Michael Andrews
In this day and age many of the classic superheroes that defined the childhoods of our elders, are now arriving on the digital frontier. Among these heroes is DC’s Green Arrow.
Arrow is a new show on the CW. The show is about Oliver Queen, a billionaire who after five years stranded on an island, returns to Starling City as a vigilante.
The show is a recreation of the DC comics’ Robin Hood-esque character Green Arrow, sharing the same character name but little else. As an avid super hero fan I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite heroes get a live-action show of their own.
The development of the characters is lacking. This is due to the constant changing of each character’s circumstances. The story continually introduces new questions without answering old ones. This is exemplified in the fact that the full back story of Queen is still yet to be revealed, providing only fragments of flash backs of his time on the island.
The acting is sub-par with little to no well-known names. Stephen Amell, the actor who portrays Queen, shows little emotion and has very stiff unnatural movements. While these movements throw off the character development scenes, it exhilarates the action sequences of parkour and archery.
The action scenes are by far the most promising part of the show with great parkour choreography and creative use of bows and arrows in combat scenes. Due to Green Arrows portrayal as an anti-hero, killing is not out of the question leading to tense and thrilling predicaments with the villains.
Overall this show has promise as something to sit back and simply watch action after a long day of thinking. However, the super hero buff inside me is left wanting due to the sub-par acting and poor character development. I rate Arrow with an overall C.
