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Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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- By date
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There are glimmers of something refreshingly different.
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One of the major strengths of "The Unit" is its ability to tackle the blurry ethical lines and confusing behavioral codes of the military during a time of war.
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It just oozes potential with sharp dialogue and a strong cast.
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A promising cast and respected executive producers conspire to give "The Unit" a shot at being this spring's breakout hit. But the real proof's in the pilot, a thrilling balance between the action of this sharpshooting brotherhood and the schemes of their secretive, slightly overbearing wives.
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After the male action sequences, alas, the feminine interludes tend to be soporific.
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This being Mamet, there's lots of folksy jargon. [10 Mar 2006, p.56]
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"The Unit" is filled with thrilling action and heart-pounding adventure.
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The executive producers of this series are David Mamet and Shawn Ryan, but it has none of the panache of Mamet's plays and movies such as "Glengarry Glen Ross" or "The Spanish Prisoner," and none of the blunt force of Ryan's best-known work, "The Shield" on FX.
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These two extraordinary talents have done an average job with what is a surprisingly unimaginative premise.
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"The Unit"... is predictably Mametian only in that it's interesting, tightly written and finely shot.
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A grim, formulaic drama.
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Halfway through tonight's clunky and cartoonish debut, it dawns on you that we're stuck in the middle of Operation Letdown.
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It's uneven in spots, with the riveting action sequences sometimes overshadowing the more subdued domestic scenes. But unlike the often gratingly shallow "JAG," "The Unit" allows for ambiguity.
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This is news that never quite rises to the level of an event: "David Mamet Came to Television and All We Got Was a Better 'E-Ring.' "
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The Unit hits more false notes than an American Idol tryout.
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"The Unit" features a strong cast - but for much of this show, they're cast adrift.
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Some of Mamet's dialogue is certifiably awful and some certifiably brilliant, and the dichotomy is breathtaking.
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Mamet skillfully balances the men's harrowing missions with their wives' sacrifices on the home front.
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Only an occasional over-spicing of melodrama keeps The Unit from TV's top echelon. Even so, it's the best new dramatic series of a TV season that started way back in September.
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A not-awful but not-great drama.
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Sometimes formula done entertainingly is just what the country wants to eat.
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"The Unit" becomes distinctive only when the action shifts back to the wives left behind on the base.
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Mamet offers a kind of thinking person's war movie for a nation that is, indeed, at war.
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This could all get old really fast, but Taylor's steely performance keeps the home front interesting, while the globe-trotting soldiers bring home the reality of how many troubled spots this small planet still has.
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What you get is a show constricted by radical artistic compromises that it refuses to acknowledge having made. The result is an expulsion of Mamet's distinctive vision into the margins of the series, in which it wanders around like a director who's been fired from a movie yet will not leave the set.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 105 out of 154
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Mixed: 15 out of 154
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Negative: 34 out of 154
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Jan 3, 2012
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Sep 14, 2014
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Jul 20, 2011