BREAK FROM THE ACTION: Ivana Milicevic and Antony Starr star in Cinemax’s new series “Banshee.” (Fred Norris/Cinemax)
One minute in: gratuitous sex. Four minutes in: car chase. Five minutes in: shootout. Five minutes and 40 seconds in: incredible feat of stamina and agility. Seven minutes in: Amish.
Two naked ladies, one strong, don’t-take-no-crap, rogue hunk, guns, several car chases and a murderous, Amish mafioso — all within the first half hour? Talk about a TV can’t-lose formula!
Welcome to Cinemax’s new series, “Banshee,” from among other people, Alan Ball, creator of “True Blood” and “Six Feet Under.”
Cinemax, which is clearly moving away somewhat from its nickname, “Skin-a-max,” has now created three all-action series. There’s the quite successful “Strike Back,” the not-so successful “Hunted,” and the brand new “Banshee,” which premieres Friday night.
Taking a page from “Strike Back,” this new series also stars an insanely hot foreigner who sounds more American than I do.
This time it’s not an Aussie, though, but a New Zealander, Antony Starr, who plays ex-con Lucas Hood. On his first day out of the slammer after 15 years for a jewel heist gone very wrong, Hood gets into all of the above.
If that’s not enough, five minutes after he drives into the Old West-looking town of Banshee, Pa., he gets caught in the middle of a bar robbery gone wrong, which ends up with three dead men. This unfortunate situation causes him to assume the identity of the new never-seen-by-the-townsfolk sheriff.
But all of that happens after he visits his friend Job (Hoon Lee), a transvestite hairdresser/forger/killer. Wow! And I thought I had interesting friends.
The reason Hood the hood travels to Banshee in the first place is to find his old lover/cohort in crime, Carrie Hopewell (Ivana Milicevic), who just happens to now be married to the DA and living a quiet suburban life with two kids, one of whom is a slutty mess and may be Hood’s child.
Into the mix are thrown ex-champ Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison), owner of the local bar, The Forge. There is also a ruthless Ukranian mobster, Rabbit (Ben Cross), out for Hood’s blood, and an even more ruthless former Amish-turned mobster, Kai (Ulrich Thomsen).
And it’s all much better than it sounds, and more importantly, like “Strike Back,” is written better than you’d expect.
If you’re an action fan, this is so right for you. Besides — it’s as much fun as a guy can have when dealing with murderous Amish gangsters and naked ladies.