonding, dialogue snippets that include lines such as “the only way to make this right is to make sure the people responsible are found and put in the ground”, all anchored by a cast who understood the assignment (particularly the leading man –– more on him in a moment).

Directors including Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Brown, Lisa Robinson and Avi Youabian use the California backdrops to bring the series to life in exciting enough fashion, and the show certainly looks decent, even if not quite at the level of, say, a prestige Apple TV+ offering.

Cast and Performances

Jensen Ackles is practically a genre to himself at this point, having cornered the market in cocky, charismatic lead characters with an easy smile, a quick wit and (in this case) floppy hair.

His Mark Meachum is exactly the sort of role at which he excels –– iconoclastic, driven and hiding a secret pain (in this case, a serious medical condition we won’t spoil). He can handle the action moments with aplomb but really comes alive when he’s just smirking at his co-stars or getting his way.

Eric Dane is playing the boss of the task force, and while he’s dealing with ALS that limits how much he can do, he still brings real presence to the role of Nathan Blythe. He’s completely believable as the man driving the team to figure out the case.

Elsewhere, the cast struggle to make quite the same impact, though the likes of Jessica Camacho (as a dedicated, yet troubled DEA agent) Violett Beane (as FBI tech genius and hacker Evan Shepherd) and Uli Latukefu (as Detective Luke Finau) do manage to pop.

And beyond them, a lot of fairly stock villain and terrorist characters, plus the sort of smug officials who are often threatening to shut the task force down only to be thwarted when our heroes pull out a win (or, in the case of Blythe, use their own powerful connections to shut down opponents).

Final Thoughts

‘Countdown’ launches with the death of a high-profile TV star playing a Homeland Security agent (we won’t name them and ruin the surprise), but very quickly lays its hand clear –– and if you can’t guess the case the team will end up running down from just the title, then I can’t imagine you’ve watched much television in the past.

But if you’re in the mood for silly action fun and vague nods to more complicated characters here and there, then ‘Countdown’ should fill a spot.

What’s the plot of ‘Countdown’?

When an officer with the Department of Homeland Security is murdered in broad daylight, LAPD detective Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles) is recruited to a secret task force, alongside undercover agents from all branches of law enforcement, to investigate.

But the hunt for the killer soon uncovers a plot far more sinister than anyone could have imagined, kicking off a race against time to save a city of millions.

Who stars in ‘Countdown’?

• Jensen Ackles as Mark Meachum
• Eric Dane as Nathan Blythe
• Jessica Camacho as Amber Oliveras
• Violett Beane as Evan Shepherd
• Uli Latukefu as Luke Finau
• Elliot Knight as Keyonte Bell
• Jonathan Togo as Damon Drew
• Merrick McCartha as District Attorney Grayson Valwell

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