Hacker Cinema
Flashpoint
2008 · TV series · 44 min episodes · 5 seasons
Created by Stephanie Morgenstern, Mark Ellis
The Strategic Response Unit (SRU) is an elite team of cops who specialize in high-risk critical incidents. Trained in tactics and psychology, they deal with extreme situations, where split-second decisions could save a life...or cost one.
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I think lots of people here have made excellent points about the UK etc., so I would like to add something else, which is the representation of gun usage in the media. Let's compare a show like Flashpoint with, say, NCIS Los Angeles.
A Canadian series, Flashpoint shows you in its very first episode a SWAT situation (that's what the show is about) in which one team member acts as a sniper and kills a man who is holding somebody hostage. The first thing you see is that, as the sniper emerges from the building he was positioned on, his gun is taken away and he is led away by internal investigation to be interviewed. In the same episode, a proper investigation is launched, all team members are questioned and a judge ultimately has to decide whether the killing was warranted or not. The usual approach in all of the episodes is a gradual escalation from negotiation to non-lethal to lethal methods, highlighting specifically that the least amount of violence possible is always to be preferred.
In NCIS Los Angeles, between the four main investigators, they probably shoot on average one or two people per episode, and nothing ever seems to come of it. Not just do the characters not seem to mind or care, but nobody else seems to be concerned either. If an investigation ever happens, it happens as a plot device or conspiracy, not as a routine investigation of law enforcement conduct or the lawfulness of a police killing.
Of course, all of these events are fictional, but they nevertheless show a very different approach to gun usage as well as general escalation/deescalation strategies employed. Furthermore, they have an impact on how people conceive of law enforcement, setting expectations but also showing examples. Is every show like NCIS Los Angeles? Certainly not, and not every Canadian show is like Flashpoint, either. However, I do think that these shows emblemise very different understandings of law enforcement and what is appropriate conduct as well as what constitutes reasonable violence.
That makes sense. I've seen something similar on the TV show "Flashpoint", mobile microphones/sensors were used to triangulate the position of a sniper iirc. This obviously makes sense, if you have the manpower to react to something like this.
But yeah, it might look cool at first glance, but I don't think its worth its money.
I'm not arguing against you, I'm from the UK and there are some great shows. Skins has been technically excellent since its onset, I even got my wife (Canadian) watching it. Shameless is another example. Even shows like Hollyoaks (if it's still on) are technically great, I actually thought their quality of shooting (the clearness of camera positioning, etc.) was better than shows like 24 were managing and it's a rolling-production with 1 week to film an episode and 3 episodes airing a week.
I'm talking, look at the first episode of Primeval. It was atrocious across the board from acting to directing and 3D graphics; especially for reaching an audience of ~6.8 million. Compare that to the outstanding production qualities of Stargate Universe that only got ~2.3 million in a 5x bigger market.
My example are shows like the Canadian Flashpoint, which despite a decent budget and getting 1 million viewers can just be awful. The stories often have little reasoning behind them (shit literally just happens), the direction can often be gaudy by trying to make grand shots and just utterly failing. It often feels cold, like they're not using close-ups right. I often find this in many British shows too, comedies and traditional dramas not so much, but especially a lot of the police shows can be awful.
Have you watched Flashpoint? It's a HK action film from 07, one of the earlier films to incorporate MMA.
It's still kinda laughable, but people (except for the last fight...) seem to take realistic amounts of damage and bruising. As a wrestler, I cheered when I saw someone actually sprawl (well,try to sprawl) on a shot. And then facepalmed when I saw a double leg to suplex...
I'm sure MMA fighters will do the same. Cheer in some parts, and then facepalm so hard in others. At least the facepalming parts looked really cool. And no flying armbars from what I remember.