A force to be reckoned with

David Mamet has created a television show and, given that he is a great figure of the American theater and one of the more reliably interesting if not always completely successful artists in American film, this is news. His series, “The Unit,” which begins tonight on CBS, concerns a supersecret rapid response team of globetrotting U.S. Army special forces commandos and the women who love them.

Based on the book “Inside Delta Force” by Eric Haney (a founding member of the supersecret rapid response team on which “The Unit” is based and a technical consultant to the series), and co-produced by Shawn Ryan, creator of “The Shield,” it’s not bad, by any means, and extends the variations on a samurai theme that Mamet played upon in his script for “The Untouchables” and pseudonymous rewrite of “Ronin” and, from the other side of the law, his movie “Heist.” Still, this is news that never quite rises to the level of an event: “David Mamet Came to Television and All We Got Was a Better ‘E-Ring.’ ”

Like a Bond film, “The Unit” begins in media res in Afghanistan, where supersecret rapid response globetrotting U.S. Army special forces commando Jonas Blane (Dennis Haysbert, “24”) has gone to destroy the headquarters of an arms dealer. Once this is done, at the price of one dead mule and an undetermined number of enemies of freedom, we move stateside and to the business of breaking in new supersecret commando Bob Brown (Scott Foley, from “Felicity”). Mrs. Brown (Audrey Marie Anderson) is also being broken in, by Mrs. Blane (Regina Taylor, “I’ll Fly Away”), who has taken charge of all her domestic arrangements. At first it seems they’re trying to Stepford her, but later we will learn that this is all for the good of their families and, by extension, the country.

Bob’s first assignment is to help free a parked-planeload of hostages. “Either you’re going to come back as a hero or as a real good anecdote,” Blane tells him as they fly to the scene. Once there, Blane will breeze through the FBI and National Guard as if they were beaded curtains.

This is, in one variation and another, the stuff of countless action films, and it transpires with semi-cinematic gusto -- it is very loud, anyway. There are lots of tense moments and much explosive activity, all wrapped up in red, white and blue. As is customary with military dramas, we are meant to identify with the “men on the ground.” The higher up the chain of command we go, the farther from the battle, the less helpful people become, until you come to the politicians, who are completely unreliable.

Mamet’s writing is superficially naturalistic, but what gives it its power is its extreme stylization. Consider the philosophical trajectory of this speech, as Mrs. Blane counsels Mrs. Brown, who is trying to leave the base. “Here you are,” Mrs. Blane says. “Pretty little girl, a fine daughter, child on the way. A man in combat. You’re frightened and you want him home. This is not your own special circumstance. You know what this is?” A meaningful pause. “It is the history of the world.”

This is heady, theatrical stuff, and Taylor knows how to work the clipped Mamet rhythms. Indeed, the show is better the flightier it is. Two subsequent episodes available for review, not written by him, suffer somewhat for being more less rarefied.

Also serving are commando Mack Gerhardt (Max Martini) and wife Tiffy (Abby Brammell), who is having an affair with the unit’s commanding officer, Col. Tom Ryan (Robert Patrick, the “Terminator” terminator) -- which is also the history of the world.

Remaining commandos Grey and Williams (Michael Irby and Demore Barnes) have yet to register as characters, probably because they have no domestic component to their lives. Get them some girlfriends, or boyfriends, or at least a pet, that we may learn who they are.

*

‘The Unit’

Where: CBS

When: 9 to 10 tonight

Rating: TV-PG-V (may be unsuitable for young children, with an advisory for violence)