Strike Back, Series 6, Sky 1 review - more stories for boys | reviews, news & interviews
Strike Back, Series 6, Sky 1 review - more stories for boys
Strike Back, Series 6, Sky 1 review - more stories for boys
Gung-ho special forces yarn charges back into action
Laughable though it frequently – oh go on then, always – is, Strike Back is obviously a target-rich environment for those of a thespian persuasion.
The source of these vengeful sentiments was revealed in the opening set-piece, stylishly shot in panoramic high-def. A Black Hawk helicopter thudded purposefully across the hot, sandy wastes of the Syria-Jordan borderlands, carrying Brown (aka Sgt “Mac” McAllister) and his squad to a rendezvous point where they would pick up a prisoner, the notorious terrorist Omair Idrisi (Don Hany). All hush-hush and below the radar, of course. The handover was going terribly well until a bunch of “insurgents” appeared over the horizon and started firing rockets at our brave lads. Amid a barrage of gunfire, McAllister’s comrades were massacred and Idrisi was whisked away in a jeep. Only the fact that Idrisi’s gun ran out of ammo had saved Mac's life.Back at base, Mac was about to be court-martialled for punching the officer he blamed for his mission going belly-up. Happily however, his career was resuscitated by the arrival at his door of Colonel Adina Donovan (a stern Nina Sosanya), who was looking for bellicose soldiers with an attitude problem. “Dangerous soldiers for dangerous missions” was what she craved, and she’d come to the right place. She was offering Mac the chance to hunt down the murderous Idrisi, a one-man basket of deplorables, and Mac signed up without a second’s hesitation.
Strike Back thrives on back-slapping buddy-hood, so they had to find a chum for Mac. Step up Samuel Wyatt (Daniel MacPherson), an American Special Ops guy who Mac first encountered being waterboarded by the Libyan National Army. Mac was shocked to find that Sam was a bit of a liberal, who told him not to kill his captors since they were, in theory at least, on the same side. “Why don’t we just all join hands and sing ‘Kumbaya’?” snarled the exasperated Mac.
Anyway, soon the boys found themselves on the same team, because Wyatt had been peremptorily assigned to Colonel Donovan’s command, presumably because co-producer Cinemax wanted an American in the cast. The mixture was further enriched by the addition of petite but hard-boiled trooper Gracie Novin (Alin Sumarwata, from Australia) and Canada-born (but Australian-accented) Roxanne McKee as Captain Natalie Reynolds. In her skin-tight minidress, lip gloss and white stilettos, there's somehow something un-military about Captain Reynolds, and her fake-seduction of terrorist financier Prince Khalid in a swanky Tripoli nightclub looked like a Pussycat Dolls video.
But this sort of thing happens in Strike Back. Having survived a terrorist massacre at the nightclub, our exotic squad were soon back on the trail of Idrisi, as well as his British wife Jane (Katherine Kelly, pictured right with Don Hany), strangely transformed since her days as Lady Mae in Mr Selfridge.
And in the final frames we suddenly came face to face with Trevor Eve, who’s playing unscrupulous arms dealer Morgan Ives. “I really do love the money,” smirked Ives, much as Vincent Price might have said it. It’s odd how murder, terrorism, murky geopolitics and the arms trade are considered the ideal ingredients for glossy international entertainment co-productions, but that’s where we’re at.
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Comments
It was rubbish, not a patch
I 100% agree the new on is a
You took the words right out
Agree. Not a patch on
I was looking forward to this
Have tried to emulate the
PC gone mad. Totally
Absolutely dire. The first
"Without them it's like Top
I wanted to like it as I was
Have to agree with the
Loved all the previous series
What the hell.. trying to get
Second all of the previous
was looking forward to a new
I also agree with all the
Sorry ,cant have the program
I'm disappointed in this.
Absolutely dog s***! What has
The previous series were much
Have to agree. 1st episode
C'mon guys give it a chance
Thats an hour of my life I
Utter rubbish .. 'Tis a sad
What a complete load of
I have found series 6
So bad it's not funny. The
I loved all of the previous
I actually thought the boys
WTF?!!!!Season 6 is a
Such a travesty, series 6 is
the "American" character was
Yes I agree with all the
I was ok with the series
I literally just re watched
Season 6 is horrendous.
Truly dreadful. Such a let
one wotd says it all....
You can't have strike back
why is the second part of
What a load of bulls**t. PC
Four episodes down and ....
terrible I think they must
A very lame attempt at
Season 6 Episode 6 has not
So only 10 episodes but they
I have to agree why a mid
S06 ain't as good as the
Atrocious. Totally
Started watching with great
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