I am – Hercules!!
It’s a 10-hour series, from the writing team of Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (“Demon Knight,” “Bulletproof Monk”) about a Muslim FBI man named Darwyn infiltrating a Muslim terrorist cell in Los Angeles. It runs Sunday through Wednesday on successive weeks and slams shut with a two-hour Dec. 18 finale.
The reviews are all over the place:
Variety says:
… despite laudable elements series is too uneven to dub this ambitious mission a complete success. … Nor is the series without chilling flourishes, as Farik casually discusses the Rose Bowl, LAX and other potential targets. Aided immeasurably by Paul Haslinger's score, certain sequences early on, in particular, are fraught with real tension. … Like many a cinematic heavy, Farik (who masquerades as a Jew) is ruthless and menacing, but equally seductive and charming. Fehr captures all of that, even saddled with a few too many "Death to America" tirades. … These various plusses, alas, are balanced by a surplus of negatives. Some of the situations, for example, feel forced or hackneyed. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… bold and suspenseful … The premiere is so filled with unexpected turns and surprises that merely trying to describe it without spoiling any of it requires walking a verbal minefield. … a first-rate series that explores the hearts and minds of terrorists even as it presents scene after scene of suspense and action. …
USA Today gives it one and a half (out of four) stars and says:
It's hard to say what's more dispiriting: thinking that terrorists walk among us or watching them stumble along for 10 hours on Showtime. … Created by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (who count among their credits the upcoming cartoon Master P: Kung Fu Panda), Sleeper airs in a miniseries burst: hour-long installments Sunday through Wednesday for two weeks, leading up to a two-hour finale Dec. 18. Odds are your interest in these walking position papers disguised as characters will fade long before then. … Much might be forgiven if the film were frightening, but for the most part, Sleeper is simply puzzling. To be troubled by it, you have to believe that terrorists routinely risk exposure by going off on homicidal tangents and that the FBI is so befuddled it can't foil a plan even when it has an inside agent spilling the details. …
The New York Times says:
"Sleeper Cell" is better than "24." That is almost all that needs to be said about Showtime's new series … Until now, most series about counterterrorism clung to cartoon ideations of can-do agents and fiendishly efficient terrorists - reflecting, perhaps, an almost childlike hunger for American indomitability at a time when news reports are less reassuring. Even Jack Bauer on Fox's "24" has a comic-book supercompetence to match that of his enemies, brilliant terrorist masterminds intent on bringing the United States to its knees. … There are movies with a similar paranoid mystique, including "Arlington Road." The network series that came closest was "Wiseguy," a 1987 show starring Ken Wahl as an undercover agent who befriends a psychotic organized crime boss played by Kevin Spacey. Darwyn's nemesis, Faris, is not as deliciously mad as Mr. Spacey's character, but he has a sinister charisma that draws Darwyn even as it repels him. …
The New York Daily News says:
… "Sleeper Cell" has to be something special. And it is. … Like a case unfolding slowly but surely on "The Wire" or "24," "Sleeper Cell" offers a major, exponentially mushrooming payoff that's as tense and compelling as either of those shows. The miniseries format of "Sleeper Cell" is used to maximum effect, putting even the most central characters at genuine, frightening risk. … Sleeper Cell" really is a sleeper, but don't let it slip by you. Both where it's going, and how it gets there, are TV voyages not to be missed. …
The Kansas City Star says:
“Sleeper Cell” is “Falcone” meets “24.” Or for those of you who don’t remember “Falcone,” it’s “Donnie Brasco” with Islamo-fascists. And in its writing and storylines, it is, alas, all too reminiscent of other American TV shows — which is a problem when you’re charging $10 a month like Showtime is. … The one thing “Sleeper Cell” does commendably is to suggest that there is a struggle going on for the soul of Islam, and that al-Qaida does not have the only say in the matter. But that message is swamped by predictable thriller filler and cheap production values. …
The Boston Herald says:
If terrorists were this stupid, the world would be a safer place. … Strip away the occasional Arabic and anti-American sentiment and you end up with a dreary “Sopranos” story told from the point of view of the covert agent trying to bring down the mob. … twists are no more shocking than an hour of “Without a Trace.” … The thinking must be that if you can drown viewers with this material in a short span, they won’t realize until it’s too late how much it reeks. … Let me put it another way: If you watch “Sleeper Cell,” the terrorists win.
10 p.m. Sunday. Showtime.
