Memorable "24" Scenes (Action) - Season 4

As all fans of '24' know, there are many great scenes that make the show memorable and unique but some scenes stand out more than others. From time-to-time I will be posting my observations about some of those outstanding scenes from '24'.

The first is one of the best action scenes from the series.

Season: 4

Hour: 12 pm - 1 pm

Scene: Jack rescues Sec. Heller and Audrey

This scene has everything that is great when it comes to "24" action scenes - shooting, punching, neck breaking, knife play. . . and of course all these moves are executed by Jack.

You can't go wrong with a "24" action scene when Jack taking on all the terrorists by himself. The U.S. Army had a slogan at one time: "Army of One". That is what I think of when I watch is scene: Jack is an Army of one in every sense of the word.

Additional observations:

• The scene starts with the patented Jack Bauer neck breaking of a terrorist. Good way to start a scene like this - Jack taking on the terrorists one-by-one working his way into the compound.


• Jack's slide down the hill with gun drawn - cool move. It probably wouldn't be necesary if it were a real rescue, but it just looked cool!


• The direction by Jon Cassar and the editing were excellent during not only this scene, but the whole episode.


• Erin Driscoll finally realizes there's no use going up against Jack. She relents when Jack says, "I'm not turning back, Erin". She wisely doesn't try to talk him out of what he's about to do.


• Jack finds Audrey before Sec. Heller; he gives her a knife. Nice touch - that knife is going to come in handy later on.


• Liked how Jack and Heller work together from the eye contact between them before Heller flips his chair over so Jack can have a clear path to kill the terrorists to the gunfight outside the compound. It's obvious Heller has a military background as well as Jack.


• The showdown between the terrorist who had the gun to Audrey's head and Jack was great. Good thing Jack gave Audrey that knife. Nice touch with Jack throwing the knife at the terrorist; Jack sure can think fast on his feet!


• The use of real U.S. Marines in this scene was another great addition. The military has worked a great deal with "24" and they do a great job by bringing realism to many of the action scenes.


• One of the great things about "24" is how they can say so much without dialoge. The end of the scene, after Audrey is saved, she hugs her father but looks at Jack. You can see the connection between them and how they would like to be holding each other in that moment but since their relationship was still a secret, they can't. It was subtle, but the look between them said so much without a word of dialogue.

There have been a lot of action scenes in "24" and without question, this was one of the best.