Special Ops: Lioness TV review — CIA thriller on Paramount+ fails its mission

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Taylor Sheridan is a busy man. Since emerging as a screenwriter with the terrific Sicario in 2015, the American has penned five more films (directing two) and created seven TV shows (including spin-offs of his popular neo-western saga, Yellowstone). The latest, Special Ops: Lioness, is an eight-part CIA thriller that feels like the work of a busy man. 

From its procedural title to its opening credits montage of guns, drones and American flags and throughout its formulaic, cliché-riddled first episode, the Paramount+ series plays out like a generic composite of every counter-terrorism film and show made in the last 20 years. In fact, an early scene in which drill sergeants are dumbfounded by a female cadet’s ability to do 15 pull-ups could have come from a release from the previous century.

She is Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira), a twenty-something recruit in the marines. Inspired by military rhetoric and hardened by an abuse-filled life — her myriad scars, she explains, are a testament of “how much pain [she] can take” — Cruz becomes a formidable soldier and is soon cherry-picked by the CIA for a mission in the Middle East.

Leading the operation, which hinges on Cruz’s ability to win the trust of the daughter of a suspected terrorist, is Joe (Zoe Saldaña), an agent who is being closely watched herself after a recent debacle. Like Cruz she is a no-nonsense, tough-talking woman, which leads to some dry, earnest dialogue. “You’re not my friend . . . you have to save yourself” are some of the pleasantries exchanged.

Things may improve if the story goes beyond the practicalities of the mission and the characters are afforded a chance to develop. It remains to be seen whether billed stars Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman have more substantial roles to play than lending their big names to the promotional posters. You can’t help but feel Sheridan could have done with a break.

★★☆☆☆

On Paramount+ from July 23 with new episodes airing weekly