HBO's "Generation Kill" Caught between Iraq and a Hard Place

Generation Kill, the new HBO miniseries beginning Sunday night at 9 ET, aims to do for the current war in Iraq what the same network's Band of Brothers miniseries did for WWII: dramatize it from the ground up, from grunt level, to approximate the confusion, boredom, bravery, fear, humor, tension, ineptitude, trust, triumph and tragedy of war.

And for the most part, its aim is true.

Generation Kill is based on the Rolling Stone reports and subsequent book by embedded reporter Evan Wright, who is played in the miniseries by the drama's most familiar face, Lee Tergesen of Oz. And it works, in no small part, because it focuses intently on the initial ground assault of what became Operation Iraqi Freedom, and on one unit of the Marines: the U.S. First Reconnaissance Battalion, the first to put boots on the ground in the march to Baghdad.

The drama is produced (and, with Wright, co-written) by David Simon and Ed Burns of The Wire. Fans of that show -- and I'm one of them, big-time -- will recognize and enjoy the familiar grace notes of understatement and unpredictability, and the sensibility that moments of quiet and boredom, as well as conflict and action, can yield lots of dramatic and comic treasure.

And, for sure, there's the familiar, and powerful, major theme running through everything Simon says: That bureaucracies hinder as much as they help, and that even those with the best of intentions can be thwarted by rules, fools and the status quo.

Those themes are hit hard, often and very successfully. Less successful in Generation Kill is a clear delineation of characters, much less character. We follow a small caravan of vehicles, each with its own quirky occupants, across Iraq -- yet after after watching all seven hours, you'd be hard-pressed to pick more than a handful out of a police lineup.

Some performances and characters do sparkle, though, including, from the main vehicle, Tergesen as the reporter, Alexander Skarsgard as team leader "Iceman," and James Ransone as the very verbose driver. Also, the gravelly voiced commander nicknamed "The Godfather," played by Chance Kelly, really stands out, too.

But in the end -- an end that nicely uses a haunting Johnny Cash recording -- Generation Kill is not as visceral or successful as Band of Brothers, though it's an impressive and ambitious enough effort to both watch and applaud.

As for the larger question, whether HBO audiences are ready to embrace a drama about a war already rejected in so many movie and TV retellings, I've already addressed that question in my latest Broadcasting & Cable column, which you can read here.

And finally, as to what HBO is planning next, TV WORTH WATCHING's Diane Werts has filed a tantalizing report from the Television Critics Association press tour, recounting HBO's new shows and plans. Read all about it here.

And hang in there, Diane. I'll be joining you Monday...