ReviewColumn’s rating :

Save the cheerleader, save the world. Sounds preposterous? Yet ‘Heroes (TV Series)‘ has given this single line international fame and built an entire television series upon it. This television series went on to become an internationally acclaimed hit series, nominated for numerous Golden Globe and Emmy awards. Produced by Tim Kring, this series is into the second season in the USA, continuing from where the first season dramatically ended.

‘Heroes’ is a science fiction drama serial and revolves around a group of seemingly unconnected individuals who suddenly discover overnight that they possess superhuman abilities, such as the ability to fly, regenerate rapidly and teleport. A chain of events forces them to rapidly learn to control their newfound powers and to adapt to life with their new abilities. Eventually, each of their actions will culminate in them being involved in helping to avert a catastrophic explosion that threatened to rip New York City asunder.

The plot unfurls in a comic-book style, with each episode jumping from one story/character to another. The main characters include high school cheerleader Claire Bennet (who can regenerate spontaneously), Congress candidate Nathan Petrelli (who can defy gravity and fly), Japanese clerk Hiro Nakamura (who can ‘control the space-time continuum’), Niki Sanders (who has a split personality and near superhuman strength) and day-nurse Peter Petrelli (who is able to absorb and retain powers of people who are in close proximity). Each of them is drawn out of the comfort/monotony of their normal life, to seek an answer about their inexplicable abilities. The characters eventually find out that they are all inexplicably linked together, and every action that they carry out actually has a significant effect on events of the future.

The plot is further spiced up with the introduction of a shady organization called simply ‘The Company’, which seeks to manipulate those with special abilities. Another antagonist, Sylar, also appears and his emergence threw the lives of the characters into complete disarray. Gabriel ‘Sylar’ Gray has the ability to know exactly how intricate objects function, and he manages to use this ability to steal abilities from others, by first killing them, then cutting up their heads to study their brains.

The show pilots with an episode showing a few of the random individuals with special abilities, one of them being Peter, who has recurrent dreams about him flying. As the story progresses, some of the characters meet, and their fates eventually intertwine. They all discover that sometime in the future, a large explosion would erupt in the heart of New York City and it was further revealed that this was caused by a man exploding. Peter and some of the others embark on a journey to try to prevent this disaster of cataclysmic proportions. However, soon they hit a snag as Peter realized that it was actually himself who exploded in the future after absorbing radioactive powers from another man. They were perpetually hounded by operatives from ‘The Company’ who want Peter to explode to further their own twisted agenda. Hot on their trail also is Sylar, the deranged serial killer who wants to drain their special abilities for his own.

This show has some really breathtaking special effects - Claire regenerating her horrifically-mangled hand to another man (D.L. Hawkins) walking through walls to a woman named Meredith controlling a ball of fire in her palm. Plot-wise, it is a very interesting mix of characters that the producers created. From the adorable and rather naive Hiro to the darkly brooding Niki, the idealistic Peter compared his pragmatic brother, Nathan; the characters’ various antics provide for some very enjoyable entertainment. Character development was commendable, and one good example would be Noah Bennet (Claire’s father). He was portrayed as a villain initially, but eventually he was a valuable help in averting a crisis, and it was revealed that his prior actions were driven by the desire to protect Claire.

Sometimes, it is difficult to fully follow the plot. More often than not, I find myself having to make use of the commercial breaks to run through the storyline in my head so that I could clearly understand what exactly was happening, such was the manner of twists and turns in the Heroes storyline. Other than the content being totally out-of-the-world, it is further exacerbated by Hiro’s frequent jumps in the time, be it back to the past or on to the future.

Given that the majority of the cast are relatively unknown, I am actually seeing very impressive acting from the cast. The standard would not be any lower than any Hollywood blockbuster in cinemas today. The plot is a very addictive one, the audience would be very much tempted to keep watching to find out what Dr Suresh has found out regarding the link between human evolution and superhuman abilities or to find out how Sylar manages to systemically hunt down individuals to acquire their power. It is a very riveting watch and at the end of every episode, I would be sitting there wishing that the next episode would come sooner.

Click here to buy this DVD
Rate this TV series, give us your rating:
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
 Loading ...

Related products from Amazon.com: