Plot: Set against the backdrop of one of the most consequential military operations in recent history, the series explores the high-stakes exchanges between CIA officer John Nixon and Saddam Hussein. As Nixon seeks answers from the former Iraqi leader in his search for weapons of mass destruction, he is forced to confront the far-reaching consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the ramifications that would reverberate around the world for decades to come.
Review: Of the major geopolitical events of the 21st century, the War on Terror and the Bush Administration’s hunt for weapons of mass destruction rank as one of the most significant. On the heels of September 11th, the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the fallout of no WMDs being discovered remains a touchy subject across the globe. In the twenty years since his execution, the legacy of Saddam Hussein has been largely overshadowed by various wars and tyrants being overthrown, but the dominoes surrounding what happened have never fully disappeared. The new limited series High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam dramatizes the work of one of the key figures in finding the Iraqi leader and the three years that followed. Featuring Joel Kinnaman in the lead role, High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam stretches the complex political elements into an overlong and somewhat bland chronicle that feels like it is less an exploration of the various factions involved while bordering on an almost jingoistic perspective.
Joel Kinnaman plays John Nixon, the CIA agent whose book, Debriefing the President, inspired High Value Target. Nixon is an expert on Iraq and longs to be a field operative but is stuck in an office working on intelligence research. When President George W. Bush announces that the United States will begin operations to capture Saddam Hussein, Nixon sees an opportunity to get directly involved in the apprehension and capture of the Iraqi president. While Nixon’s wife, Rebecca (Rebecca Night), supports him in his career ambitions, John feels indebted to take care of her through her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. John’s father, Charles (Tom Berenger), is an Army veteran of multiple wars and decries the need to overthrow Saddam at any cost while also talking down to John’s desk job rather than being a true soldier like John’s deceased brother. John wants badly to get Saddam to prove himself to his father and to himself, and finally gets his chance, but that is just the beginning of the story.
While there are some solid, intense moments leading to the capture of Saddam Hussein, played by Waleed Zuaiter, as well as the actual Hussein seen in archival footage, High Value Target‘s subtitle is a bit misleading. Yes, the series looks at the hunt for Saddam and dives into his eventual capture, but a significant portion of the series focuses on his incarceration and eventual trial, with John forging something of a bond with the dictator and advocating for him not to be executed. High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam hits you over the head with some pretty bland conference room sequences featuring John arguing with his boss, Angela Jenkins (Talia Balsam), as well as Gabe Vardakas (Christopher McDonald), but the more interesting moments come when Joel Kinnaman and Waleed Zuaiter play Nixon and Hussein face to face. Reminiscent of Rami Malek and Russell Crowe as Douglas Kelley and Hermann Göring in the World War II drama Nuremberg, this series is most interesting when we see the conversations and debates between the protagonist and his adversary, and how their dynamic shifts.
The most interesting parts of High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam are those that involve Samir (Dar Salim), a soldier on the ground and a key member of the squad that brought Hussein in. The series does a good job of keeping historically accurate elements intact, including Saddam Hussein’s execution and the illicit cell phone recording that showed his death. The recreation side of the series reduces its quality, with the execution scene giving me chills as I recalled how eerily similar it was to real footage. Waleed Zuaiter does a great job playing Hussein and humanizing him without excusing his horrific actions. On another note, Paul Ryan’s brief scenes as George W. Bush feel like caricatures rather than providing any nuance about how he reacted when it became clear there were no WMDs.
The opening credits to High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam gave me some clue as to where this series would be going, with odd choices made in crediting it as “A Series By Leslie Greif” while WATCH IT is credited as a co-distributor alongside TNT. WATCH IT is a Middle Eastern platform airing this series before its domestic debut; how both America and surrounding countries are portrayed feels strange at times. Tom Berenger’s character occasionally seems like a satire of Americans, with some dialogue sounding as if it were written in English, translated into another language, then back into English. While it could be easy to blame AI involvement in scripting this series, I attribute it to human writers instead. It may also be unnecessary for this story to have been expanded into an eight-episode limited series; more than half could have been cut without negatively impacting it.
Joel Kinnaman is a solid actor who has done great work throughout his career. He performs well in High Value Target, but by expanding this story into eight episodes, creators Daniel Stiepleman and Jonathan Wakeham—along with writer/director Leslie Greif and producer Tamer Mortada—have taken what could have been an indictment of America’s takedown of an enemy regime and rendered it dull. There’s plenty of anger and arguing throughout this series; however, by its final episode, viewers may find themselves indifferent about where anyone ends up. Perhaps it’s because John Nixon simply isn’t an interesting enough character; ultimately, this series fails to add anything compelling to his story that would justify spending eight hours watching it. High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam is boring, bland, and not worth your viewing time—consider watching W. or Vice instead for a better experience.
High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam premieres on September 13th on TNT.
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