Review of Ultimate Force: Series 1

Introduction

Ross Kemp heads an ensemble cast in Ultimate Force, a prime-time action adventure series made for ITV which follows the exploits of a crack SAS troop. Kemp plays Sergeant Henno Garvie, the tough and charismatic leader of Red Troop, who with his men puts his life on the line in the name of his country. The series was co-devised by decorated SAS soldier turned best-selling author Chris Ryan and co-stars Jamie Draven, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Tony Curran, Danny Sapani and Elliot Cowan. Alex Reid, Jamie Bamber and Miles Anderson play officers in the 22nd Regiment, while Chris Ryan is also the series adviser and joins the cast in the role of SAS sergeant Johnny Bell.

Packed with dramatic stunts and spectacular special effects, the six-part series offers a no-holds-barred, exciting look at the Special Air Service - a regiment shrouded in secrecy and mystique. In the 90-minute opening episode, it`s sink or swim when newcomers Jamie Dow and Alex Leonard (Draven and Ramamurthy) face the rigours of the infamous SAS Killing House. The hostage rescue exercise proves all too real when the recruits are called to their first operation - a life or death bank siege. Missions facing Red Troop in the following five one-hour episodes include stopping the release of a lethal anthrax mutation and infiltrating an anti-capitalist group set on assassination. Henno`s reputation is at stake when an operation goes wrong in the complex political jigsaw of Northern Ireland, there`s tragedy on a combat survival weekend - and the team find their skills, stamina and close-knit bond pushed to the limit when they are sent to hunt out a suspected war criminal in Bosnia.

Ultimate Force should appeal to the many fans of Lewis Collins` Who Dares Wins, featuring similar action brought up to date with current weaponry and politics.

Video

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and is of a reasonable standard throughout, although it does suffer from excessive film grain at times, which is surprising given that it is a high-budget series made for television in the last couple of years. There are no compression problems and the image is free from dirt and has reasonable contrast and colour saturation.

The series, as you might expect, features a great deal of action and this is all well filmed in convincing locations and surprisingly violent for a television series - it is well worthy of the 15 certificate at times. The action includes an explosive entry into a bank being held by armed robbers with a Who Dares Wins style running around in the smoke shooting all the enemies sequence, which features some nice head shots and brain splattering along with the requisite explosions etc.



Other episodes include a look at the SAS training, where a rogue soldier goes on a killing spree in the forest, which is action from start to finish, an aborted robbery at a chemical facility and dealing with paramilitaries in Northern Ireland which is quite brutal to say the least.

Audio

The sound is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo, which provides a Dolby Pro-Logic feed providing spot effects etc from the rear channels - given the action and gunfights in this series, a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix would have been much better and given the action sequences even more impact.

Having said that, the Dolby Digital Stereo track is more than adequate and reproduces the sound effects - gunfire and explosions in the main - quite well. The movie also has a suitably cheesy score.

The dialogue is clear and understandable throughout each episode.

Features

The extras are on the second disc and include a 17 minute documentary looking at the second series of Ultimate Force, plus trailers for the first and second series. Also included are interviews with the crew.

The episodes and extras are easily accessible through well presented menus that are easy to navigate.

Conclusion

I wasn`t sure what to expect from Ultimate Force when I sat down to watch this DVD, given that the series had mixed reviews and featured ex-Eastenders "hard man" Ross Kemp whose switch to ITV drama hasn`t been particularly successful.

The series is best described as a combination of Who Dares Wins and The Professionals and borrows a lot from both of these sources - the opening episode for example is reminiscent of the final sequence in Lewis Collin`s movie and many of the episodes are very similar to ones in the Martin Shaw/Lewis Collins series - perhaps Lewis should have been cast as a commander in Ultimate Force! One episode for example sees the SAS on the trail of an assassin, trying to find the rifle and hitman to stop an assassination - an episode of The Professionals has exactly the same plot.

The writers also try very hard to develop the characters as well as hitting the viewer with non-stop action, which works quite well, although Henno (Kemp), is hard-man from start to finish leaving little scope for character based storylines. Jamie (Draven) is the new boy in the squad, and his character is well developed over the episodes, with him taking a key role in most episodes, including a potential romance with the female squad captain. The relationship between Jamie and best-friend Alex is also played on throughout the episodes.

The action is well filmed and quite brutal with plenty of blood and guts, combined with big shoot-outs and lots of explosions - there is plenty here to keep fans of the genre amused - this is most definitely a testosterone filled series that appeals mainly to blokes!

As with most action series, there are good episodes and bad episodes, and I thought that of the six in the first series, the weakest by far was the chemical factory episode which lacked credibility on most fronts. The other episodes were quite good though, particularly the training episode which was thoroughly entertaining.

Overall, I liked Ultimate Force, but then being a fan of Who Dares Wins and The Professionals, the similarities ensured that it had a certain appeal. It may be very cheesy at times, and certainly isn`t original, but there`s plenty of no-brain entertainment and bring on the second series!