Legends

You ever wanted to see a combination of 24 and The Bourne Identity?

Now when you say it like that, the show sounds very very cool, especially when you throw Sean Bean's name into that mix. However, is it really as cool as it sounds?

Legends takes place in Los Angeles. It focuses on FBI agent Martin Odum (played by Sean Bean). Odum is apart of a secret branch of the FBI focused on deep cover operations. He goes undercover with aliases and assumed names that the show refers to as Legends. I don't know if this is an actual term used in law enforcement but its effective for the show so it works.

Martin Odum is your typical no nonsense FBI agent saving the United States from terrorists. He doesn't play by the rules and the Patriot Act is his sword for swift American justice.

In essence, Martin Odum is Jack Bauer.

The similarities are really uncanny and its funny because the show's main writer and creator is Howard Gordon, who was a executive producer on 24. In many ways, you could possibly see this as Gordon's run at a non-real time action thriller. The similarities just continue as every episode has at least one fire fight in it and a lot of terrorists die at the hands of the hero.

Where the show differs however is that the main thread throughout all the episodes in the series is that Martin Odum goes undercover in almost every episode. And when I say he goes undercover, he goes under deep. There's a lot of fun moments throughout the show where you see Odum get into his character. You see him enter his Legend and become whoever he is supposed to be.

In many ways, its like an actor creating a character for a show. While its not that dramatic all the time and they actually mention that in the show, it really does show the acting chops of Sean Bean as he creates a new persona and actually makes it different than that of Martin Odum.

 But what would a Jack Bauer like character be without his co-workers. And I was actually pretty surprised at how much I liked the supporting characters in this show.

Right off the bat you have Ali Larter who I've seen in a lot of things but most prominently in Heroes (which I would probably say she's the best in). Larter doesn't have an incredible filmography as she's been in some kind of shitty movies like Final Destination and Resident Evil. However, in this show she actually does a pretty good job. She's not really there to do a lot of acting, but she's good for the role.

Then oddly enough you have Deb from Napolean Dynamite (Tina Majorino) playing your quiet nerd computer type. I enjoyed her as well. Morris Chestnut plays another FBI agent who becomes increasingly interested in Odum's background.

The best way to describe this cast of characters is... pretty stereotypical.

Of course you've got Martin Odum, your rogue federal agent with no consideration for the rules. You've got his handler in Ali Larter who doesn't trust him but thinks he's very reliable nonetheless. You've got the nerd computer type in Tina Majorino who's very different in her style but very capable. And then the rest of the characters have their conventions and its very formulaic.

Does it work? Oh yeah, it definitely works. Is it very original? Well no.

Even the underlying backstory throughout the investigations of this FBI organization, while interesting, isn't incredibly original.

You see from the very beginning of the show, Martin Odum has a secret past that even he doesn't know that much about. Odum starts his own investigation into a past he doesn't remember. He starts having flashbacks to his old life and it becomes an integral part of the story along with the investigations he's doing with the FBI.

Like I said, the show is a fun mix of 24 and The Bourne Identity.

That's all I can really say about the comparison because I don't want to give too much away.

This might be a surprisingly short TV review, but the fact of the matter is, this show is pretty darn simple. Its Sean Bean possibly entering a Liam Neeson like phase of his life where he's in his fifties but still able to kick some serious ass. He's playing a federal agent with a secret past, a fun Jack Bauer/ Bourne hybrid, and he's surrounded by a half way decent cast who fit all the stereotypes of a successful action thriller TV show.

I guess the interesting part about this show is that its coming out now instead of ten years ago.

I don't know if I've written about this on this blog before but when you start doing shows and movies centered around terrorism and fighting it, recently they've been going about it in a different way than 24 did back in the early 2000s.

If you watch 24 now, you'll kind of be amazed at what they're able to do, all in the name of national security. And at the time it made a lot of sense. 24 came out during a time in our nations history where 9/11 was still prominent in our minds. It was totally acceptable for Jack Bauer to shoot a terrorist in the kneecap if it meant that he was able to stop an impending attack on American soil.

Nowadays, I don't feel like you can get away with as much anymore. I think that there is a change in political perceptions and mindsets that make it a little bit more difficult to say that the hero is totally justified in breaking the law or going against the constitution.

But in Legends, there's a odd return to the 2000s as Martin Odum and his co-workers flat out ignore the 4th amendment, laughing it off like its more of a suggestion than an actual law they have to follow. Even in interrogations where there would always be at least one person in 24 who would shout their objections to Jack choke holding a suspect up against the wall, Ali Larter and Morris Chestnut barely have any objections to Martin Odum slapping around a suspect if he just wants answers to a question.

Its definitely an interesting throwback and I'm wondering if Legends is just an anomaly because it has the same producer as 24, but its definitely an interesting comparison.

Overall, I really enjoyed Legends, but that might have had a little bit to do with the fact that I enjoyed 24 so much. If you haven't seen 24, you still might enjoy it for the very fact that Sean Bean is exceptional in it. The rest of it is really kind of formulaic but that doesn't mean that its bad. There's really a forgoing of everything related to the constitution but that kind of goes into that throw back to 24 and how similar it is. I can recommend this show a lot because I enjoyed it. Hopefully you will to if you give it a watch.

But those are my thoughts on Legends. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and you can also send me your requests for more movies and TV reviews I should do in the future. If you follow me you can get updates on future movie and TV news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Without giving too much away, I'll just say, Sean Bean survives a long time in this show, despite having an incredible history of always dying in movies and TV. Heres a compilation. (Spoilers) Enjoy!