The CW’s new Arrow looks promising to say the least. With a solid cast and plenty of intrigue, this adaptation of DC’s Green Arrow comic series should be a great addition to the sometimes sagging CW line up.
In the past, tv hasn’t always been consistent with how they treat superheroes but The CW seems to take a more serious tone with this adaptation. It works, very well. The creators know how to treat the material so fans will like it and nonfans will enjoy it. The pilot is very fast paced but it teases and tells enough to set the stage for a great tv series. Find out more details after the jump.
Stephen Amett plays Oliver Queen and the pilot shows us an origin story but not. We’re not bogged down in traditional costume reveal scenes and snappy name reveals. As the panelists told us later they wanted to keep it as real as possible. We see Queen stranded on a Chinese island, finally rescued and returned to his billionaire lifestyle. Queen is a playboy who was wasting his life until a shipwreck took his father and his girl. Queen comes back to his old life with a new purpose. With his father having revealed a list of people killing his city, Queen sets out to set his city right. It’s a vigilante story through and through. The subplots are just as juicy. Queen’s sister is hooked on drugs, his mother has remarried and *spoiler* kidnaps her son to find out what he knows of his father’s secrets. His best friend is more than he appears to be and Queen’s bodyguard could turn into something great.
Green Arrow Year One was a big influence on the pilot and the Smallville Green Arrow was not, despite a number of creatives from that show working on this one. The tone of the pilot is pretty dark. People die. The creators are using big and little thing from the DC universe and working them into the story in different ways. The action is shot well. Queen has a mix of parkour, mexican wrestling and good old fashioned face punching added in with his bow work. The panel teased Black Canary, though I’d have to see more to judge if the actress could pull it off. It’s all adding up to something that could really fly. And girls, don’t miss Stephen Amett’s epic work out scene. Sweet Molasses! That was something to behold.
All series stumble through the first couple of episodes but with a good amount of the Smallville team behind this, they know what they’re doing right off the bat. It won’t be perfect for everyone. I’m sure at least one hard core fan will be disappointed but it’s a great start. Stay tuned and set your DVRs for October. Arrow will be one to watch.
