Jack King here reporting live from the GQ culture front, once again filling in for Ben.
There's a particularly nasty scene in Apple's new psychological bloodbath Cape Fear. Opening the second episode, it's a flashback to vengeful stalker Max Cady's time in prison, having caught 17 years for allegedly killing his wife. Cady (Javier Bardem) hangs upside down from a bar above a sparse gym floor, performing midair crunches like a roided-out bat. His knotty hair dangles from his scalp. His biceps explode from his sleeveless prison jumpsuit. (Sidenote: Bardem, now 57, is seriously stacked in this.) The other similarly yoked convicts go about their own workouts, pumping iron and hitting the bench. You can practically smell the macho musk through the screen. That it's shot in black and white gives it a brutal edge, like everything is coated in concrete.
Cady is gradually surrounded by a trio of meatheads with rage in their eyes. They're the kind of dudes you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, or, well, anywhere. The gym floor clears. They kick Cady to the ground, plimsolls slamming into his ribs with sickening thuds, bones crackling like bubblewrap. He gets smashed in the face with a set of weights, blood and teeth flying all over the floor.
And then, like a cornered animal, Cady fights back. He throws one of the goons onto the end of a benching bar, eye socket first. He dispatches another in a manner akin to The Mountain versus Pedro Pascal in Game of Thrones, smashing his skull with a barbell plate. To be clear, you see all of this. Afterwards, I felt like I might need a shower. I also genuinely wondered: Fuck, has TV ever been this graphic?
Like the cult favourite Scorsese film (and the 1962 movie that it remade), Cape Fear is an adaptation of John D MacDonald's novel The Executioners, a creepy slow-burn psychological thriller. In case you're not up to speed, it's about how Cady returns from his period behind bars to exact revenge upon his lawyer, played in the show by Amy Adams, whom he blames for his conviction. In this new version, she also ended up marrying the prosecutor (Patrick Wilson) who helped send Cady down. As a result, you feel for Cady a little bit; he has the air of a genuinely wronged anti-hero. Though he probably goes a little too far when he chops off their teenage son's toe.
As is usually the case, Bardem is the show's MVP. There are pitch-black shades of his creepiest villains here: the predatory gaze of No Country for Old Men's Anton Chigurh, the gleeful tyranny of Skyfall bad guy Raoul Silva. The show is twisty as hell, and its pile-up of mysteries peel back like layers of flayed skin. It is also genuinely scary, beyond the bits of gore - the sort of thing that you watch through the gaps in your fingers, or from behind a sofa cushion. But one thing's for certain: you won't stop watching. Even if you might need a barf bag.
GQ stories you might have missed:
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PARAMOUNT+
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
On the subject of Bardem, has he ever been better - and, crucially, more shit-yourself scary - than as the volatile hitman of the Coens' Oscar-winning neo-Western? Anton Chigurh tends to top movie villain rankings for good reason: he's terrifyingly sinister, reeks of malevolence, and has the eyes of a guy who would murder his own sister for a jolly. More broadly, it's one of the best thrillers of the century. Even if There Will Be Blood deserved Best Picture.
PRIME VIDEO
SCARY MOVIE 3
The new Scary Movie blows, but Scary Movie 3 is one of the greatest parody flicks of all time. Come for the juvenile skewering of noughties multiplex staples like Signs and Eight Mile, stay for the bit where Simon Cowell gets gunned down at a rap contest.
BBC IPLAYER
ENGLAND 2006: THE GOLDEN GENERATION
Unlike the rest of the country, I've been in full-throated "it's coming home" mode for weeks, my wardrobe a rotation of retro England shirts and my bloodstream 90 per cent pint. Hence why I recently found myself watching the BBC's depressingly insightful - and deftly edited - doc about the much-maligned Golden Generation, and how it all went tragically wrong for Gerrard, Beckham and co. And don't forget the WAGs! The English press certainly didn't.
NETFLIX
THE REST IS FOOTBALL
Fans of Gary Lineker's podcast of the same name know what to expect from the former BBC pundit's new daily Netflix show: the spiciest takes on the World Cup, guest cameos from the likes of Frank Lampard and Harry Maguire, and plenty of very funny pisstaking at the expense of Micah "burst onto the scene" Richards.
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Speaking with us ahead of his appearance at GQ Heroes, the Half Man writer reflected on the legacy of his zeitgeist-smashing debut Baby Reindeer and how it led to an uptick in men seeking support from sexual abuse charities. "I think it did a lot of good in the world," he said. "Whatever happened, no matter how difficult it was, I still take great pride in [the fact that] it wasn't just a show, it was a cultural moment." |
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OFF CAMPUS' BELMONT CAMELI IS OBSESSED WITH... REALITY TV SERIES SUMMER HOUSE |
"I finally just watched the reunion, and now I see they're doing Summer House: The Aftermath. There's a new episode coming out tomorrow. Not that I'm paying attention, or anything." |
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