Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Cape Fear’ On Apple TV, Where A Deranged Killer Is Released From Prison And Stalks The Lawyers Who Put Him There

A high-profile remake of a high-profile film will always invite comparisons. The new Apple TV series Cape Fear is “inspired” by the Martin Scorsese-directed 1991 film version.

But there are certainly going to be comparisons between Javier Bardem‘s version of the role made famous first by Robert Mitchum, then by Robert De Niro. CAPE FEAR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? Opening Shot: Photonegative images of a closeup of a man’s eyes, and a family having fun at a July 4 cookout at their house in Savannah. The Gist: The cookout is at the home of the Bowden family: Anna Devereaux Bowden (Amy Adams) is an attorney who co-founded an organization that tries to get wrongly convicted people out of prison.

Tom Bowden (Patrick Wilson) was a prosecutor, but now defends wealthy clients. Their teenage daughter Natalie (Lily Collias) is in the pool, and their teenage son Zack (Joe Anders) is with the family, but generally withdraws to his room to play role-playing video games. The next day, as she’s being interviewed by a local TV station, she hears a rumor that Max Cady (Javier Bardem) might be released from prison. When she was his lawyer 17 years prior, she had him plead guilty in the brutal murders of his wife and unborn son and he ended up getting life in prison.

The Bowdens find out from Noa Toussaint (CCH Pounder), Anna’s partner at the nonprofit, that Cady’s mistress shot herself in the head — twice — and left a suicide note detailing things about the murders only the killer would know, along with leaving the murder weapon covered in blood. What that means for the Bowdens is unclear, but Anna fears the worst. It doesn’t help that Anna, who was pregnant with Natalie at the time of the trial, ended up falling for and marrying Tom, who was the prosecutor on the Cady case. Complicating matters is Zack’s behavior; he ends up walking out of the house the morning of a big fundraiser for the nonprofit.

With his whereabouts on her mind, and the client that she was going to present at the fundraiser having disappeared, Anna gets word that Cady might show up at the gala. Cady indeed makes an appearance, shocking the crowd and speaking eloquently but creepily about the jobs Anna and Tom did during his trial and about being a supposedly wrongly accused person in prison.

But that’s not the last time he’ll run into Anna and her family. It’s not even the last time that night that he’ll be in their presence. What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Created by Nick Antosca, Cape Fear is not only based on the novel The Executioners, but is also based on the two previous film versions: The 1962 film starring Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, and the 1991 version starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, and Jessica Lange.

Martin Scorsese, who directed the 1991 remake, is an EP of this series, along with Steven Spielberg, who was an EP on the 1991 film. Our Take: It seems that the goal of creating a third iteration of Cape Fear, especially in limited series form, is to completely rethink the story.

While a lot of the aesthetic of the Scorsese film is there, especially the foreboding orchestral score, along with callbacks to famous scenes from the film, there are many indications that this is going to be a different entity. Much of that is seen in Bardem’s portrayal of Cady. We remember De Niro’s version of Cady for having a weird Southern accent, cackling at the movie theater, and saying, “Come out, come out, where ever you are,” in the most creepy way possible.

But Bardem’s version isn’t as overtly “crazy” as De Niro’s verson (or Mitchum’s, for that matter); he can’t be over almost 10 hours of story. Sure, he has seething anger towards the Bowdens, and he’s going to be torturing them in some creative ways.

But he’s also going to be charming at times, and even a source of fascination to Anna, as much as she might be scared that he’s a free man. There is also a part of their relationship with each other that we don’t know about, because Cady alludes to a secret between the two of them at the end of the first episode. The degree of nuance to Cady’s menacing is going to be what helps make this version of Cape Fear worth watching. It certainly feels like Cady is going to take advantage of Zack’s emotional distress, but he is also going to stay in the Bowdens’ orbit in other ways that the movies could never contemplate.

All that being said, though, it’s not like this new version doesn’t have its issues. Adams’s supposed Georgia accent comes and goes, and the usually reliable Oscar nominee feels like she’s more of a receptacle for Cady’s anger than anything else. Wilson can’t get seem to get out of the pattern of being cast as the generic husband who comes in to rooms and asking, “What’s going on in here?” Pounder seems to be underutilized.

But those issues don’t take away from what is a fascinating performance by Bardem. Performance Worth Watching: This isn’t the first time Javier Bardem has played a deranged killer, of course; he won an Oscar for playing one in No Country For Old Men.

But his take on Cady shows a different way to play deranged, where he’s fueled by anger and the need for revenge, but knows when to mask all of that in order to worm his way into the Bowdens’ lives. Sex And Skin: Nothing in the first episode. Parting Shot: Anna remembers Cady talking about cutting off “fingers and toes” during his speech at the gala as she gazes on Zack’s injury when he returns home. Sleeper Star: Of course we’re going to cite CCH Pounder here, because we’ve enjoyed her commanding presence in roles going back to ER.

But we also have to cite the first episode’s director, Morten Tyldum, and DP Eben Bolter for making the lush environs of Savannah a major part of the story’s aesthetic. Most Pilot-y Line: When two news analysts discuss how Anna eventually married her opponent in the Cady case, one of the analysts quips, “Love at first plea bargain.” Oof. Our Call: STREAM IT.

Despite some issues with the first episode of Cape Fear, we enjoyed Javier Bardem’s lower-key Max Cady so much that we definitely want to see how he inflicts himself into the lives of Anna Bowden and her family. Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.