We’ve seen the story of “Cape Fear” on screen several times by now: in the original 1962 film starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum; in the 1991 remake directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro; and even in the brilliant “Simpsons” parody that pitted Sideshow Bob against a dozen rakes. Now “Cape Fear” is reborn once again as a 10-episode Apple TV series — premiering this Friday; I’ve seen the first three — and it’s a bit of a mixed bag, really. Turning this story into a full-fledged TV series stretches the narrative too thin, leading to some laughable plot complications. Still, it’s enjoyably pulpy with a few clever twists, and Javier Bardem is absolutely masterful as violent ex-con Max Cady; he nearly makes the whole series worth watching all by himself.
The main spine of the original story is intact — Max seeks vengeance against the lawyer he blames for putting him in jail — but there’s a gender flip here, with Amy Adams playing his defense attorney Anna Bowden, who gets to enjoy a Fourth of July barbecue with her husband Tom (Patrick Wilson) and family while Max rots in prison. Max gets released, though, after 17 years when new evidence exonerates him (rather quickly, I might add), and he becomes a true-crime celebrity. But Anna wants nothing to do with him, fearing he’s out for blood, and we learn there are plenty of skeletons tucked away in her closet, too. Is all of this just in her head? Or is Max really planning to exact the ultimate revenge?
The thrills are less thrilling when stretched to 10 hours
Nick Antosca (“The Act”) is the showrunner here, and he lends his “Cape Fear” a lurid, sweaty feel that matches the Scorsese film, with vivid cinematography and deep, saturated colors. This version also does a solid job of conveying Anna’s mounting dread and paranoia, with an ominous score pulled from the Bernard Herrmann original and unsettling close-ups that ratchet up the intensity. (The Bowdens have a malfunctioning home security system that jangles everyone’s nerves every time it mistakenly goes off.) It’s not a subtle show, hitting us with big, clanging metaphors, and it’s not for anyone with a weak stomach, either. It opens on a scene of brutal violence and doesn’t let up much from there, reveling in spattered blood and severed body parts.
This is a 10-hour TV show, though, not a two-hour movie. Antosca has to add plot complications and twists to pad things out — including a fun nod to the Scorsese film — and he does find intriguing new layers to the Max-Anna dynamic that set his version apart. But a story like this depends on gradually building tension, and at this length, the revenge plot gets flabby and loses momentum. Its characters also make dumb decisions that strain credulity just to keep the plot chugging along. (Anna has several opportunities to cut Max out of her life, it seems, but chooses not to.) It’s tough to keep a thriller thrilling for hours on end, and this “Cape Fear” falls short on that front.
Amy Adams is left with not much to do but fret
Adams is a fantastic performer, no doubt — we’re #TeamArrival in this house — but I was disappointed by the way she’s utilized here. As Anna, she’s left with not much to do but fret in a faint, honey-dipped Southern drawl. Bardem is fully worth the price of admission, though, as Max. He doesn’t show up until the end of the premiere, like the shark from “Jaws,” but when he does finally appear, he’s instantly captivating, flashing a devilish grin and mixing charm and menace in the mode of his iconic “No Country for Old Men” villain Anton Chigurh. (The man can even make eating an ice cream cone look threatening.)
Bardem’s Max has a hearty, unsettling laugh that rivals De Niro’s in the Scorsese version, and even when he’s sweet-talking a stranger, we can sense the barely concealed rage pulsating just beneath the surface. It’s a mesmerizing, animalistic performance that taps into everything this “Cape Fear” is trying to be. It’s just a shame that the rest of the series doesn’t rise to his level.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Javier Bardem is incredible as Max Cady, but Apple TV’s new “Cape Fear” is a mixed bag, stretching its plot too thin with ridiculous twists.
