SummaryJason Hayes (David Boreanaz) leads a team of Navy SEALs (Max Thieriot, Neil Brown Jr., A.J. Buckley, and Toni Trucks) as they deal with dangerous missions in this military drama written by Ben Cavell.
SummaryJason Hayes (David Boreanaz) leads a team of Navy SEALs (Max Thieriot, Neil Brown Jr., A.J. Buckley, and Toni Trucks) as they deal with dangerous missions in this military drama written by Ben Cavell.
Boreanaz holds the center, a significant task in a series that doesn’t leave a lot of room to write around the shortcomings of individual actors, let alone its lead. He’s great in a series that fulfills its mission to keep us interested and makes us want to see where it's leading.
The tactical precision and comms banter suggest Call of Duty adaptation, which could work with a cast this solid, and Neil Brown Jr is especially fun as a no-bull soldier. But the show's portrayal of modern warfare is too simplistic. [29 Sep, 2017, p.54]
SEAL Team captures all the action, excitement, and adrenaline of the epitomized military/special-operations motion picture, but balances this with very relevant and real depictions of personal issues, struggles with mental health, and societal problems. As someone with 12+ years of martial arts experience and an avid action film critic, this series has some of the most realistic combat choreography out there, and still manages to be gripping for the viewer. SEAL Team satisfies a quench for action without compromising on realism nor relying heavily on plot armour.
The new series SEAL Team typifies the CBS procedural: by-the-numbers, safe and predictable enough to satisfy even the most casual viewer. That’s not to say that the military drama, starring David Boreanaz (late of “Bones”), doesn’t have its plusses. It does, in that meat-and-potatoes, formulaic kind of way that neither surprises or disappoints.
The best moments in this show are when Hayes is prepping for combat with his team. ... Where SEAL Team is weakest is when any scene turns away from fighting enemies to a discussion of fighting enemies.
Just don’t expect much more than Boreanaz’s command presence in Seal Team. You’ll see where it’s going long before it gets there, no matter how far off the missions might be.
Although it boasts more star power and a slightly higher grade of production value than The Brave, it also saddles its characters with the sort of personal travails that are meant to humanize them but generally only function as over-familiar padding.
Excellent show! More realistic than most other military based shows on TV and in the Movies. The cast is easy to relate to as a veteran and mostly believable. This is probably the only show I watch on TV faithfully. Please renew. These guys do a great job. Way better than SIX.
On the surface a predictable back and forth between combat mission action and the domestic lives of the soldiers becomes so much more intriguing as its underlying dark conspiracy sub-plot unfolds throughout the first season.
Though I love these kinds of action dramas, this one is brought to the ground by the wooden acting of its putative star, David Boreanaz. As a director myself, believe me this guy is hopeless. And to say that is for me to insult trees. He is awful: one-dimensional, non-expressive, and barely literate. Where did they find him? His CV on IMDB ain't exactly stellar!
Of the special forces plot based shows out there this is not my first choice. The few action scenes are pretty good, but all of the talking, conflicts between characters and personal angst are over the top and hard to watch. I struggle to keep paying attention during these times, which is the majority of each episode. It’s almost like the writers are pretending to write an action show but at the same time don’t much care for the characters they are working with and make certain we see them as somewhat broken and pathetic people. I’m certain they would say they are trying to show the “human” side of the characters, I think the soap opera-ish side they are trying to show is not accurate and in ways an insult to these heroes. CBS was premature in doing a full season pickup for this show - it wasn’t worth saving, let alone renewing!
Addendum:
While the team is deployed, the action scenes come more often, which helps the show. The plot is still moving at a snail’s pace, which does not help. Still on life support as far as I’m concerned. I see CBS has renewed this show. Guess they didn’t think they had anything better in development. Sad.
I hoped this series would be more than a tired paean to the SEALS, but it is not. Tired, formulaic, and very loud. David Boreanaz is a likeable and talented actor, but this series is a stinker, notwithstanding.