'24: Redemption’ drags toward a new season

 A couple of killings aside, it takes nearly 45 minutes of TV time for “24: Redemption” to get going, and that’s a problem: “24” is best when it’s relentless, when it’s hurtling along so fast that it glides over plot holes and brushes by bumpy bits of dialogue.

“Redemption” has moments like these, scenes that spark and seem like they’ll ignite this two-hour TV movie. But although its core story is self-contained, “Redemption” keeps getting bogged down when it turns to its secondary mission of being a prequel for “24’s” seventh season, premiering in January.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone unfamiliar with “24” would have reached this second paragraph, but here’s a brief summation. Kiefer Sutherland plays Jack Bauer, a super counterterrorist agent known for breaking rules for the greater good. Jack endures constant emotional torture — his wife was killed at the end of “24’s” first season — as well as frequent physical torture, and he’s done his fair share of torturing others.

The latter element plays into this TV movie, as Jack is now living in the fictional country of Sengala, an African country torn (like too many real African countries) by civil war. As Jack dodges extradition back to the United States, where he’s wanted for his torture crimes, he works with old Special Forces buddy Carl (“The Full Monty’s” Robert Carlyle) who’s running a school for boys.

When a warlord comes to the school, seeking to force the boys to be in his militia, Jack and Carl go into action, with Jack especially getting all Rambo on the warlord’s minions (but not with unadulterated success: It wouldn’t be “24” without Jack undergoing physical torment or without some not-totally expected deaths).

As long as “Redemption” stays with Jack and Carl, it’s a fairly engrossing if traditional action story. But “24” is a series that’s insistent on using too much exposition, and this TV movie is no different as it alternates between Africa and Washington, where the inauguration of President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) is about to take place. It’s clear than Taylor is going to face some difficult tasks, but in case we can’t figure that out, there’s a lengthy discussion between her and outgoing President Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe) to weigh things down.

Also in Washington is some convoluted business involving the new president’s son (“The L Word’s” Eric Lively), a drug-addicted friend of his, and a shady government official (Jon Voight, who seems like he’d twirl his mustache if he had one). Back in Africa, “Ally McBeal’s” Gil Bellows — sporting a receding hairline, oversize black-rimmed glasses and anachronistic sideburns — pops up as a gung-ho bureaucrat who’ll do anything to get Jack back the States.

Because the Washington scenes are designed to set up season seven, they often play like an extended preview reel rather than an organic story, and because a two-hour TV movie can’t do the same job as a 24-episode series, we don’t get much time to get emotionally invested in any of these characters (Jones, who looks like she’ll be playing one of “24’s” better presidents, does the best job of connecting quickly).

Characters we have become invested in — especially Chloe O’Brian, the prickly computer analyst played by Mary Lynn Rajskub — are noticeably absent, as Sutherland is the only “24” regular featured in the movie.

In fact, “Redemption” seems to be holding itself at a distance from the “24” series, even though “24” executive producer Jon Cassar directed the movie and other executive producers co-wrote it. Perhaps this is because the series’ previous season was by far its worst, introducing a drippy office triangle and new characters who didn’t make much sense in the larger context of the series.

But “24” has always been not just an action series, but a series about work and how office staffs sometimes have to put up with dysfunctional personalities in order to get everything to work as well as it should. The things “Redemption” does carry over — torture scenes that are increasingly disturbing when torture is such a real-world crisis, self-conscious dialogue references to the show’s taking place in “real” time — are less vital than “24’s” supporting crew.

The movie is uneven, but the preview disc Fox sent does have a glimmer of hope: It features a trailer for the upcoming season, during which we’ll get to know more about the prequel’s characters. The trailer is edited for maximum intensity and action, and it indicates that “24” will overcome the creative flaws that marred season six. If all of “Redemption” were as exciting as that trailer, it’d be a lot easier to recommend.