Criticism of 'Special Operations: Lioness': large-scale terrorism

Sheridan likes the manners of the western, his main characters usually wear cowboy hats, or act like a cowboy, even though the action is set in the present day. He left his mark on the script of the wonderful 'Comanchería' and the two installments of 'Sicario' and signed as the complete author the vigorous 'Wind River', a film that cannot be overly recommended. Behind the camera he also sat in the misunderstood 'Those Who Wish Me Dead', with Angelina Jolie, but his fame has grown thanks to the pull of titles available on demand such as 'Tulsa King', with Sylvester Stallone, 'Mayor of Kingstown' and the prequels to 'Yellowstone' itself: '1883' and '1923', with Harrison Ford leading the large cast of this latest spin-off. A family, owner of the largest ranch in the United States, forms the backbone of this drama with a Wild West aesthetic.

Sheridan is prolific in hitting the key, maintaining some of his obsessions in all his proposals, where violence is sometimes more verbal than physical and virility is shown with its lights and shadows, posing juicy moral dilemmas. 'Special Operations: Lioness', based on a real United States military program, consists of eight intense episodes starring an exceptional team led by Zoe Saldaña, the green face of Gamora in the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' saga. The well-known actress successfully plays the head of a special operations team that supports an infiltrator in a terrorist organization. Her job is not pleasant at all. She has to make thorny decisions that may involve more or less deaths of human beings, including people under her command in the fatality statistics.

Laysla De Oliveira, seen in 'Locke & Key', plays the recruited woman, with a troubled past, who manages to blend in with the enemy to fulfill her mission: ending the life of the leader of an international criminal plot. Nicole Kidman also participates in the plot, with an ice-cold role that comes to mind (anything goes in the fight against ISIS?). Morgan Freeman appears shaved at zero at the climax of the mess.

Female characters and action scenes

The female characters behave like men in Sheridan's fiction, it is very noticeable that she is from Texas. The remarkable action scenes, in accordance with a more than comfortable budget, alternate with everyday images that describe the daily life of a group of agents who have to deal with their personal problems, especially family problems, in a desperate situation, while they keep watch. their prey with technological means that take away the hiccups (the concept of Big Brother fell short a long time ago). The marine whom Saldaña gives life with bad fumes, prepares breakfast for her daughters in the morning and she shoots herself in the afternoon, sitting at the table with her face splattered with blood at dinner time at home. familiar.

This contrast seems the most interesting thing about a series that entertains, with an absorbing espionage story, but is somewhat taciturn in its intention to hit the American way of life and question the system on which it is based. In fact, he questions it at times, delves into the issue, there is some forceful dialogue about it, but in the end the intentions lead to slight blows that do not end up knocking down a house of cards that is barely swaying: the United States. as a policeman of the entire world. Sheridan longs for the American dream of yesteryear, timidly pulls the ears of today's devouring capitalism, but accepts its contradictions.

John Hillcoat, director to be reckoned with, creator of 'The Proposal', 'Lawless' and 'Triple 9', is responsible for making the essential chapters of a series of successful mainstream packaging that was partly filmed in Spain, pretending it's Syria. It starts with a first chapter with a good war sequence and increases as the script twists, some too gratuitous, drive the story. Sheridan uses clichés when it suits him but knows what a gripping thriller requires, with its soap opera flashes and some original passages that elevate the whole. The fact that women are the protagonists in a war story is a bold option that loses strength with some decision-making that may surprise the audience but undermines the initial intentionality. An empowerment with clear gray areas.