By Melanie Mayberry, programming editor
Special Ops: Lioness, a new spy thriller from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, debuted yesterday with two episodes on Paramount+. (A new episode will premiere every Sunday until its season finale on September 3.) The show has an all-star cast including Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman. (Saldana stars as a Marine who must befriend the daughter of a suspected terrorist who’s being tracked by the CIA.)
But is Special Ops: Lioness any good? Rotten Tomatoes, which tracks critical reviews, currently gives the show a score of 50 out of 100, based on 14 reviews. Here’s a sample of the reviews, and a show trailer. Enjoy.
“It looks like an awful lot of other counterterrorism thrillers, with a visceral punch to its action and a ticky-tacky, backlot feel whenever it moves in close on its Middle Eastern settings.” — New York Times.
““Special Ops: Lioness” has all the makings of a crackling good military spy thriller.” — Chicago Sun-Times.
“There’s not much to go on, but nevertheless, the performances are uniformly good. Saldaña is superb as Joe: cool, calculated, self-restrained, with a home life she barely experiences and kids she barely sees.” — London Evening-Standard.
“It is perhaps predictable that the Sheridan take on pop feminism would weaponize women’s liberation in service of the military industrial complex. After all, that rhetorical sleight of hand is as much a cliché as the rest of “Lioness.” — Variety.
“Featuring an all-star cast led by Saldaña, the series serves up that introspective comfort we all crave from the espionage thriller genre balanced with nuanced grit and thorny realism. Yet, despite its high energy and direction, something feels amiss.” — Collider.
“Decent action and tense drama highlight this series which still drips with Taylor Sheridan’s hyper-masculinity despite its female cast.” — Fat Guys at the Movies.
“The message here is clear: you either assimilate into a man’s world or are not worthy of it. For Lioness, anything soft or built from feminine/femme virtues is worthless.” – The Spool.
To read more Rotten Tomatoes reviews of Special Ops: Lioness, click here.
