★★★★★ 0/5

Rescue: Special Ops

With sweeping helicopter shots and stunning aerial cinematography, this series is already marking its turf as a serious contender. We're going to need some real heroes here.

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Rescue SPO4Southern Star already has one action drama in the marketplace in Rush, so it’s somewhat surprising it has opted for a second in the genre with Rescue: Special Ops.

This time it shifts the focus from Melbourne and TEN to Sydney and Nine. From police to paramedics and from Rodger Corser to Les Hill. Dressed around the edges of both there are emergency services, uniforms, sirens, choppers, jeopardy, heroes, high stakes, sex and lesson learning (presumably All Saints waved the white flag when it saw all these sirens coming).

Rescue: Special Ops centres around a team that does it all: abseiling, rock climbing, surf and sea rescue. Although falling officially under the domain of Ambulance, these guys are geared for far more than resuscitation and attending road accidents. They are the elite of Ambulance drivers. As such, they are at the frontline of Sydney’s 000 crises.

The first episode opens with missing teenagers in the Blue Mountains (suddenly 60 Minutes paying for Jamie Neale’s interview takes on a whole new context). With sweeping helicopter shots and stunning aerial cinematography, this series is already marking its turf as a serious contender. This unforgiving vista sets the scene for a monumental search and rescue task -we’re going to need some real heroes here.

At the centre of the plot is Dean Gallagher (Les Hill), the Unit Leader, and Lara Knight (Gigi Edgley) his accomplice. They are on the hunt for the teenagers whilst Michelle Letourneau (Libby Tanner) co-ordinates the rescue from her makeshift 4WD base. She has nervous classmates, worried parents and even media to contend with (60 Minutes perhaps?).

Also on the search are Jordan (Daniel Amalm) and Dean’s brother Chase (Andrew Lees), whilst Vince Marchello (Peter Phelps) co-ordinates a support team from the Sydney rescue base.

Via flashbacks and some loose clues it becomes clear the disappearance of the students conceals a deeper mystery. Another emergency subplot  distracts our heroes while Michelle has her work cut out simply containing the victims from racking up.

Les Hill is terrific as a straight-shooting, alpha-male. He pits Dean as a pragmatic hero, with a no-fuss attitude to safety, rules and true grit. Gigi Edgley is on hand to ensure Lara highlights the cracks in his tough exterior.

Cinematography aside, the highlight of the opening episode is a scene of jeopardy with Dean battling to avert imminent peril. It’s everything we’ve seen before in the genre, but it’s done with such conviction you can’t help but get sucked in.

There are also elements of Cold Case-style storytelling here, with flashbacks and procedural detective-work filling out the background of how such emergencies took hold. It’s a bit of a cliche that gets in the way of the fiercer real-time action.

By episode two, with guest star Damian Walshe-Howling, Rescue broadens out to the personal lives of the central characters. Like many Nine dramas, it can’t help but add a dash of sex and romance and its opening scene is too flippant for the emergency at hand.

But when it hits the accelerator with hearts pounding and the clock ticking, Rescue really hits its mark.

Created by Sarah Smith and Julie McGauran, with its first two episodes directed by Peter Andrikidis, Rescue: Special Ops is a confidently woven piece that shines best in the danger zone.

4_starsRescue: Special Ops premieres 8:30pm Sunday on Nine.

35 Responses

  1. Anybody working in the real emergency services can tell you what a wank this show is. Not even vaguely close guys. I know its supposed to be entertainment but a little reality would help. Shame really. I was looking forward to it.

  2. This is where all the cast and crews family and friends write in and say how good and impressed they were with a show that flopped on every count.

    Channel 9 needs a good slap.

  3. At first viewing I was under impressed, the story was grainy and some acting stilted.

    I guess I was hoping for the Wow factor in th first episode, there certainly wasn’t any and the start & finish times were out by several minutes.

    Anyway, I’ll watch again next week and give it a go.

  4. Episode 1 was excellent. Very impressed. Hope the ratings reflect this and the show sticks around for a while.

    Despite by a resuce show it was good that the action was realistic and not over the top like outside All Saints..

    Les Hill and Gigi Edgley were excellent..

  5. at first, i thought this would be another channel 9 flop, much like the strip and canal road. But nine has put up several promos on their website and it looks quite good. its a bit like rush but more medical, but not “get the adreniline and put it into the flintipuhtimetric tube” sort of medical complexity of all saints. nine might have a winning formula here and i estimate that if nine got 2 million plus from rescue, they could rise to number 1 within a few weeks. Still gotta break through the brick wall with “seven” written on it. But watch out 7, nine might be “still the one” by 2010!

  6. Once again good old WIN here in the west lets viewers down. 8.30pm Sunday – Oceans 13 is on, yet the review in the newspaper for this show says that it will be on Nine and WIN.

  11. Steven Guy and all others who think this is a cop show –

    This is not a Cop Show, it’s about paramedics! Everyone makes keeps calling it a cop show.

  14. I just can’t get excited with anything new on Ch9 as they have been dumping new shows – with old ideas – that don’t rate well every week.

    However I’m a fan of Aussie content so will PVR the first couple of episodes and hope it’s good.

  17. A week ago I was officially on the ‘here we go again’ bandwagon, but the more ads I see with what looks like some pretty spectacular cinematography I have to admit I’m kind of looking forward to this. I can’t tell you how much it hurts me to say those words about a Channel 9 show…

  19. This sounds to me like Rush meets All Saints. It does sound good and i will PVR the first episode as i watch Bones. Actually i will be PVRing all the episodes because of that fact. I think Nine have done the wrong thing launching it on Sunday. Sunday is a tough gig for any new show and i think it may do well on the first outing but after that who knows. CSI has been rating badly there and for that matter Nine has been doing poorly of late on Sundays. Its a wait and see for me.

  20. Sounds like All Saints’ new response unit. Can’t believe i’m going to say this thought, i might watch it. I actually might watch channel nine. Bones is beginning to annoy me, keeps trying to be a comedy instead of a crime solving mystery show, so might give this a go.

  22. you’re kidding me, an australian series and someone isn’t called ‘Mac’ McKenzie/McPherson etc etc.

    this review seems to highlight every cliche in the book. the only thing i’m not aware of yet? who the rebellious maverick “doing things his own way” member of the team will be? whoever’s playing that role, I’m sure it will create some friction with ‘no nonsense’ les by episode 4. and they’ll probably have it out by episode 7, then gigi steps in to ease the tension, cooling the hotheads and making them realise they’re putting lives at risk. at the end of that episode les and gigi will be having a beer sitting on a pier somewhere, les reflecting on his responsibilities and how close he came to letting his anger put others in danger.

  23. Wow, looks indeed like a sight to behold, and when you say ‘Peter Andrikidis’ directed the first two episodes, you can’t go wrong there. It’s a recipe for a good appetite.

  24. This sounds OK… an excellent production house with a strong track record could give Bones a really good shake-up… could prove to be a winner for 9. Hope the others don’t try to scuttle it with other quality Australian shows.

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