The finalist, Prime Video’s new military thriller, has suffered some decisive defeat.
The show, led by Jurassic World: Dominion star Chris Pratt, premiered July 1 on Prime Video, bolstered by a major marketing campaign featuring a pessimistic Pratt staring into the middle distance.
The station listing is based on the novel of the same name by writer Jack Carr and follows Lt. Pratt James Reese, a US Marine who is left abandoned after his platoon is ambushed while on a covert mission.
Reese is the sole survivor of the mission, and while he tries to gather the truth about what happened, his version of events does not match the one given by the top Navy officers. So, naturally, the beginnings of a murderous plot begin to emerge.
Pratt, who earned $1.4 million per episode from The Terminal List, takes the lead in the cast that also includes the Hustlers’ Constance Wu and Taylor Kitsch on Friday Night Light, and Riley Keough and Jay Courtney of The Suicide Squad.
Antoine Fuqua, director of The Equalizer and Academy Award-winning Training Day, took charge of the first episode, with David DiGilio, who worked on the pirate thriller Crossbones, serving as showrunner.
All eight episodes of the series dropped on July 1, but is it worth watching? Well, if you ask the critics, the answer is no.
What did they say?
The program’s ratings are not completely broken, but they are also not good – the terminal list is currently mathematical 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Opens in a new tab). Interestingly, however, the show’s audience score is much higher, at 92%, so it seems to strike a chord with some.
The general consensus is that the series, which is largely in the mold of a macho, dreary, stoic military thriller (similar to Jack Ryan’s previous Prime Video show), is good, but not as good as it was before it. It’s also, whisper, a bit boring…
goalkeeper Benjamin Lee (Opens in a new tab)It was among its harshest critics, giving Terminal Menu one star and describing the show as “…a low-stakes hour after grilling, a barely-heated piece of red meat that’s too hard to chew”, while Nick Vacer from The Daily Beast (Opens in a new tab) He went just as much, describing the series as “…a dysfunctional right-wing revenge fantasy.”
Joel Keeler from Decider (Opens in a new tab) She asked viewers to skip it, writing that “life right now is pretty bleak as it is; we don’t need that much monotonous darkness in our entertainment either.” Nick Hilton Independent (Opens in a new tab) The show called “…a constant battle of attrition against forgetting what’s going on on Earth,” while The Hollywood Reporter Daniel Feinberg (Opens in a new tab) Summarize his review by calling the terminal menu “…a fat-free, humor-free vehicle.”
Matt Fowler from IGN Movies (Opens in a new tab) It was among the few reviewers who had something good to say, but he criticized the length of the show and the lack of any light among the harsh shade.
Doesn’t it look good for a second season, then?
Not so fast. Like we said, audience reactions to the finalist slate have been fairly good so far, and Carr’s novel series leaves four more novels to adapt – so there’s plenty of raw material.
In addition, Pratt and Prime Video currently have a great working relationship. He made The Tomorrow War for Amazon and is expected to provide a sequel to that giant alien-crushing thriller.
Amazon clearly sees value in military thrillers — it already has Reacher and Jack Ryan, who is expected to get a spin-off, in its repertoire. Terminal Menu fits squarely into this genre, so if the audience watches it, you can bet the player will score more.
Are you looking for another Prime Video program? Here is our roundup of the top 20…
