The Grid is a television miniseries that addresses the threat of international terrorism by unfolding a story over six hour long episodes. The miniseries was a joint effort between TNT, BBC, and FOX and it was filmed internationally in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It is most comparable to the hit television series 24 and also at times feels much like Alias. However, The Grid doesn't even get close to reaching a same kind of excitement as either series, but it still gets pretty intense and provides some gripping content.

The story begins in a small London hotel when a group of terrorists accidentally release a deadly agent in their room. Within minutes the inhabitants of the hotel are all dead. After British Intelligence investigates the incident, they uncover substantial evidence that suggests there a potential threat against the subway systems in London and New York City. In a global joint operation, British agencies MI5 and MI6 and American agencies FBI, NSA, and CIA must work together to stop the threat. Of course, as the story unfolds there are a few twists and turns that reveals that things are not exactly what they seem.

Overall, the underlying story of The Grid feels a lot like the second season of 24 when considering the storyline, specifically the manner that events unfold and the way some characters are portrayed and played out. However, the story and characters are not nearly as deep as 24. This is one of the drawbacks of the miniseries. The sheer magnitude of plot twists that 24 has with its story and characters is one of the factors that makes it such a great show. But beginning a miniseries, The Grid can't spend that same amount of time on those things. Instead, we have smaller plot twists and fortunately, the end effect is still quite good. While the story can be slightly predictable at times, they are played out very well and prove to be both intense and gripping.

However, the miniseries is not fantastic. It begins very slowly, and at times is hard to get through. The first episode spends a lot of time developing the characters and their relationships with each other, and it moves very slowly. During this time, there is a bit too much time spent developing non-important facets of the characters. Some of which seem to be pointless later on. After the first episode, the pace starts to pick up and gets really good by the beginning of the third.

Overall, I thought that this was a solid production. The story isn't a hundred percent original and feels a lot like the second season of 24, but it is still quite exciting. If you enjoy suspenseful thrillers with the right touch of drama and action, The Grid is something you'll definitely want to check out. Finally, if you enjoy either 24 or Alias, then you'll love this miniseries.

The DVD

Video:
The video quality for this release is good and it looks substantially better than most TV on DVD releases I've had the chance to review. Its format is given in 1.78:1 widescreen color. While the picture looks fairly sharp, it has a noticeable grain. I noticed no issues with compression artifacts or color distortions.

Audio:
The audio in this release comes as an English 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound track. The sound quality is very good. The majority of the content is dialogue, which is fairly flat. However, sound effects and music are rich and vibrant. As for the surround sound, channel separation is good. There is distinction between left and right channels, but very little between forward and rear. This release also has subtitles in English, Spanish, and French and supports closed captioning.

Extras:
This DVD release comes with a nice set of extras that include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and featurettes. The first extras are audio commentaries with director Mikael Salomon and executive producer Tracey Alexander for episodes "Hour Three" and "Hour Four". The commentaries are nice to sit through, but there isn't anything really special about them. The next extras have actress Julianna Margulies providing very brief scene specific commentaries for episodes "Hour One and Two" (22 scenes) and "Hour Five and Six" (13 scenes). I thought that these were very bland. There are also a total of thirteen deleted scenes. Finally we have three featurettes: "Decoding the Grid", an eight minute making of featurette, "VFX: Secrets of The Grid", three minutes about the series' special effects, and "Racing Against Time", seven minutes about the various production and financial problems the series had. The featurettes weren't that interesting. Some of the information was slightly redundant, as it was addressed in the audio commentaries.

Final Thoughts:
I wouldn't say that The Grid is nearly as intense or gripping as 24 or Alias, but I can say that this mini-series offers a thrilling content. It lacks the depth that 24 or Alias have in its characters and storylines, but it still does a fantastic job hooking viewers with six hour long episodes. If thrilling high paced drama with a touch of action is something you enjoy, you'll definitely want to check out The Grid.