Special Ops: Lioness Review Zoe Saldañas War On Terror Drama Needs An Airstrike Of Imagination
You can probably guess what you get in Special Ops. With the Iones program. Somewhat clumsy account. " Special Ops ", which was added to the title late in production, makes it clear that this is a series about gruesome modern warfare. A world of life and death bets and lackluster professionalism. Of course, the series begins in the Syrian desert with the media . Spy operation failed. Thanks to the sign tattoo, the parent - the woman - is in danger. There was gunfire. As ISIS advances, CIA agent Joe (Zoe Saldana) is forced to make tragic decisions.
Definitely an explosive way to start a series. From there, the episode (which was released on Paramount+) ends. We get an insight into Joe's home life. Her work led to the CIA's Lion Initiative, which secretly attached women to the wives and families of terror suspects to hunt down targets, and eventually allowed the CIA to kill them. It's a tough job that requires a tough character, even if we feel Joe has a heart under the flint. When the failure of the Syrian mission is revealed, Joe gets a new job opportunity with a tough Marine named Cruz (Lisla de Oliveira). We meet Cruz in flashback as he flees an abusive relationship. turned to the US Marine Corps office; He soon became one of them.
It's a shame Leo never lets up, given his talent both in front of and behind the camera. De Oliveira is like the hedgehog on screen and is not helped by the predictably dry writing. Apparently Nicole Kidman, who plays another CIA character, was only half engrossed in the material. Michael Kelly ( "House of Cards ") is even better than Joe the no-nonsense Chief. The biggest name on the casting list is Morgan Freeman, who rarely gets a regular TV role. It's not like he was present in the first episode.
Saldana, meanwhile, is one of the highest-paid stars of all time thanks to her roles in Avatar and Marvel. Although she's pretty slick in front of the green screen, it always seems like the best is yet to come, and some talented modeling is just about to happen. On paper, Joe fills this role: tough but morally conflicted. As it turns out, Saldana is a capable leader, but not a memorable one.
Nothing in this series is truly memorable. Lion was created by Taylor Sheridan, screenwriter of Sicario and director of Wind River and the amazing bank robbery drama Hell or High Water . Recently, Sheridan built himself a small TV empire thanks to the huge success of the Western drama Yellowstone in the US. ( Lion is his seventh TV show since 2018, and two more are in the works.) From the looks of it, it might be a little thinner. There are moments reminiscent of Homeland , but without the intrigue of the series' original premise ("Damien Lewis is a terrorist"). It's a double life drama that, frankly, takes lives.
