Rush

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.

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.

It's good and it deserves better.

I don't want to spoil it and talk about what happens. I would like however to mention how Aussie shows manage to capture real life better than American shows - who just lose themselves in unnatural drama. I don't know if that's because Aussie life is more down-to-earth than American life since I haven't been to any of those countries, but somehow I can relate to Rush much more than to any American cop show i've seen lately.

The characters are believable and real. And yeah, some ideas might not be the most original out there, but they don't feel fake while watching, and when watching this show I don't get that odd sensation I sometimes get when watching other shows - that feeling that someone's really trying hard to come up with a good story and it just doesn't get out. The story flows naturally.

Let's hope they don't lose it. I hope they go as long as Water Rats - maybe longer.

Great Aussie series, well acted great story's.just being repeated on uk tv now my third time watching this series. Australia really has some of the best actors and series.

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.