The Cape - Early Review Summary

Here are some early reviews collated by AICN of NBC's new show The Cape, which airs a 2 hr premiere tonight.

The New York Times says:
… operates energetically within the conventions of the superhero story. …

The Los Angeles Times says:
… it is almost wholly a cocktail of things you have seen before. Still, novelty is not the point here, but rather a wallow in old tropes and verities. … Marked by logical elisions, word-balloon dialogue and conveniently located plot holes though it may be, this is a machine for putting its heroes in tight spaces and watching them kick their way free, and it does its work efficiently and with flair.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
… For anyone who's seen a superhero show before, there's nothing new in this latest iteration about a cop-turned-vigilante crime fighter. Move along. …

The San Francsico Chronicle says:
… a promising television program that would have been a lot better if the producers were aware of its ridiculousness. … Viewers looking for layered storytelling and subtle acting should renew their subscriptions to Showtime and HBO …

HitFix says:
… I just wish it was a better show. … all the color in the margins doesn't matter if the man at the center of the picture is a bore, which Lyons unfortunately is. The square-jawed, utterly sincere hero is a hard thing to pull off without seeming stiff - what's it been, 32 years since Christopher Reeve did it in "Superman"? - and without that kind of commanding presence from its hero, "The Cape" winds up seeming sillier than it intended to be. …

TV Squad says:
… It's definitely not reinventing the superhero story for our time -- in fact, the drama borrows so heavily from the usual caped-crusader sources that it may start to feel too familiar, and that could be a problem. But in its first two hours, 'The Cape' presents an origin story with panache, energy and a notable sense of style. …

The Boston Herald says:
… aspires to be “The Dark Knight” but unfurls more like the campy 1960s “Batman” TV series. … There’s certainly enough action to sate viewers, and Lyons is an adequate stand-in for “Knight” star Christian Bale, but the story is nonsensical and the dialogue jarringly arch. …

USA Today says:
… There are many problems with NBC's latest attempt to bring a comic book sensibility to TV, but the primary one is basic: A cape is simply not exciting or convincing as a superhero weapon. And making constant jokes in the dialogue about the flaw isn't the same as fixing it. … another problem: The show's "sensible" answers make no sense. There's no believable explanation offered for his illusion-based disappearance act or his ability to send a man flying via cape-wrap alone. How do you do that without super-strength, or at least a super-lever? If The Cape knows, he's not telling.

Variety says:
… an extremely fun two-hour launch that shrewdly mixes comicbook imagery with the right measure of playful humor. Part "Batman," part "Robocop," the semi-futuristic vision of an ailing metropolis in need of a savior will be tough to sustain on a weekly basis, but the first mission succeeds as an original leap into this genre -- bridging the perilous gap between what works on the printed page vs. live-action. …