Apple TV+’s ‘Cape Fear’ Takes the Premise to a Whole New Level of Violence [Review]
Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear wears the label of an iconic crime thriller with a legendary performance by Robert De Niro. So, too, does the original 1962 film starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Those are mighty shoes to fill…as mighty as the fury that villain Max Cady swings down on the main characters like Thor’s hammer. If the first two episodes are anything to go by, Nick Antosca’s new Cape Fear series for Apple TV+ delivers a tense take that traffics a little too closely in imitation but still manages plenty of fresh thrills and a new level of violence.
Outside of a few gender swaps, the basic plot points remain the same. This time, conman Max Cady’s (Javier Bardem) ire is directed at the lawyer who defended him in his case, Anna Bowden (Amy Adams). When he’s unexpectedly released from prison, Cady shows back up in Anna’s life, much to her horror. She has spent years trying to find justice for wrongly accused inmates. Now, here’s Cady, out on new evidence that suggests he’s innocent. Anna’s husband, Tom (Patrick Wilson), wants them to move on with their lives, but she can’t. Not with Cady seemingly lurking around every corner. Not with the fear she feels for her children, Natalie (Lily Collias) and Danny (Ryan Anthony Holcomb). Danger has arrived for the Bowdens, and with it, secrets and rage that threaten to tear them apart, piece by piece.
Right off the bat, Antosca’s Cape Fear signals that it’s here to unleash a whole new level of violence from what we’ve seen in previous iterations. The opening scene features a gruesome suicide that leaves a wall splattered in blood, the title appearing amongst the sea of red. That’s just a taste of what’s to come, as the first two episodes leave a trail of bloodshed along the way. Both films have their fair share of violence, of course, especially Scorsese’s version, but not like this. Whereas those films intended to make you uneasy before unleashing hell in the finale, this “Cape Fear” wants to shock you any chance it gets. Not that that should come as a surprise. Antosca has never shied away from explicit gore, and I don’t expect that to change with a property centered around furious revenge.
When it comes to Cape Fear, who walks in the shoes of Cady can make or break the project. Again, we’re talking about a role taken on by masters of their craft in De Niro and Mitchum. Luckily, Antosca’s series found the man for the job in Javier Bardem. No stranger to psychotic roles since making a killing (heh) as Anton in No Country for Old Men, Bardem slices into the role with an unsettling magnetism. Whereas De Niro’s Cady oozed excess, Bardem takes a quieter approach. He’s more of a silent serpent to De Niro’s raging bull, with piercing eyes that threaten the fires of hell, just barely hidden beneath a soft charm. As good as Bardem is, though, his version feels reductive rather than new, riddled with ex-con psycho killer cliches that I can’t get into here due to spoilers. He’s more or less your average crime thriller villain, without carrying the force-of-nature presence that other versions have had.
The rest of the all-star cast do well in their roles, though they speak to a problem I have with Antosca’s Cape Fear. While Adams recognizes the Southern Gothic origins of the story and puts on her best Southern drawl, no one else attempts so much as a twang to their voices. That might be forgivable if the series’s sense of place didn’t come off so empty. The world doesn’t feel all that lived in. If you didn’t know where the others took place, you’d have little sense of where we are. That’s in stark contrast to previous versions that get us so deep into the south that they make your skin feel sticky with sweat. Not the case here, which speaks to a larger issue with most (not all) TV shows in general these days that feel too clean, too polished, too perfect, to ever truly feel natural.
Where Antosca’s Cape Fear makes a big change with the source material comes in the guise of Cady’s history. I won’t spoil what his crime is this time around, but it’s not a rape. Though we can pretty much assume he did it, there’s a greater sense of mystery as to whether or not he’s innocent (though quite far from an angel). That allows for a much less murky message on the injustices of the justice system, with a character that we can, at least for now, understand the rage of. Perfect timing, too, when we’ve witnessed countless cases of innocent people detained and thrown in jail without any due process. Keeping my fingers crossed that Antosca makes a bold statement on it all as Cape Fear progresses.
I believe he will, too. Because with all sorts of sinister secrets floating around, there’s a deeper sense of darkness to Antosca’s version. To the degree where I feel a sort of Old Boy-style vengeance coming on. Not in the same manner, but in the sense that the Bowden family is going to find themselves broken beyond repair by the time the final episode rolls around. Whether or not they deserve it, we’ll have to wait and see.
All in all, Cape Fear is an admirable adaptation. And it should be. The source material is impeccable. I just wish it had tried harder to pave its own way than imitate Scorsese’s unique style. This wants to look like Scorsese’s Cape Fear. It wants to sound like Scorsese’s Cape Fear. In its best moments, it even feels like Scorsese’s Cape Fear. But it isn’t. It can’t be. It shouldn’t be. You can’t just slap on the same score and apply film negatives and call it a day. Scorsese’s an executive producer, I get it. That doesn’t mean I have to like the chosen route. Because, despite the changes, “Cape Fear” struggles to get out from under the shadow of its predecessor due to stylistic choices that fail to recreate the tone of the 90s movie, no matter how hard it tries.
Does that mean it won’t? Or can’t? Of course not. We’re only talking about the first two episodes of a ten-episode series here. Plenty of time to set course for a whole new and unexpected Cape Fear. So far, though, I’m not sure the series is going to lift the anchor all that far out of the 90s. But I can’t say I’m not enjoying the ride, even if the calm tide of familiarity is a little too familiar.
Cape Fear premieres on Apple TV+ on June 5th.
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Cape Fear
Summary
Though Nick Antosca’s can come off as imitative in borrowing heavily from the style of Scorcese’s film, the first two episodes present a tense thriller that seems intent on taking the premise to a whole new level of violence and rage.
Categorized:Reviews Streaming / Home Video