Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-10-19
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Norwegian, Swedish
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 1036 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Accepting that by the time people get to season seven they tend to know the formula of 24 inside out, the creative minds behind the show respond here by emptying out every cupboard to throw everything they can at you. The core of the show remains the adventures of Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, as he battles to save the world from yet another terrorist threat. With the action taking place in real time, we get 24 episodes set across a single day, and it’s one filled with twists, turns, action and surprise. That much we’re expecting.

Surprise number one in 24 - Season 7 though arrives within 20 minutes of the season starting, as the character of Tony Almeida seemingly returns from the dead. So what’s happened? Has Tony turned? What kind of threat is brewing? Ah, it’s these and many questions that are resolved at the show’s usual breakneck pace.

24 - Season 7 also wisely gets on board a roster of enviable acting talent. Cherry Jones ably takes on the role of President Allison Taylor, while Jon Voight makes a suitably sneery Secretary Of Defense. Add in the likes of Kurtwood Smith, Bob Gunton, Janeane Garofalo and Tony Todd, and it’s an impressive roster who put a straight face on the occasionally silly narrative.

Season 7 does find 24 inevitably lacking some of that original spark, and a few more ideas wouldn’t hurt it. But it’s still a confident season of arguably the best thriller currently on television. And, bluntly, there’s nobody who does all this quite like Jack Bauer, even if the man’s best days may be behind him… --Jon Foster

DVD Description
Jack Bauer returns for another explosive day in 24: Series 7.

Special Features
• 14 Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by the Producer & Co-Executive Producer • UK created featurette – ‘24 in 24’ • 21 ‘Scenemaker’ segments: including behind the scenes footage, production details and more • Featurette - The Fimucitè Festival Presents: The Music Of 24 • Featurette – ‘Hour 19: The Ambush’ • Featurette - 24-7: The Untold Story • 12 Audio Commentaries

Customer Reviews

Ridiculously addictive!
I will start by saying I'm a massive fan, having watched every season of 24. However, after the extended break following the end of Season 6, I found myself a little uncertain as to whether I was interested in the new series. The pre-season episode, Redemption, was good without being brilliant so it would be fair to say I had my doubts about the show. But as each episode of Season 7 ticked over, and mind-blowing subplots emerged, I found myself absolutely hooked again. Some reviewers have criticised the lack of believability in this series. I'm sure there are plenty of holes if you want to look for them, but for me it comes down to the following crucial elements:

1. Entertainment value
Season 7 never lets up from the get-go. It literally leaves you breathless at the end of each hour, yet desperately anxious for the next episode.

2. Acting quality
Every character is played by a strong actor and they deliver consistently. I've never seen or heard of most of the new actors, but they are outstanding in their roles. I won't ruin the story for others but there is only one person I wasn't looking forward to seeing again but they were at least bearable.

3. Emotional response
This is the first series since Season 2 when I have felt such a range of emotions. Rarely do you feel anything other than shock when main characters bite the dust. However, Season 7 has some genuine tear-inducing moments. This is due to the quality of actors and of course the great script. Which leads me to -

4. Script quality
The writers have delivered a quality script for Season 7. There are some brilliant one-liners and some quality exchanges.

All in all, one of the best 24 seasons ever. Arguably as good as Season 2.

Turns out Jack is actually a human and not a terminator
My 4 stars score is a trade off between what the best seasons of 24 can offer and what competitor shows can offer. My latest ranking of 24 seasons, best to worst would be: 1,2,5,3,7,4,6 which means that season seven is neither great nor terrible compared to the shows history. I felt the need to review this critically as this season was still missing some 24 quality control! (Also I hate people ruining whole seasons of 24 for me, just to suit their sudden burst need to feel superior having seen an episode before you, so I've not divulged any specific plot lines or twists here in case you have not yet seen it)

Against the backdrop of the admittedly badly written series 6, this season had much to live up to, especially given how long it had been since the last season due to the writers strike in the US. After watching it, unfortunately I feel they have still missed out the best things about 24 and carried on some of the worst traditions, This is by no means the worst series but while the writers acknowledged that season 6 was poor, this season supports the fact that they just nodded along without understanding why it was poor.

The season starts in its normal fast paced attempt, with the first scene being a heist, events then unfold that reveal a terrorist situation. CTU is no longer running though thanks to its over controversial methods being picked on by senators and the FBI has taken over these sorts of counter terrorism investigations. There is a new president in the white house, who was inaugurated in the 24:Redemption 2 hour episode. Of course Jack Bauer is central to the series, but we definitely get to see a more human side to him unlike his normal terminator style drive, his humanity was touted for season 3 but this season makes a much better show of it.

Season 1 remains the best as it was the only one to capture the essence of being awake for 24 hours and exhaustion and stress it would really bring. Its slower pace allowed some proper character development. This season like the last just completely failed to address this once again, everyone is as awake by the end as they are at the beginning, including all the FBI staff. Not only is this aspect of the 24 hour real time badly handled, but this season gets slammed with the "Instant Travel" method again, where the writers are trying to cram so much into each episode that they make people travel to Washington destinations in a matter of minutes, the first ten minutes of the season are the perfect example of this, with a super difficult computing/engineering task done within 1 to 2 minutes!

The characters are fairly decent in this season, there are many new members of cast due to the introduction of the FBI and new white house administration. There are very few extremely annoying people who are just irritating and aggravating to watch, the presidents daughter being one of them. There's a few old faces from 24 history, which also highlights that this season like the last few have had consecutive story lines that mean you should have watched the previous seasons before approaching this one or you'll miss out on vital story aspects.

Plot wise this season is a mixed bag, some bits are good but having more than 2 or 3 plot sections in my opinion just trivialised the whole atmosphere and made each bit feel immaterial to the overall picture. While this was better in that regard than season 6 (the worst offender of too many plots), it still had a few too many sudden introductions of new plot lines. Yes they are then fast paced and exciting to watch, my adrenal glands were depleted many times by the end of an episode, but the lost sense of realism is really missed. If tonnes of plot lines are unanimously what the viewers want then the only way I see to feasibly do this, while maintaining some sense of realism, is to remove the 24 hour real time idea, but then frankly that's the most unique selling point about 24!

One thing that annoys me about 24 are pointless deaths, they are a cheap way the writers have found to make an episode as impactful as possible, but overuse in previous seasons has almost rendered this tool lame. This season has a couple but certainly not as bad as some previous seasons. Something I did like in this series were the moments of calm. Not every moment was a chase, which I found a relief, and allowed for some real character development, the FBI agent Renee walker gets a full character development arc running alongside the rest of the story, and isn't just confined to the "lead, chase, new lead, chase again" mechanic.

Overall a decent piece of viewing but a shaky step compared to the strongest seasons. It did not learn effectively from its past mistakes, but still managed to come across competently and entertained none the less. Jacks humanity makes a welcome visit, and the moral backdrop of the whole counterterrorism methods debate provides a rich enough texture to supplement the action. Definitely worth a watch, just don't expect this to trump previous seasons.

Jack's back with a bang
First off, I feel I have to express my frustration with those people who refuse to admit that 24 is ever anything less than brilliant, give every season 5 stars on principle, and claim that even at its worst it's still the best thing on TV. Don't get me wrong, I love 24 when it's good (and it usually is), but there are other great shows out there, and at its worst (i.e. season 6) 24 can be a real let-down. For my money, season 1 is still the best, and about as good a season of TV as I've ever seen, seasons 2 and 3 are not quite as good but still great, 4 is a bit tired but still very enjoyable, 5 is probably the best after the first season, and probably the greatest achievement in that it's so exciting even though the 24 'formula' has been around for a while, and then 6 is mostly rubbish.

So on to 7. After the crushing disappointment of season 6, which was the first series that I actually struggled to get through at times, rather than being rapturously glued to the TV, season 7 was make-or-break for me in terms of whether I'd bother sticking with it for any further seasons (though my understanding now is that 8 will be the last), and I'm happy to say it's reaffirmed my love for the show. It may not be as fresh as it once was, but the good news is that that's the only real problem; where season 6 made a lot of mistakes which I think could have been avoided, season 7's only real weakness is that, inevitably after so many years, we've seen it all before.

If it were the 2nd or 3rd season it would probably be 5-star amazing, but this far into its lifespan there's always going to be a certain sense of predictability about it. Someone Jack thought was dead isn't really dead? Check. At least one government agent is working with the terrorists? Check (do federal agencies not vet these people very well before hiring them?). Jack's the only one who really knows what's going on but for some reason he can't tell everyone else and so has to go rogue for a few episodes? Check. However, while it may gain some of its renewed freshness from the 2-year gap since the previous season, and the new setting of Washington DC probably helps too, it somehow manages not to feel quite so "oh all right, here we go again" as season 6 did.

At least one new character certainly plays a big part in making season 7 as fresh and exciting as it is, namely Jack's new sidekick, FBI agent Renee Walker. After some fairly dull characters making up the numbers last time around (Nadia, Doyle), she's a real breath of fresh air for the show, and the character development generated by her sort of apprenticeship under Jack makes for some of the best character work on 24 in years, especially when it comes to the tough decisions she finds herself having to make in terms of whether or not it's acceptable to torture suspects when there are lives on the line, as Jack has done so unhesitatingly in previous seasons. This moral debate actually takes up quite a lot of screentime in season 7, and while it does become a bit too much like a secondary school classroom discussion at times, it's nice to see the show's writers actually acknowledge the dubious morality of the issue for once.

I apologise if I haven't included much plot detail along the way (well, any really), but it's pretty much impossible to go into it without giving things away, and when a show relies on surprise and excitement as much as 24 does, that would be an unforgivable sin. Seeing as hardly anyone is going to be coming to season 7 as a complete stranger to 24, it should be enough to say that if you liked the previous seasons you'll like this one, and if you were disappointed by season 6 then this should remind you why you loved 24 in the first place; the new characters are mostly very good, and mix nicely with the more familiar faces, and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you hooked for all 24 episodes. Let's hope season 8, and the movie if it ever happens, can build on this return to form, and bring things to a close worthy of the 24 legacy.