CAST: Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Santiago Cabrera (Isaac Mendez), Ali Larter (Niki Sanders), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), more...
During a solar eclipse, seven people discover they have developed unique superpowers, such as flight, precognition, teleportation and mind-reading. But why has this happened, and how are the group destined to save the world?Heroes is one of the hottest new shows of the upcoming US TV season, due to start airing in September on NBC. The Pilot episode (Genesis) essentially sets the premise in motion, as we meet a group of disparate individuals who all begin to develop super powers during a solar eclipse.
Milo Ventimiglia plays Peter Petrelli, a 30-year-old nurse who dreams he can fly, and is so convinced he may actually be able launch himself off a tall building, that he tries to convince his successful elder brother Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), who is busy running for political office.
Santiago Cabrera plays Isaac Mendez, a drug-addicted 28-year-old painter who discovers his paintings are actually predicting future events.
Ali Larter (Final Destination) plays Las Vegas internet stripper Niki Sanders, a young woman who begins to suspect her own reflection is a powerful alter-ego, while trying to pay off a loan shark and put her gifted son through school.
Masi Oka plays 24-year-old Japanese computer geek Hiro Nakamura, an office drone who experiments with his new found ability to bend the space/time continuum, but can't convince a co-worker he's not crazy.
Hayden Panettiere plays Claire Bennet, 17, a cheerleader who finds she's impervious to physical injury and can miraculously heal herself. With the help of a friend, she sets about keeping a video diary of her abilities.
Intriguingly, there are two characters mentioned as starring in Heroes that don't appear in this first part: Leonard Roberts as D.L Hawkins, a prison inmate who can walk through walls; and Greg Grunberh as Matt Parkman, a cop who can read minds. These characters will appear in the second part, which was not made available for early review.
Sadly, the first part of the 2-hour Pilot episode is quite weak and contrived, and shamelessly steals from better sources. Its tone is trying to evoke M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable (a lead character even shares Bruce Willis' super power), the overall premise of "gifted" individuals appearing as the result of evolution is clearly influenced by X-Men (a lead character even mentions the comic!), and its format is indebted to Lost.
The Lost parallels are the most interesting: Heroes also deals with multiple characters, one of whom is foreign (Hiro, the Japanese geek) and speaks with subtitles. But the key similarly is how the characters' lives seem to intersect (an enigmatic villain is revealed to be the father of one of the heroes, Pete the "flying" nurse attends to the precognitive painter, a Japanese man is logged onto Niki's website, etc.)
It's one thing to be influenced by others, but Heroes is simply a melting pot of ideas, concepts and formats done much better elsewhere. All Heroes does is pool these ideas and hopes they'll gel together into something greater than the sum of their parts. It fails.
To be fair, the one moderately original idea Heroes has is that (mostly) every character treats their new powers with the joy it deserves. I'm personally fed up with Peter Parker moaning about being Spider-Man, and Bruce Wayne beating himself up about being Batman. Heroes' characters all find salvation in their powers and it's refreshing to see -- Niki has a way to fight back against some gangsters, Hiro can escape his repetitive life, Pete can aspire to step out of the shadow of his successful brother, etc.
There are some good visuals to be found here from veteran TV director David Semel (a dislocated shoulder, a mangled hand, subway time-travel, the opening building leap, etc.) but very little else to sustain actual interest. I've always enjoyed the superhero genre, so it was interesting to see each character's power manifest, but none of them has an ability we haven't seen countless times before (flying, healing, teleportation). The only original power is Niki's malevolent mirror image, but it's also the most unbelievable and ill-conceived ability. I can suspend my disbelief at flying nurses and time-travelling office workers, but having an evil reflection? Nah, sorry...
In terms of writing Heroes is also pretty weak work from creator Tim Kring; the entire Pilot simply alternates between five sub-plots, where we're introduced to each person's life and power. Unfortunately, none of the characters seem to lead particularly interesting lives. Only Niki's struggles to bring up her son and pay off her debts held my interest, and even that story is a cliché.
The Pilot also sets up a hazy mythology about Mohinder Suresh, an Indiana professor who believes such an evolutionary leap was imminent, before apparently escaping to New York to become a cab driver. A shadowy villain in horn-rimmed glasses is also glimpsed throughout the show, and is clearly aware of the professor's beliefs. I suppose this undercurrent will inform the series as it progresses, and it's far too early to say if this facet to the show will prove to be enduring. All I can say is that it certainly didn't grab my interest here. I was too busy wrinkling my brow at the supposed link between a solar eclipse and the dawning of these super-beings. Suspension of disbelief is in overdrive, folks...
The actors are the usual good-looking assortment of cute all-American girls and male models... with a gibbering geek as comic relief. Oh, and for a show quite likely created by sci-fi fans, I found the number of Star Trek references extremely irritating and outdated. Feminists are also going to have a field day with Heroes, as its two female characters are a cheerleader and a stripper! Not exactly extolling the virtues of Girl Power, are they? It's disappointing that the producers clearly didn't consider having women in less stereotyped roles, and another subtle hint that the target audience are male teens who really don't care so long as Ali Larter strips at some point in the season...
Adrian Pasdar was watchable, as was Ali Larter (not just for salacious reasons, I promise!), but the rest of the cast were very thinly drawn (heck, the painter just acts crazy for a few minutes!) Each sub-plot also lurches about without much logic or charm; witness the moment when Claire enters a fiery building without being noticed and is somehow able to immediately locate someone to rescue! However, this review is based on just half of the full-length Pilot leaked onto the internet. I'm sure the visuals will be improved, a few scenes will be trimmed, temporary music replaced, and the whole thing polished. There's also the strong possibility that the second part will bring cohesion to the story and begin layering the sketchily drawn characters. However, there's no denying that so far Heroes just seems incredibly unoriginal, badly scripted and weakly performed.
The only good sign is that it's taking its stylistic cues from Unbreakable and not Mutant X! I'll still say Heroes is one to keep an eye on, particularly for fans brought up on Superman and Batman, and I'll certainly be watching to see if it improves during its initial 13-episode run. But, let's just say I won't be surprised if the Heroes aren't rescued from early cancellation...
