After 18 months at Screen Rant, Guy became Classic TV Editor in September 2026, and specializes in leading features content about shows from decades gone by. Having written for and editing several TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include comedy and satire, animation, crime drama, Westerns, and political thrillers.
Billed as a military and political thriller, it never makes the most of its extraordinarily high-stakes subject matter. There are hard-hitting action sequences and moments of heightened personal conflict, yet they all feel somewhat perfunctory. For this reason, High Value Target doesn’t quite measure up to lead actor High Value Target’s Shrewd Political Analysis Is A Little On-The-Nose
The show’s protagonist-narrator starts off as an avowed supporter of the war, who’s particularly interested in the “weapons of mass destruction” that the Iraqi president has supposedly stockpiled. Of course, the events in which he subsequently plays a major part then have a profound impact on how he views these things.
Although it paces the evolution of Nixon’s perspective well, High Value Target tends to deliver its conclusions a little too bluntly, preferring to tell us what to think – either through in-scene character monologues or overdubbed narration – than show us through the events of the drama itself. As a result, the personal stories at its heart often come across as superfluous.
John Nixon has a demanding, hawkish military veteran for a father, a devoted wife struggling with chronic illness, and seems completely ill-prepared to handle the brutal realities of a deadly warzone. Meanwhile, Dar Salim’s Samir, Nixon’s colleague in Iraq, has a traumatic family history for which he holds Saddam Hussein personally responsible.
Yet, all these intriguing subplots fall relatively flat as the series develops, as High Value Target never quite manages to integrate them into the overarching aims of its story. It frequently resorts to outright exposition when drawing links between different plot elements and characters, as in one scene which compares Saddam Hussein’s daddy issues to those of George W. Bush.
If only High Value Target’s distinctive take on the downfall of Saddam Hussein focused more on its compelling story, and less on the lessons to be gleaned from it.
This politically-charged war drama goes above and beyond its thematic brief, even if it doesn’t deliver the thrills to match its piercing analysis.
Waleed Zuaiter gives a commanding performance as Saddam Hussein himself, but we’re left with the feeling that he and Kinnaman could have been allowed to go deeper with their exchanges. Similarly, a diverting subplot involving Lena Góra’s Polly Stevens never ventures beneath the surface, and ends up feeling out of place in the story.
Still, no one in the ensemble cast of High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam puts a foot wrong, and Tom Berenger steals several scenes as John Nixon’s overbearing father. Despite its flaws, this politically-charged war drama goes above and beyond its thematic brief, even if it doesn’t deliver the requisite thrills to match its piercing analysis.
- Release Date
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September 13, 2026
- Network
- Directors
TNT
Krzysztof Skonieczny
Cast
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John Nixon
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Lena GóraPolly Stevens