I watched Generation Kill on DVD a few months ago, and lucky old terrestrial viewers can catch the whole thing from Wednesday 7th of October on Channel 4. Since it’s on at 11.20pm and each episode is over an hour long, many people will have to record or 4OD it. Whatever you do I urge you not to miss this superlative military mini-series.
Generation Kill is based on a book by Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright who went into Iraq in 2003 with a front line Recon Marine squad. The interviews and articles Wright published were turned into a 7 part mini-series for HBO in 2008 by David Simon and Ed Burns, creators of The Wire. The result is a staggeringly realistic portrayal of modern warfare and the people involved in the combat. The dialogue and characterisation is excellent, with most scenes feeling like verbatim transcriptions of the interviews and opinions Wright was exposed to. The core team of three marines with whom Wright’s character travels are played without fault and there is no music, save for the pop tunes which the Marines sing loudly to themselves. Both horrific and at times hilarious, Generation Kill is perfectly judged at every level and completely addictive.
I won’t go into any more detail to avoid spoiling any aspect of this engrossing and at times difficult to watch series. It suffices to say that Generation Kill surpasses most other shows on TV. It has the production values of a high budget film and the immersive qualities of a long running drama. If you liked The Hurt Locker (which I very much did) then watching Generation Kill will make Bigelow’s film look like Son of Rambo. Watch it. Go and set Sky+ now. And then buy the DVD.
Sadly, Generation Kill highlights once more the discrepancy between the numbers of decent dramatic TV series pumped out by America as opposed to here in the UK. What have we got to rival Generation Kill? Perhaps only Ross Kemp in Ultimate Force. I am all for pay per view TV channels if, like HBO, the pump out top draw TV on such a regular basis. Until then all of our best actors will keep heading to America, away from the barren British televisual landscape, and we will have to rely on imports to get our kicks.
