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“You look around and wonder if we deserve all this?” asked a woman, standing by the swimming pool of her mansion with her handsome, ripped husband, a fellow lawyer.
“No,” he replies.
Oh me. Oh me. Welcome to the latest installment of John D MacDonald’s taut psychological thriller, first published in 1957 as The Executioners and now in its third adaptation under the title Cape Fear. Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck first sang, in 1962 – the former as the villain Max Cady, nursing a dangerous rage and a desire for revenge, as the lawyer Sam Bowden, for accusing him of rape. Martin Scorsese directed a remake that featured Nick Nolte as Bowden and a very dangerous Robert De Niro as Cady in 1991. He introduced a few more gray areas but the battle remained between good and evil, while Cady wanted to destroy Bowden’s life and family in any way he could think of.
But we have all had a lot of problems since then and here to meet our new challenges and explore any current weaknesses, fears and pressures with Nick Antosca’s 10-part series of the same name. It’s a wild ride. The new stars of Cape Fear Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson as lawyers Anna and Tom Bowden and Javier Bardem having the absolute time of his life as Max Cady. Bardem turns to what will surely be a role; charming, convincing, momentarily even sympathetic and then menacing, in a way that makes De Niro look like Danny DeVito but is somehow neither annoying nor stupid.
Cady was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife after his lawyer Anna advised him to plead guilty in hopes of a lighter sentence. The gambit didn’t work. Later, Anna married Cady’s lawyer – Tom. In the middle of 17 years, Cady has had a lot of time to think about this and their claims that the relationship did not start until the case was over and they are not happy.
He, however, is now free – freed by new evidence that has come to light. Anna is still convinced that she is guilty. Is she sure that he – or is she Tom? – took steps to ensure that he was found guilty. Their secret conversation – which was overheard by their daughter Natalie (Lily Collias), who Anna was pregnant at the time of the trial (which will be, like any other detail, a dangerous part of the horror story woven with unchanging joy by its creator during a time full of fear) – reveals the darkest secrets in the mix that everyone knows.
Meanwhile, the destruction of the Bowdens begins. Softly, at first – a family of skunks drowned in a pond, shots of their cat wandering around looking vulnerable, alarms that shoot out all the time at night – but soon the pins wake up. The Bowdens’ son Danny (Ryan Anthony Holcomb) proves to be as vulnerable as a cat. Anna’s latest helper and her mother are found dead. Natalie becomes close friends and more with a girl she meets at a party whose mother’s fear of tears makes you wonder how many twists and turns this new kind will make… it happens – often before it happens.
The direction is good, and Antosca has been praising and appreciating the help of Scorsese (executive producer, together with Steven Spielberg) in the development and realization of the whole story.
In fact, it’s a team that excels at challenges, taking things to the brink of obsession but never losing sight of the power of jump scares. Dear God, don’t you forget the power of jump scares. The new Cape Fear can also work, seamlessly, on almost every hot button that the modern age has to offer. The plot takes advantage of the opportunities offered by AI, with fishing activities, cultural restrictions, internet rumors, in the development of distrust in all the systems that we think can protect us, the growing distance from reality and what happens when our last doubts – the sanctity and safety of the family – are threatened. If you don’t want your microdosing habit by the third trimester, you’re Max Cady and I’m running away.
