At just over two hours, Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of Cape Fear was 20 minutes longer than the 1962 original. It also added some moral complexity. Instead of a total psycho (Robert Mitchum) menacing a lawyer’s very nice family, we got a total psycho (Robert De Niro) menacing a lawyer’s slightly messed-up one.
But how do you stretch the story to ten hours? That’s the challenge faced by Apple TV – and, after two episodes, the answer’s already clear: by throwing in any number of subplots, strenuously referencing as many contemporary anxieties as possible and not worrying too much whether some of the characters seem quite stupid in their willingness to ignore the obvious threat.
The thrilling tautness of the films has been sacrificed to the demands of box-set television
This being 2026, the lawyer that the villainous Max Cady (Javier Badem) wants to punish here is a woman. As his defence attorney, Anna Bowden (Amy Adams) advised Max to plead guilty to his wife’s murder so he’d get a reduced sentence. Unfortunately, he was then given life and has only been released now after 17 years because his ex-mistress has confessed to the crime in a suicide note. (As with many of the plot points, the reason the authorities found the note so convincing was left rather vague.)
