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Amazon's latest production, The Terminal List, dropped its eight-episode first season on July 1, 2022. While the series initially looked good, it did not take long for the overdone plot and sloppy pacing to catch up with the not-so-fresh premise.
At its core, The Terminal List is a mindless, done-to-death plot that is not able to use its charm to counter its predictability. The dense plot takes too long to unfold, leaving few reasons for viewers to take this new flick seriously.
All the episodes of the new series are directed by different directors, perhaps making this inconsistency more prominent.
Read on for a detailed review of the show.
The Terminal List review: Few surprises and too much runtime
The Terminal List's eight-episode runtime is not only tiringly long, but it also manages to reveal the flaws in the show more prominently, almost like displaying it.
The way the series started, with an excellently shot and executed tunnel sequence, would make one think that it is going in a great direction. However, the subsequent plot points and the lack of proper character development make the show dull for the most part.
The Terminal List starts with a failed operation that ended up killing almost all the members of James Reece's (played by Chris Pratt) troops.
Soon after his recovery, James starts to believe that the mission's failure was a setup. He turns out to be right in a very predictable way, and a mission to uncover the truth begins, much like many Hollywood films.
The only difference this time is that the lead character is much less appealing and much more violent, taking away the charm that the broken white ex-army/navy/CIA/FBI character type carries.
The cliche of the storyline isn't the main problem; it's the execution. There have been many super-predictable films in the past that have somehow managed to captivate viewers. However, The Terminal List fails to do even that.
One reason for this could be the lack of conviction in the series. It struggles to fit into the archetypes or create one of its own.
The series lingers on the edge of showing some emotional depth but ultimately fails. It does not try to actively turn James into a killing machine either. This state of being in the middle makes the show lose its edge as well as its purpose.
Pair that up with a plot that is predictable, and there is nothing much to take away from the show except for its visual marvel.
The series is marvelous to look at. The camera work is great, the sound is perfect, and the production quality is top-notch. Sitting in front of a big screen and watching the action on good speakers wouldn't be a complete waste of time, but there are undeniably better things out there.
All the episodes of the series are now streaming on Amazon Prime.
