TV review
Once upon a time, there was a novel called “The Executioners” by John D. MacDonald; published in 1957, it was a taut, shivery little noir about a lawyer terrorized by the violent rapist he once put behind bars. In 1962, it became a taut, shivery little film noir called “Cape Fear,” despite that (admittedly excellent) place name not appearing in the novel. In 1991, it became a somewhat less taut and more violent Martin Scorsese film also called “Cape Fear,” with a wildly over-the-top performance by Robert De Niro as the criminal Max Cady. And now, just in case MacDonald felt like doing some rolling in his grave, “Cape Fear” has returned yet again, in a 10-episode, approximately nine-hour Apple TV series set in Savannah, Ga., with Amy Adams as lawyer Anna Bowden, Patrick Wilson as her lawyer husband Tom Bowden and Javier Bardem as Max.
Is longer better? Well, based on the eight episodes available for review, it depends how fond you are of overheated Southern Gothic (literally; everyone in this series always seems like they need a good toweling off), and of shows in which every character is either incredibly creepy or unbelievably clueless. The story’s been stretched and changed almost beyond recognition, like a once-firm piece of gum that’s now an endless strand; only the vague outline of the plot, and some gloriously old-school renditions of the ominous Bernard Herrmann and Elmer Bernstein theme music from the two films, remain. Here, Max is a convicted murderer, released because his sentence has been overturned. He is, like his predecessors, bent on vengeance, which is served up in complicated and creative ways.
There are certainly pleasures, if you want to call them that, in this “Cape Fear”: It’s undeniably enjoyable to listen to the great Bardem caressing every word of his dialogue as if it’s a beloved pet snake (and yes, of course some snakes show up, not to mention a severed toe, a gorily pierced strawberry filmed in lurid close-up, and a cigar that I devoutly hope is just a cigar). And it’s weirdly mesmerizing to watch Adams waft endlessly around her incredibly well-appointed yet inexplicably dark mansion like a sad lawyer ghost, and to wonder how on earth Anna’s teen children (Lily Collias, Joe Anders), who have an uncanny knack for terrible decisions, ever managed to survive to the present day. You wonder why this isn’t a Halloween-season release — that is, when you’re not wondering how long the next “Cape Fear” adaptation will be, and how much stretching one little book can bear.
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