Adaptations, revisions, and retellings our focus this month, as a trio of new shows revamp familiar stories and classic movies to be repackaged for a whole new generation of audiences. From formative French novels about forbidden fornications to prestigious prequels of sci-fi sagas, here is a look at a few refreshes that may (or may not) deserve your attention.
Dune: Prophecy (HBO)
The spice must flow, and so shall the world of Dune, as the landmark franchise expands its horizons with Dune: Prophecy, a prequel series that focuses on the ever-present religious order of the Bene Gesserit. With the series, HBO rolls out the next wave of prestige entertainment by continuing the epic known to contemporary audiences through Denis Villeneuve’s current run of Dune movies. Inspired by Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, the series takes a page from the House of the Dragon playbook by focusing on key events pulled from the saga’s history. And because it is HBO, there is an extraneous amount of sex and violence to add a little spice.
More than 10,000 years before Paul Atreides took his first sip of the Water of Life, sisters Mother Superior Valya and Sister Tule Harkonnen (Emily Watson and Olivia Williams) reformed the Bene Gesserit, a sisterhood of shamanesses who hold sway on the religious, social and political forces that define the Duniverse. Set decades after the war of “thinking machines,” Dune: Prophecy examines the evolution of the Sisterhood and its goal to breed leaders they can control as they make themselves an indispensable part of every battlefield and throne room. In this era, Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong) rules over the Great Houses, and while a great many players are working hard behind the scenes to undermine him and see to their own interests, one mysterious soldier (Travis Fimmel) aims to gain the Emperor’s trust with an agenda at odds with the Bene Gesserit, as well as the power to see it through.
Just as Villeneuve’s vision of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic is a cinematic achievement, Dune: Prophecy is an equally sweeping and stunning experience. The series is able to visualize the immense scope of the universe and the players within it, conceptualizing the book’s larger-than-life abstracts of futurism into bite-sized installments of must-see TV.
Like House of the Dragons, Dune: Prophecy aims to entice fans through the expansion of the folklore. Curious about the first use of “The Voice,” or why no one is using an iPhone 264? Prophecy aims to answer those queries, though at times, the story can be bogged down with far too many characters and side stories. However, Prophecy’s carefully constructed narrative structure does its best to guide fans gently through the familiar-yet-foreign landscape. And as Dune: Prophecy is a product of the Home Box Office, expect a spicier story, as the on-screen fornication and brutality are turned up a notch to meet the expectations of HBO’s Sunday night audiences.
Dune: Prophecy is a rich experience for Duniverse devotees who live and breathe the inner turmoil of the Great Houses. Despite a slight tone change to fit in with HBO’s racier programming, the series captures much of the zest of the big-screen outing, which will thrill those eager to return to Arrakis.
Cruel Intentions (Prime Video)
When Pierre Choderlos de Laclos first wrote Les Liaisons Dangereuses back in 1782, did he have an inkling that it would still be getting audiences hot and bothered almost 250 years later? Or that there would be versions of his text featuring a teen cast?
Probably not. But goodness, what a crop of pop culture goodies the text has yielded over the years. From Broadway plays to operas to so many screen adaptations, including the beloved Dangerous Liaisons with Glenn Close and John Malkovich, Miloš Forman’s Valmont with Colin Firth, and a completely forgotten Dangerous Liaisons series from a mere two years ago. But one of the most celebrated is 1999’s Cruel Intentions, on which this new series is based. Kinda. Sorta.
Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions resets the 1999 drama at the fictional Manchester College as the infamous step-sibling duo once again play their games on an unsuspecting student body. In this retelling, agendas are adjusted and a few new schemes are hatched, but the overall story is intact as Caroline and her stepbrother Lucien (Sarah Catherine Hook and Zac Burgess) cook up a plan to seduce the Vice President’s daughter (Savannah Lee Smith), but as part of a plot to save Caroline’s sorority.
Written by scribes who think Gen-Zers know what a clam bake is, Cruel Intentions holds only a fraction of the intelligence and cheekiness of the original film, but none of the intrigue and the fun. There isn’t a lot of amusement in this vapid cruelty. With only a half-baked attempt at the snark that only our lord and savior Sarah Michelle Gellar could deliver, the banal characters bring nothing new to the table.
Ultimately, Cruel Intentions dwells in tepid mediocrity with a script that is not as enigmatic as previous incarnations while its characters are pale versions of the devilish well-to-dos that plagued French courts or Manchester Prep. This lackluster series fails to capture the wit or charm of the source material or its clever adaptations. As a result, fans of the original sordid tale and its many remakes are left with an uninspired retelling, void of most of the humor that made the source material so entertaining.
The Day of the Jackal (Peacock)
Espionage, intrigue, and executions galore, one of pop culture’s most bewildering guns for hire makes his Peacock debut to a contemporary audience of binge watchers.
Loosely based on the classic novel by Frederick Forsyth and best known to most cinephiles by the highly-revered 1973 film from director Fred Zinnemann, Peacock attempts to bring one of the most definitive cat-and-mouse thrillers to the small screen with The Day of the Jackal. Starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne as one of fiction’s most beguiling assassins, showrunner Ronan Bennett attempts to use the small screen to bring depth to the mysterious killer.
A master of his craft, The Jackal is a hired gun who is paid handsomely to shape the world’s politics through the scope of his rifle. Cold, calculating and elusive, The Jackal is a phenom in his field — a sharpshooter able to make shots of insurmountable distances and who is damn near impossible to track — his talents are sought out by shady power players looking to remove a few obstacles.
Giving chase to The Jackal in this cat-and-mouse thriller is British intelligence officer Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch), a persistent MI6 agent whose doggedness matches the Jackal’s vulpine nature. Both are crafty, shrewd and determined when their eye is on the prize. Lynch’s Pullman is a good foe to Redmayne’s Jackal, creating both balance and heart-pounding moments when she is hot on the trail of her unnamed adversary.
The Day of the Jackal is a well-crafted series that is guided into the contemporary world with the utmost care thanks to exceptional performances and top-notch writing. However, the series tends to overestimate its ability to stretch out a fairly average-sized novel into 10 episodes. To accomplish this, the show builds on the personal lives of both the Jackal and Pullman by inserting family problems and a menagerie of maddening second fiddles. As a result, the series can run a little thin as it attempts to make a multi-course meal out of a tasty snack.
As a whole, The Day of the Jackal is a spirited venture that brings one of fiction’s most thrilling hitmen into contemporary times, but as a series, it drags. However, its stars bring their A-game, doing their best to keep the outing enthralling despite the story stretching. The end result is a modern-day Jackal that will no doubt appeal to fans of superior spy stories with a personal touch.
