Heroes Premiere - A Review

I usually wait until I have seen something twice to review it. The "first impressions" adage is not directly applicable to most art, especially film. The first time through, you're really trying to "get into it" - to let the story overwhelm you and transport you into the realm of the plot, characters, and pacing - give over to your suspension of disbelief and go along for the ride. If you're anything like me, you can't help but notice certain things - effective camera-work, use of scoring to heighten tension, quality of acting and blocking and writing - but unless I am watching with a critical eye, I try to let these things go so I can focus on the story. The second time around is when I watch for the technique.

But Heroes was so good that I'm already a bit behind. I didn't do a search because I just got up, but I'm positive the Blogosphere is a-buzzin already, so I'll get right into it:

It starts a little slow, but the cast is obviously large and the premiere was only one hour, so I can definitely tell you that it's worth the wait. The entire show is really just backstory, not just for the characters, but also the plot; it's obvious early-on that the heroes will converge, and that development begins from the very start. Their stories are interesting, even if the show cycles through the characters a little too quickly and often. It was really helped out by Nissan's "limited-interruption" sponsorship, because it cycled so much that I would have probably lost interest after the second commercial - not enough to change the channel, but enough so that I probably would have gotten back online and not given it my full attention.

That the creator is not a big comics fan is obvious in so many ways, and is both the show's strength and biggest weakness in the premiere.

The camerawork is too edgy and TV-centric; it uses the cinema-veritae style far too often. Comics frame their subjects; comics are art. The whole, "This is incredible, this is amazing - do you, THE VIEWER, realize how extraordinary this is?!" thing is way overdone. Yes, the name of the show is Heroes and most of the viewers are probably comic book fans, so we're pretty well-aware of what we're in for, thank you. Get to the effing story! This show is trying far too hard to remain "normal" and "real," as if it's afraid of its own subject matter.

This whole concept was big in the 1980s, mostly due to the X-Men craze (and this show is very close to those storylines, with the Type-A politico who is secretly a "mutant," the secretive organization which is trying to capture/control them - X-Men is even mentioned, specifically!) and Frank Miller's overwhelming popularity. It wasn't just the gritty realism that took hold, but also the whole "I can't believe this is really happening" idea. And there are several reasons a TV show wants to push this angle: to appeal to a broader range of viewers who wouldn't generally be interested in this type of fare; to appeal to more sponsors; and, specifically, to cut down on SFX.

Watch the last few seasons of any SFX-heavy series and you'll see what I mean: the focus is carried away from the FX-heavy plots and storylines and focuses on the characters and relationships. Make-up and wardrobing are stressed over CGI and other FX. Charmed is a perfect example: The last season had barely any FX aside from the "porting" (ala I Dream of Jeannie).

Also much like X-Men, the characters are a bit too diverse -- to the point of being just this side of ludicrous. Of course, that works in a comic book, but a comic book pulls out all the stops. So far, Heroes is just toeing the line and that makes everything harder to take. It was harder for me to believe the storylines which brought these people together than it was for me to believe they had superpowers:

One leaves his professorial job to drive a cab; another teleports to New York because he sees an ad on a subway; another thinks he can fly and takes the cab driven by the first guy to his brother's, only to find out it is his brother who can fly; but he is a nurse who gets asked by a friend to go along to help a drug-addicted, prescient artist... why not just have them all meet in a bar on the outside of town or answer an ad from the village wizard?

Great first episode and since this is just the pilot, it's a little early to say anything, but Heroes needs to either commit to the superhero genre or commit to being a drama with some superpowers thrown in (in the latter case, go on and reserve your space on the Sci-Fi reruns schedule - probably following Dark Angel on Mondays).