The Grid

This mini-series was one of several referred to in the new Season of MI-5 as one which other customers had bought so I invested in it.As a drama mini-series there is much to commend it, a reasonable plot, some inter-agency skullduggery and backstabbing, an international cast, some great locations and reasonable dialogue as well as a realistic basis for a story. For the enthusiast this moves along at a good pace, there is action and intigue aplenty and just about everyone can relate to it.Alas, I do not feel that it is overall a satisfactory mix. It is certainly a good thing to have an element of grittiness about the show. I think that it is admirable that the British are portrayed as the patsies of America and a people who, for being America's closest allies are somewhat cynical about American intentions. It is a good thing too that bureaucracy is seen as stiffling of initiatives and is often caught wrong-footed but overall there is a pevasive nagging of something more.I am not sure if the issue is really one of just not wringing true. I also feel that there is too much politically correct angles when dealing with what is clearly a complex subject with many levels of meaning and where much is open to debate. The fact that the main villain of the piece is not seen as some sort of idealistic fundamentalist demagogue but as someone who has his own, well-financed agenda, may correspond with modern analysis of terrorists but when we are assailed every day on our teelevision screens with tales of insurrgent attacks, it almost appears that the thorny subject of fundamentalist terrorists does not want to be directly addressed.I also take issue with the timescales involved. Each terrorist atrocity in real life requires months of patient investigation through dead ends and leads that go nowhere. The most sophisticated spying equipment in history still cannot lead us to Osama bin laden and yet we can track down these people within hours. I am not attacking the lack of realism for realism's sake...I am more concerned that we do not inculcate in the general population's mind that these complex problems are quickly solved when this is far from the case.The best aspect of this mini-series is the establishment of credible characters with their complex lives and attachments and the constantly changing aspects of personalities. Much more human and much more able to be understood as three dimensional characters rather than stereoptypical beings where we do not need to understand what is going on.Perhaps the three stars is a little harsh but I think a little more thought going into this show could have brought it into the great category, but nevertheless a good piece of entertainment.

Una coproducción estadounidense y británica que nos lleva de Londres al Medio Oriente como parte de la lucha antiterrorista mundial. Tiene momentos de intensidad y varios actores que pudieron aprovecharse para prolongar su continuidad y mejorar algunos aspectos, pero es una buena opción para "maratonear" un fin de semana.

This movie was incredible. I was so sucked in from the beginning and enjoyed it thouroughly. I was amazed at how it seemd so up to date with todays current global news. It shows both sides of terrorism - the ideas and reasoning behind much of it, and the wrongs and evils of it. Some people are afraid of this film and list it as a anti-Arab propaganda, but this couldn't be further from the truth. This movie portrays many Muslims as very good people who are against terrorism, and try to help fight it. I ordered this movie right away from Amazon as soon as I could because I liked it so much. One of the best and interesting movies I've ever seen. I wish every one could see this. My highest ratings. ******

Firstly i was meaning to buy Traffic - the miniseries, but i confused traffic for the grid. I don't watch any shows like this (24, alias etc), and i had no expectations of it. The first half hour or so starts off slow and admitedbly boring, but when it get into the pace of things it's very interesting. It's clever, and the action is realistic (Far from Jame's bond style). It's veyr exciting and goes for over 4 hours, so that was fun aswell (And can manage to sustain interest for that ammount of time, which is a good sign). And the ending isn't that bad, there just one final bit at the end that suggests a countinue. So the ending isn't actually bad, it's very good. Just there's that extra bit, which they may make a Grid 2. Very good

This was originally on the air on TV as a mini-series, and though it was slow at times, I was swept away with the spy intrigue.For those of you spy/secret agent fans, who like a little real life mixed in, this series is for you.The cast is top notch, the story builds, and the scenes are gritty.A must for spy fans.

The Grid is very well done with an excellent cast covering a timely subject that unfortunately too many Americans have their heads in the sand about! They should see it and wake up!A complementing DVD would be "Dirty War" a Brit film about terrorism in England by BBC/HBO. Dirty War is more gritty and really a stomach churner for anyone who sees it. Highly recommended to see! Do not miss it!Tom

This is awesome. It has been compared to '24' and 'Alias.' Having been an avid fan of Alias, I can attest to the similarities. Love the here and now, government involved story plot.I was searching for shows/movies that Julianna Margulies had been involved with and came across this gem.Love it. Can't say enough about it. Wish they would have kept the story lines going and the shows producing.

This is an entertaining movie for most I would think. We enjoyed it and I recommend it to folks who watch movies.

Made in 2004, a joint BBC and Fox endeavour, one season only with the box set comprising 2 discs with English subtitles for the hearing impaired.Disc 1 has 4 episodes in two segments titled Hour One/Hour two (duration 85 minutes), then Hour Three/Hour Four (duration 84 minutes).Disc 2 has 2 episodes in one segment titled Hour Five/Hour Six (duration 83 minutes).There are bonus features on both discs not viewed by me, and they include episode commentaries, 'making of' featurettes, deleted scenes.Only my modest opinion but this production is rather poor for several reasons, the least of which is my personal taste, and I really enjoy series based on terrorism such as '24' and 'Homeland' .There are many key characters, all introduced by their images suddenly frozen with captions brought up explaining (briefly) who they are. As another reviewer has written this became repetitive and contrary to its purpose, confusing. Like interrupting a football match with captions explaining the key points of a footballer when he is on the ball. I think we could work out which side a character was on from their actions.The action jumped around constantly from location to location (several places in America, the Middle East and London) ---- again captions presented to let us know that we were in NY, the Great Lakes, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Bethnall Green, Hackney and Nigeria too.A star from me for the following 1) Bernard Hill (Yosser from 'Boys From The Blackstuff'), a nicely underplayed performance as the British MI5 agent. 2) Julianna Margulies, as fiesty and attractive as in 'The Good Wife'. 3) At under a fiver this is good value for four hours plus of a tv series which some will find entertaining --- I confess that I liked it when watched several years ago, not so much when watched again recently.My additional negatives are some awful wooden acting from Dylan McDermott and Jemma Redgrave (she looks good but nothing reaches her eyes), while most of the bit-part actors merely play caricatures that are instantly forgettable.The biggest crime of the series, again as I saw it, is the script ---- absolute twaddle for the most part and nobody spoke naturally as you or I might do in given situations. So some of the acting performances may not be as terrible as they came over on screen if the dialogue they were forced to speak was less than sparky.We're in lockdown, it's a thriller series about terrorists and it started well with a chemical attack in London which set up a good story line. It just couldn't keep its momentum in my view and compared to later films and tv series it came over pedantic and bland. However in these awful times it's a watch if you don't expect too much from it.

Julianna Margulies and Jemma Redgrave don't make the grade as the female leads. I disliked Maargulies in the Good Wife, so I knew she would be a problem. She's thick, having a small range of facial expressions. She's feminine yet not. Redgrave is pure femininity and was wonderful in Bramwell. And maybe seeing Bramwell first ruined her for her role in Grid, though I don't think so. She's a Mary Poppins personality. And honestly her suddenly falling in love with a co-worker was unbelievable, unprofessional but very woke. What the story needed Sigourney Weaver or Helen Mirren. Much of the problem here is the inbred nature of today's film industry that prefers celebrities for actors, whether or not they fit the part. The male characters are not engaging. Look fake and seem fake. However, the bad guys look real. The Strike Back series is more engaging with dynamic female characters even if they are all to beautiful. Unfortunately, that show is 1/3 pornography, and at least The Grid spares us that. Watching actors bang one another is boring and disgusting. That is what Internet porn is for. The best part of The Grid is it allows us to visit enchanting locations in the Middle East. The French series The Bureau is superior. The Grid seemed stagy. The Margulies character meets with her mentor who is totally unintriguing. Nothing like Raymond "Red" Reddington in The Blackist. Also the ending is laughable. Do I recommend it? As an act of desperation perhaps if you've seen everything else.

watched this years ago on tv , and for 1 reason it stuck in my mind.its brilliant , very much like 24 in fact that the story is shown from the perspective of loads different characters, from the cop trying to save the day , to the doctor who finds out his brother is a terroist .well worth buying if you love intrigue action and basically a well made , well acted film , well film tv series i think .must buy and deffo worth watching

The film starts by introducing lots of characters with a subtitle of who they are. I initially started trying to remember them all but I gave up as there was far too much detail to remember.I love the heart pounding 24 series, this is not like that at all. It's interesting but a slow steady plod with little action.If you've got the time it's worth watching, if not you might get frustrated with the lack of action.

Loved this show. Good cast in it and a good story. Worth a watching