TV Review: TNT’s ‘The Last Ship’

TNT premieres post-apocalyptic series The Last Ship, helmed by blockbuster producer Michael Bay, on Sunday, June 22 at 9 p.m. The drama, based on William Brinkley’s novel of the same name, finds a naval crew searching for a cure after a pandemic wipes out 80% of the population. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.

"So as starts go, this one picks up speed, but still feels a little rocky. That said, there’s enough here to want to hang around for a spell, waiting to see whether this crew can find its sea legs — and what dangers lurk just over the horizon."
—Brian Lowry, Variety

"In TNT's The Last Ship, [Michael] Bay has executive produced a dramatic series that never pretends to be anything more than pure entertainment and that works for the series right from the start."
—Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter

"The crew is large enough to sustain casualties while showcasing all the various personalities necessary to create emotional connection in between all the groovy battle scenes, international showdowns and internal disagreements. All of which allows the commander to exert his leading-man charisma."
—Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times

"What, then, to make of The Last Ship, TNT’s new sci-fi action series that really is like a video game? The series uses the over-the-shoulder, run-and-crouch visuals of games like Gears Of War to solid effect; and even if its storytelling has the feeling of going from point A to point B, without time for sidebars, there’s a pleasing muscularity to it, at its best."
—Todd VanDerWerff, A.V. Club

"It gives nothing away to say that the epidemic is not always the biggest threat, because there are other people still alive and some of them are desperate, determined and heavily armed. Since the series was filmed partly aboard U.S. Navy vessels, aircraft and with other working equipment, when the big guns go off it looks and sounds satisfyingly earthshaking."
—Nancy Dewolf Smith, The Wall Street Journal