After baring witness to some clever guerrilla marketing, and seeing numerous adds and trailers I finally was able to watch the premier of The Cape. There was a lot of hype regarding The Cape so that could either mean it was going to be fantastic, or the PR was to cover up for a lack of quality. With the first two episodes under my belt, I can say in no uncertain terms, it was a live action Saturday morning cartoon. From someone like me, that’s can be anything from the highest order of compliment to a moderate critique.
Vince Faraday,(David Lyons) is one of the last good cops in Palm City. As the city is besieged by the masked killer Chess the police force is privatized by Ark Corporation. Ark is run by Peter Fleming who is actuality Chess. Vince is framed as the true identity of Chess, and is forced to run for his life. With his good name ruined and the city believing him dead, Faraday is taken in by a circus of bank robbers led by Max Malini. In exchange for helping them rob from Ark, Max teaches Faraday to fight with a specialized cape. Faraday becomes “The Cape” a vigillante from the comics he reads with his son. Joined by the hacker Orwell, The Cape sets his sights on taking down Chess, and reclaiming his life.
Sure there are a lot of logical questions I have? Why is the super villain Chess doing the leg work and not hiring a lackey if he’s that rich and powerful? Why doesn’t The Cape carry a gun? If he’s a former cop, he should know how to use one responsibly. Why didn’t the police look for Faraday’s body? There are plenty of comic book fantasy cliches in the show, but its alright. I’m willing to turn my brain off and go along for the ride. This has the potential to be very fun, or go south quickly. As long a it doesn’t take itself too seriously it should be fun.
Though there are bound to be numerous references to Batman and other comic book avengers, The Cape is almost the opposite. Whereas Batman is the child who’s loss of his family robbed him of his innocence, The Cape is a father robbed of his family who returns to innocence. The Cape chooses to become something a kid would marvel at, not something dark and terrifying. He has the faith of a child that he can set things right. This speaks to my inner child, hence being like a Saturday morning cartoon isn’t a bad thing.
Some high points:
Keith David as Max Malini steals almost every scene he’s in. It’s not hard when he has such a cool voice to begin with. Though I’m may be biased I’ve been a fan of his since Gargoyles. As a circus leader it allows him to be as over dramatic and cheesy as possible. I wonder if down the road, his role as a thief will come into conflict with The Cape. Worst case schenario he could be become an enemy. Best case scenario he could develop into a Robin Hood type stealing the villains and giving to the good guys.
Chess has a great set up to make an impressive arch-villain. Within the course of two episodes his has already taken over the city. Thinking of everything as a massive chess game give him a nice sinister quirk.
The series boasts some nice visuals. Even though they are obviously made on a TV budget they still look cool. The characters are all appropriately flamboyant to homage a comic book series. I particularly liked the villain Scales’ reptile skin, and the costumes of The Cape and Chess.
Some low points:
I’m worried that this show could fall into a freak of the week formula. This was a big problem for Smallville. Cain, the assassin specializing in poison was mediocre at best. He was easily forgettable, and easily defeated. To avoid boring freak of the week, the villains need to develop personality and become something of a rouges gallery.
Though I think Summer Glau is a good actress, Orwell didn’t jump out like some of the other characters. She has to compete with a superhero, a cast of villains, and a group of carnival thieves. She’s filling the obligatory role as a hot chick. That can get boring quickly. She needs more to do as a hacker, and have some major background exposition. All I know about her is she is rich, is good with computers, and runs a blog about corruption in Palm City. My prediction is she will turn out to be linked to Fleming somehow. Maybe she’s his daughter, or sister.
All in all this was a solid start to a promising and fun series.
On a scale of 1 to Epic, (Epic= 10) I’d give it an 8.0