Rush

I absolutely loathe most American shows of this broad genre (Bones and CSIs spring to mind) because the characters are often so stereotyped, plastic and generally uninteresting that I want to puke. (Most HBO shows stand excepted.) Aussie shows often get slammed for various reasons I honestly can't fathom - Rush, City Homicide, Wildside and East West 101, to name a few, are all excellent shows. They were/are all populated by real people with personality and flaws galore, so that the viewer readily becomes involved with and can easily empathise (or not) with them. In Rush, the dialog is entertaining and natural, the relationships are complex and believable.

I have taken off one star for the weapons handling as commented on elsewhere by someone who says he knows about these things. However, for me, this is a minor detail because my knowledge of procedures and weapons is superficial and what I see (99% of the time) is plausible enough for me as a general viewer. I am more than happy to suspend belief in those areas - I just want to watch a show with the right mix of drama, action, characterisation and dialog. I LOVE all those aspects of Rush. And needless to say the acting is of the usual extremely high Australian standard - Catherine McClements is a standout in a generally superb lineup of talent.

Rush is a high-energy, dramatic police drama filmed in Melbourne, Australia, that follows the jobs of a tactical response group made up of various individuals. Each episode has self-contained stories while ongoing character development and personal drama for each individual unfolds throughout the series.

It isn't afraid to show that the members of the group are only human and can make bad decisions, with repercussions. By 2010, the writers have appeared to have dropped the various "office relationships" that seemed to plague the show in its early stages, although the two young guys seem to have some awkward moments still.

The overly shaky camera work can be a bit annoying to some, but you can get used to it, however the music is modern, diverse and works well with most scenes. It often draws comparisons to City Homicide, but they are two very different animals.

It often feels like each character is going to have their downfall and you never know when or how it's going to happen, and I think that's what draws me to watch the series.

Try not to think too much about the silliness of the actions or dialogue by some of the "professional police officers" in Rush and you'll be rewarded with some good, if sometimes a little anticipated, action sequences by a good group of television stars.

This show is entertaining because it has some nice action scenes, and very good actors.

But like most of these action cop shows, these are the worst cops ever.

They always break protocol, have sexual relationships with each other even though it's against the rules, get kidnapped, repeatedly drop their guns, let criminals escape, miss obvious clues. Also, they run very slowly when chasing criminals, or at least they appear to run quickly, but they never catch the criminals. They also spend a lot of time yelling, "drop your gun, or I'll shoot," but they never shoot. They just let the criminals get away. And somehow criminals are always able to sneak up behind these cops and whack them on the head. Really poor situational awareness.

I guess screenwriters in every country have to follow the same rules and write the same kinds of scenes over and over again.

Watch to enjoy the actors and the shaky steadycam chase scenes. Try to suspend your disbelief. Insomnia requires shows like this.

We so wanted to watch and like this given some of our favorite actors are in it. However, the camera work is like a first person shooter game. And it's constantly flipping back and forth. It actually makes you nauseous. It reminded me of the chase scenes in the Jason Bourne movies but worse. We watched beyond the pilot (which starts with a 4 min 30 sec chase scene and future episodes were filmed the same way. Too bad.

Rush isn't just a great cop show, it's a great drama as well, with characters who stay true to themselves and each episode outdoing the last. Instead of overloading the viewers with meaningless action, Rush prefers to spend a lot more time on its characters, adding depth to each one of them every episode. Each character is well developed throughout the course of the series and, despite the lack of meaninglessness, the action contained in a single episode rivals any cop show any American television. ANY cop show.

Each line of the perfectly restrained script flows naturally from the characters, never feeling forced and never feeling scripted. The actors themselves help to create this feeling, each of them seeming to know their character inside out and instinctively know how to portray; a welcome change from the soap opera actors which usually back up the lead in todays cop shows.

The writers also seem to realize that drama doesn't only manifest itself in the killing off of characters, creating twisted character arcs with forbidden love, delusions of grandeur, the whole shebang. They also are incredibly inventive, thinking up new and interesting, though never unfeasible, ways to test the team's abilities. And they're far too smart to, 1) always let them win and 2)let them get away with a clean conscience.

The direction is fantastic. It looks like a constant Bourne film, but if that puts you off, don't worry, each and every shot is perfectly chosen for maximum effectiveness and won't impair your view exorbitantly.

And yes, I know what you're thinking, it's an Australian show, they probably constantly introduce themselves with a g'day and throw in phrases like strewth or fair shake of the sauce bottle (what does that even mean??), but Rush (kindly) eschews this cultural stereotype, focusing instead on the actual plot/technical-aspects-in-general of the show (hint to all other Aussie shows out there, get you're acts together!).

If you haven't found this Aussie gem yet, find it, buy it, watch it and then watch it again. I guarantee you'll love it.