‘Oooh jirre, this is a hectic show!’ my granny would say.
And she would be right, because the Apple TV miniseries Cape Fear, is an exceptional piece of television.
And while the weekly release has only stretched to the third episode thus far, it’s not an instalment release you’d want to miss, ever.
This is the third imagineering of Cape Fear. The first was a 1962 flick and again, a Martin Scorsese-directed thriller. The director also serves as executive producer on the limited series.
But it’s very different to the movies. The show is based on the book The Executioners by John D MacDonald.
Max Cady, a convicted killer who has spent 17 years behind bars, is suddenly released after new evidence overturns his conviction.
Rather than seeking a fresh start, he sets his sights on the people he believes stole his life: lawyers Anna and Tom Bowden. And this is where it gets scary, from the get-go.
Revenge for stealing his life
Just like its predecessors, it starts out feeling like a straightforward revenge thriller. But there’s a lot more to the series.
The ten-episode format allowed creator Nick Antosca to deep dive into the characters and construct the plot vastly differently.
Instead of the victims simply being victims this time around, hints keep dropping that there’s a lot more to the narrative than meets the eye.
The cast is led by Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson, who play Anna and Tom Bowden.
Anna was the defending attorney on Cady’s original murder trial, who convinced him to take a life sentence in a plea deal. Tom was the prosecuting attorney in his trial.
Both characters spend much of the series trying to maintain control as their carefully constructed lives begin to unravel around them, courtesy, it seems at this point in the show, of Cady.
After all, he’s had almost two decades to breed his hatred of the couple.
Watch the trailer
The series begins with the Bowdens experiencing a succession of unsettling incidents, including to their teenage kids.
From a family of skunks that drowned in their pool all the way through to their son Zach being drugged and, seemingly, set up to look as if he had joined some kind of cult.
Daughter Natalie also hits a spot of trouble while at the same time dealing with, it seems, her own sexuality, which will undoubtedly be exploited as the season progresses.
In fact, by the third episode, it’s already becoming evident. And there’s already a shocker with the siblings, as both are seduced, in different ways, by the same femme fatale. A mysterious character up to this point.
Time to develop character nuance
Yet, it is becoming obvious that Cady is dismantling the Bowden’s lives bit by bit.
It’s a psychological game that intensifies at every tick of the clock and every episode.
This, while the programme asks more and more questions about the circumstances surrounding his conviction, the negotiated jail time et al.
In fact, the Friday episodic releases presently leave audiences with a lot of anticipation for an entire week; once all episodes are up, this will be one of the year’s ultimate binges.
Javier Bardem is incredible as Cady. It’s a multi-dimensional performance that strays away from simply portraying the ex-convict as a monster.
There’s unbelievable menace and emotional depth in his performance. At the same time, the symbolic tattoos he sports visually cross-leveraged to suggest bad omens, evil and an almost satanic influence. It’s juxtaposed with his kind nature in a dramatic narrative contrast.
In some cases, Cape Fear feels like a serial killer genre show; in others, a Stephen King adaptation.
Some moments even hint at Nightmare On Elm Street‘s most vicious moments.
And while the performances and writing are exceptional, the camera work does a huge amount of heavy lifting in the show.
Also, listen out for some original Scorsese instalment soundtrack moments.
Cape Fear is absolutely unmissable.
