The Terminal List Review: Chris Pratt's Book Adaptation Thriller Falls Flat

Available On: Amazon Prime Video
Duration: 8 Episodes/ 45 Minutes
Language: English

Triggers: Violence, Drugs Usage, Death

Plot: The Terminal List based on a book of the same name follows a Navy SEAL James Reece (played by Chris Pratt) as he realised that his entire platoon was killed on a dangerous mission by the American government, under a false claim.

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Review: The Terminal List is filled with twists and turns throughout the show, however, it underplays most of them and overestimates the power of Chris Pratt. Chris plays Navy SEAL James Reece who has many titles, recommendations and awards to his name, one of the other things he is known for is taking care of his platoon. However, when he is working on a mission in Syria, his platoon of 12 men is ambushed resulting in heavy casualties AKA 10 dead.

On returning, he is told by one of his troops was sick and ended up tripping on an explosive trap that led to the death of the platoon. The only other member alive, apart from James in the group came back with the bodies of his friends, but kills himself. However, James refuses to accept the official report of his friend's death and begins to look into it.

On the other hand, James after the incident in Syria, begins experiencing some hallucinations and unexplainable headaches. While he manages to hide the symptoms at first, freaked out by his own paranoia, he reveals it to his family and decides to get checked. Instead of finding out about his condition, he finds out he wasn't paranoid for nothing, James gets attacked at the hospital and is convinced about a conspiracy theory that someone killed his platoon on purpose. He then sets out to find who was behind the ambush and get revenge.

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The plot is a basic American conspiracy theory where anything happens and people assume it's corporate America or the Government, but here it's both. The stale storyline follows a buffy guy with 'I-have-nothing-to-lose' attitude, but what is expected to make it extraordinary is the performance. However, Chris keeps it stiff as a Navy SEAL with single expressions of anger and revenge. We know he is capable of a lot more but the screenplay and the direction restricts him to a bare minimum and it quickly turns boring.

Taylor Kitsch as Reece's military buddy is by far the saddest part of the show, he hardly gets a chance to show his face in daylight. Constance Wu has a lot to offer and she also gets plenty to do as a nosy reporter, her side of the story is more streamlined and believable however, the lack of screen time keeps her behind phone screens and asking a few questions every scene.

Meanwhile, James' side of the story is not only hard to believe but it refuses to connect the dots and forgets the entire real-life-based sub-plots. New characters are introduced halfway that try to make an emotional connection with the audience which was hardly possible with the protagonist. Half of the time the story is seen through James' foggy brain, however, it is not a good excuse to leave loopholes when other characters have their own illogical subplots going.

The makers used masculinity and graphic violence to pull the audience in, however, action remains bloody but not exciting or intense. The mediocre twists can only keep the audience hanging for an episode or two, but not for long.

Overall, The Terminal List could be documented in the bad book adaptations list.