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"The Grid" (2004) More at IMDbPro »

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20 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Worth seeing, but not as good as it could have been, 20 July 2004
Author: cableaddict from United States

I'll start by saying that I definitely enjoyed the first episode. The two hours pretty much flew by. I highly recommend this to anyone.

However, there are a few glaring flaws:

With two exceptions, virtually all the main characters are young and beautiful. , they are all supposed to be highly seasoned veterans in extremely high

positions within their respective agencies, Yeah, right.

At least most of them are terrific actors. The one GLARING exception is Julianna Margulies. She was fine in her TV role as a nurse, and I liked her a lot in "Elysian fields." However, she is PAINFULLY miscast in this series. She's so non-believable (not to mention wooden) that everytime she was on-screen I got jolted out of the action with a blaring

reminder that I was watching a tv series. Awful. Maybe she's battling a drug addiction or alcohol, who knows....

OK, but other than the above, the premier episode was terrific. Excellent

cinematography, excellent screenplay, editing, etc. Also, as others have said, the "bad guys" aren't presented as one-dimensional. Rather, both sides of the conflict are presented with equal respect, and that's really something. There's a lot in this series to make you think.

HIGHLY recommended.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Diversity in terrorism, 3 August 2004
Author: emmakhan

This is a pretty good series, and as a South Asian American (with Muslim heritage) I was intrigued by it. The best acting is done by the Brits and the Raza Michaels character.

And to the viewer who said it shows only Muslim terrorists- that is not true. Akil (the young scared Brit) does not practice Islam- his brother Hamid does. Kaz (the American blonde) turns to Islam because he has a bad relationship with his dad. These (youngish) guys have seen the "bad" side of life (jail/racism/poverty, or whatnot). So they look for a solution. Maybe they get into religion. Maybe violence. Or both. There are no easy solutions and all people are not black/white in their ways- and this show opens up about that.

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12 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
The DVD, 3 November 2004
Author: matt hunter (nylind) from Bridgewater State College, MA

This was a powerful series. Well-acted, Well-written. I disagree with people who say Julianna Margulies was out of her element, her character Merrin was just the type of woman you want in the government tough, smart, and strong-willed. Dylan McDermot was good as the Special Agent in-charge of New York's Joint terrorism taskforce. My favorite character was Jemma Redgrave's Emily Tuthill. Jemma was an actress I had never seen before she gave a very powerful performance especially toward the end in her scenes with the actor who played Reza, the CIA analyst turned field agent. Anyone that feels that Emily and Reza's scenes were out of place in a serious drama, I say well love, intimacy, and the beginnings of a strong relationship can be born under stranger circumstances.

In terms of Screen writing the strongest character relationship were the scenes between Maren and under mentor Former Secretary of State Jay Aldrich played by Robert Forester. When Aldrich describes Maren as being cool under pressure and well suited for chaos, the audience gets the feeling that Maren was both highly trained and well suited for her position but, written as well as it was, it also communicates that Maren's skills are both battle worn and still highly effective.

The DVD is reasonably priced at 14.00 dollars or so on two discs, with great extras about film and actor's discussing the mindset needed to work in Counterterrorism, buy this powerful miniseries. I would call this a must for anyone interested in Counterterrorism work for the government. I realize that television dramas like "The Agency" and "The Grid" are fictional and not really how working in Counterterrorism is, but "The Grid" made the journey both mildly realistic and entertaining.

At least it gets one interested in learning about the subject matter from non-fiction sources. To begin I suggest reading "Against All Enemies" by former NSC Manager Richard A. Clarke.

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Engaging, Intelligent, Thoughtful, 20 July 2004
Author: dee.reid from United States

I was at first very skeptical towards "The Grid," a show that offers an insider's view on the United States War on Terror, as this show seemed certain to provoke more outrage and mistrust amongst Americans. The previews certainly made it look that way too. Then last night (July 19, 2004) came and I got a chance to view the show in its entirety, and I must say that it makes for thoughtful entertainment.

Whether you agree with President George W. Bush's politics or not (for the record, I don't support him), I think "The Grid" will do a good job of showing us that the people at the top may always lie to us on a daily basis, but they are trying to stop terrorism, which unfortunately for us, is never going away (a little morbid, you and I may think, but true).

The story for "The Grid," the title referring to the organizations who are involved in fighting or masterminding terrorism, begins in London, where three men attempting a terrorist attack on a nearby hotel fail miserably, when their weapon of choice (Sarin bombs encased in coffee pots) accidentally goes off, and kills everyone that is exposed to it (body count: 19). News of this spreads quickly and eventually it becomes evident to everyone on both sides of the Atlantic that a huge plot is underway by members of a lunatic fringe associated with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist camp.

We are later introduced to members of both sides of the War on Terror, including the aforementioned people at the top, the newly formed extremist camp (including some of its obviously conflicted members), and the struggle between the powers-that-be over information and within the terrorist camp.

"The Grid" was created by Tracey Alexander (who is also the show's executive producer), and has said that it is her way of dealing with the events of 9/11, the terrorists and the powers-that-be in Washington, D.C. and Britain who can't seem to get it together to protect their people.

This show doesn't offer us a one-sided view of the so-called "evildoers" and their associates, some of whom as we're shown, are forced into the fringe because they have no other choice. Some of the men shown, are respectable individuals; one man is a physician, who joins because the hospital where he works cannot afford medicine to treat its patients. We are also shown a devoted Muslim man working for the C.I.A., who faces much mistrust from his fellow workers, especially his own boss.

"The Grid" could also teach us some things about what really goes on. For one, something that I learned from a friend of mine who is from Iran, that the word "jihad" does not mean "holy war," as some of the extremists and American news media have put it; the word in fact, means to strive for a better way of life.

Much of what goes on in "The Grid" will not come as news to anyone who pays close attention to politics. We know that intelligence failures played heavily into the events of 9/11, we know that the powers-that-be in Washington and Great Britain were/are still in the middle of a power struggle, we know at least partially, some of the motivations for the extremists' desires to kill Americans (rid the Middle East of Western culture and influence) and that some of the members of the lunatic fringe are human beings, not soulless monsters as the Administration sometimes makes them out to be.

You may not agree with the politics, you may not agree with the message, but "The Grid" is certainly a show that I think most Americans should see, and make up their own minds about the direction that our country is going in the War on Terror.

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14 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
A lively and exciting start - but it goes downhill fast in the final section, 10 September 2004
Author: gray4 from Somerset, England

An interesting joint venture between BBC, Fox and TNT. The problems of international cooperation between security agencies loom large in the mini-series (shown in three parts by the BBC). But they also seem to have affected the production itself. The first two parts were exciting, despite having to keep tabs on fast-moving events across the globe and track a number of one-dimensional characters.

The final section tried to give some more flesh to these characters - and that's when the problems started. The two 'leads' (at least their names came up before the title) were pathetic, with wooden acting, embarrassing dialogue and trashy sentimentality. Who are Dylan McDermott and Juliana Marguelis and how did they get the leads? They are handicapped even further with silly names - Marin and Max Canary, though not as silly as Tom Skerritt's "Acton Sandman"!

The 'minor' actors, notably Bernard Hill - superb as a grizzled security chief showing Skerritt what real acting is all about - along with Piter Fattouche, who triumphs over the disadvantage of being cast as the "good Moslem" and Jemma Redgrave, who was absolutely brilliant as a troubled British security agent. But the final part had too much of the Americans, presumably to justify the Fox/TNT money, and it fell away sadly. So the high opinion I had of The Grid after Part two was drastically modified by the end of Part three, confirming my belief that I do not want to see IMDb reviews from reviewers who have only seen part of a series.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Writers' overworked imaginations almost ruined a well-made subject., 9 September 2004
Author: Mnk! from London, England

What a pity to write in all that long distance control of on-the-spot special forces operations via voice and monitor. Can you imagine hard-arsed Delta and SAS troopers taking direct orders from pushy females watching monitors from several thousand miles away? Especially females that keep on falling in love with their operatives all over the place? And Julie Margulies was straight out of a Hollywood daytime soap - the bitch-maneater, on top of the job, ruthless, uncompromising... Hair never out of place, cute hats, purposeful big-shoulders walk. Puhlease! And why superimpose dozens of subtitles without giving viewers time enough to actually read them. There's a rule about this and it's based on basic intelligence: subtitles are there to be read - if you don't want to give enough time to read them, then simply refrain from using them at all. Who was the brain behind this? Despite all, The Grid was very well made and deserved something a whole lot better in the acting and directorial department. Shame.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A neocon-Fox-Mamet co-production, 2 December 2006

Author: John Holden from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Bad daytime soap opera with superficial TV actors & actresses, no real plot, no character development, and your typical anti-Muslim perspective. All of the main actors are from TV-land and unable to rise up from that style of acting: heavy looks, long stares, punctilious walks towards the camera, histrionic dialogue. A combo CSI and Days of our Lives.

Dialogue is epigonic Mamet. "I know I'm right, but what if I'm not? Then we better pray". "We made a mistake. No it was my mistake." "I just bet my life on knowing the difference." There are just 4 alternating scenes, in no particular sequence: 1. Teletype-font subtitles appearing one character at a time with a staccato noise: "Situation room, NSA, Special Secret Bunker, Colorado"; "Kevin Farkas, Special Assistant Directing Manager for Counter-counter-terrorism"; "Ultra special really secret strategy session, Langley ...". This takes the place of any actual drama.

2. Dialogue-heavy emotional relationship scenes between two main characters that either explain the plot or an aspect of their relationship. Usually it's a long discussion of a relationship. This shows how human they are while they wait to see where the terrorists will next strike.

3. Meetings at huge conference tables, often with big TV screens in the background.

4. Short bursts of action around some plot point. Most of each scene is filler - the camera follows police through streets & corridors that add nothing to the story but do help to make up the 6-hour running time. Once someone reaches for a camera and is shot; later it's death over a cell phone. Two of the good guys snap and almost kill bad guys. But they later find time to talk about their motivations at great length.

I fell asleep for an hour or so during a conference room scene. I awoke in the middle of another. It hadn't made any sense before I fell asleep. I went back a few scenes and it was just the same thing.

There are 4 types of characters: 1. Young women (and 1-2 guys) who have impossibly risen to places of power in security agencies. They run the teams, make decisions, talk directly to the US president.

2. Haggard older women with scary makeup who run the agencies themselves.

3. Three good Muslims, one of whom manages to defend Muslims by saying "It would be like blaming Christians for the KKK." 4. Hordes of Muslim bad guys.

I suspect that the locus of the movie was "Let's make another anti-Muslim movie but with a twist: we'll have a couple of good Muslims; we'll show that the Saudis prosecute terrorists. But the head bad guy will of course spout a lot of Muslim rhetoric, utilize little kids, and murder randomly." My favorite scene is when the FBI guy explains how a character from Chechnya is actually a Muslim although though he's white - he even explains about the word Caucasian. So, yes, even white guys can be bad. And presumably black guys can be good.

If you watch a lot of TV and you like the neocons, you'll probably enjoy The Grid. And you'll probably remember that white Muslims are as bad as any other kind.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
A nominal overview of 21 century international terrorism, 12 February 2005

Author: George Parker from Orange County, CA USA

"The Grid" (we never really know to what the title refers) is a 6x45 min miniseries action/drama about international terrorism. The bad guys are a rogue terror cell operating out of Yemen, deploying operatives to the UK and the US where they are to attack with sarin nerve gas. The good guys are a joint task force of Brits and US Federal agents who are out to stop the bad guys. The film leapfrogs incessantly from Yemen to London to Washington to Saudi Arabia to Chicago, etc. globe trotting in a surprisingly well orchestrated conglomeration of good vs evil Muslims, interagency wrangling, boyish suicide bombers, covert ops, murder, love, and much more given this US/UK co-op's budgetary constraints. On the upside, "The Grid" gets busy and stays busy sufficient to engross and make some of the obvious histrionics easily overlooked as it provides an acceptable overview of the amorphous nature of terrorist cells and the international agency cooperation required to effectively cope with this 21 century threat. On the downside the film is difficult to follow at times, somewhat disjointed in an effort to be all things to all people, pushes the believability envelope occasionally, and is generally too pat to be real. Overall, "The Grid" is an acceptable miniseries worth a look for those who can commit to a 4.5 hour small screen watch. Those who enjoy this miniseries should also check out "Traffic (2004)". (B-)

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
well acted,tightly woven thriller, 5 October 2006

Author: disdressed12 from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"the grid" is a well written, tightly directed thriller/miniseries.i was hooked from the beginning of the first episode right to the end of the last episode.it was well paced, moving along quickly when it had to, and also slowing down when necessary for dramatic purposes, such as showing the home life of some of the characters,not just their work lives.this really put a human touch to the show and made you feel for the characters and root for them.it also showed them as infallible human beings,lending an air of authenticity to the show.there also dramatic scenes of tenderness between characters, which were well shot,and well acted.as a result rather than drag the film down, these scenes made it all the more riveting.all the actors were great, but i have to single out julianna margulies as the standout.i thought she was brilliant in this mini series showing great range.based on this performance, i would say she is one of the most underrated actors around.anyway,if you get a chance, watch this miniseries.you won't regret it.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
It's 24, except its global, and takes many days, but still works., 19 July 2004
Author: Justin from New York

I have just seen the first episode of the series, and it was compelling and well made.

It reminded me of watching 24, without the high speed tension, and localized setting. This is a global 24 that isn't really hour by hour. But it works well, very well. In fact as you're watching you can sit there and see it working very well. It doesn't just involve the Americans doing everything, which is a nice change. I guess I should organize this a bit better and go into detail about a few of the things I like.

First, I think recent events of the 9/11 commission and their ideas of making a centralized system, as seen in the show. It shows how the CIA and other agencies seem to dislike each other and in fact seems that it is quite like real life. These with recent events make it feel as if you could be watching the news of what could really be happening.

Second, it's nice to be in London, seeing MI5 and MI6, doing their own work, and the relationship between those to agencies, as well as US intelligence.

Third, the acting is quite good for a made for TV movie, and the development of each was well done. It is quite bloody, and has a nice amount of explosions. The camera work is nice and works well.

Fourth, and lastly, the story itself seems to be very well crafted. It fits in so well to today's society that it is quite capable of being a news broadcast rather then fiction.

In the end it is an all around well crafted TV "limited" series, and I will be back next Monday to watch it again! 9/10

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