Generation Kill (miniseries)

Generation Kill
Genre	War miniseries Drama
Based on	Generation Kill by Evan Wright
Written by	David Simon Ed Burns Evan Wright
Directed by	Susanna White Simon Cellan Jones
Starring	Alexander Skarsgård James Ransone Lee Tergesen Jon Huertas Stark Sands Billy Lush and others
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	7
Production
Producer(s)	Andrea Calderwood
Location(s)	Mozambique Namibia Upington Kragbron
Cinematography	Ivan Strasburg
Editor(s)	Jason Krasucki Oral Norrie Ottey
Running time	470 minutes
Production company(s)	Company Pictures Blown Deadline Productions
Release
Original network	HBO
Original release	July 13 (2008-07-13) – August 24, 2008 (2008-08-24)
External links
Website

Generation Kill is an American seven-part television miniseries produced for HBO that aired from July 13 to August 24, 2008. It is based on the 2004 book of the same name by Evan Wright about his experience as an embedded reporter with the United States Marine Corps' 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and adapted for television by David Simon, Ed Burns and Evan Wright.^[1] The miniseries was directed by Susanna White and Simon Cellan Jones, and produced by Andrea Calderwood. The ensemble cast includes Alexander Skarsgård as Sergeant Brad 'Iceman' Colbert, James Ransone as Corporal Josh Ray Person, and Lee Tergesen as reporter Evan Wright.

Production

The cable channel HBO gave the go-ahead to a seven-part miniseries, based on Evan Wright's book about his experiences as an embedded reporter with the U.S. Marine Corps' 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the Iraq War's first phase. The series is set during the invasion of Iraq, from late March to early April 2003. The mini-series was shot over a six-month shoot from mid-to-late 2007 in South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia.^[2] The primary production value aspired to was authenticity.^[3][4]

Crew

David Simon and Ed Burns co-wrote and executive produced the miniseries alongside Company Pictures' George Faber and Charles Pattinson and HBO's Anne Thomopoulos. Andrea Calderwood was the producer; Nina Noble served as co-executive producer. Author Evan Wright was credited as a consulting producer. A former U.S. Marine, Eric Kocher, served as the production's military advisor, and also starred in the series. Susanna White and Simon Cellan Jones directed the episodes of the series.^[5]

Cast and characters

There are 28 starring cast members with a large supporting cast. The majority of the characters were drawn from the Second Platoon of the First Reconnaissance Battalion's Bravo Company. Lee Tergesen played embedded reporter Evan Wright. Wright was assigned to the lead vehicle of Bravo Company, which he shared with Sergeant Brad 'Iceman' Colbert, played by Alexander Skarsgård, Corporal Josh Ray Person, played by James Ransone and Lance Corporal Harold James Trombley, played by Billy Lush.

Other starring characters, from 2nd platoon include:

The First Reconnaissance Battalion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Stephen 'Godfather' Ferrando, played by Chance Kelly. Benjamin Busch portrays Major Todd Eckloff, the executive officer of the battalion. The battalion's Sergeant Major, John Sixta, is played by Neal Jones.

Alpha company is commanded by Captain Bryan Patterson, played by Michael Kelly.

Bravo Company as a whole falls under the command of Captain Craig 'Encino Man' Schwetje played by Brian Patrick Wade. David Barrera plays Gunnery Sergeant Ray 'Casey Kasem' Griego, Bravo Company's operations chief. Bravo Company's third platoon is commanded by the erratic Captain Dave 'Captain America' McGraw played by Eric Nenninger.

Other starring cast members include Owain Yeoman as Sergeant Eric Kocher, a long-suffering team leader under the command of 'Captain America', J. Salome Martinez Jr. as Corporal Jeffrey 'Dirty Earl' Carazales, Nabil Elouahabi as the battalion translator Meesh, and Robert John Burke as Major General James "Mad Dog" Mattis, who is Ferrando's superior. The real-life Eric Kocher portrays another Marine (Gunnery Sergeant Rich Barrott) who drives Captain Patterson's command Humvee in Alpha.

Episodes

Soundtrack

Although there is no score for the series, it still features a large collection of music. Much of it represents music that was popular among the American populace in late 2002 and early 2003. The newer music (in the show's context) serves to illustrate pop-culture during the time of the invasion. All of the songs are sung a cappella by cast members, with the exception of Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around", and Josh Ray Person's "Re-Up Time".

Critical reception

Generation Kill was nominated for 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning three in 2009 in the miniseries categories. Nominations included Outstanding Miniseries, Outstanding Directing (Susanna White for "Bomb in the Garden"), and Outstanding Writing (David Simon and Ed Burns for "Bomb in the Garden"). It won for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Sound Editing, and Outstanding Sound Mixing.^[6]

The miniseries received very positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, it received a score of 80 out of 100 based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[7] Entertainment Weekly gave the series an "A-" rating, with critic Ken Tucker remarking favorably on its avoidance of cliché, self-consciousness and agenda-driven storytelling; and praising its execution, nuance, and verisimilitude.^[8] Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote that "the seven-part Generation Kill is what you'd hope for from the people behind The Wire: an honest, barely adorned, sometimes painfully vivid representation of life as we live it now. It's journalism converted to art, with both benefiting".^[9] Adam Buckman of the New York Post, however, was not as impressed, describing the series "as dull and throbbing as a severe headache".^[10]

A red carpet screening of Generation Kill was held for U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton in California, where the series was favorably received.^[3]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Generation Kill (TV series)

• Official website
• Generation Kill at the Internet Movie Database
• Generation Kill at TV.com