The Tick Review
The Tick is Amazon’s new superhero series which spans 10 episodes in total, all at 30 mins duration. Based on the independent parody comic book series which began in 1988, this latest TV adaptation follows Fox’s 1994 animated series and Sony’s 2001 live action show: both received cult status but failed to gain huge popularity. So will it be a case of third time lucky for the Tick with this latest attempt? Unfortunately not, it seems.
British comedy actor Peter Serafinowicz stars as the titular hero, and plays the role in a suitably over the top manner, with a smooth American accent, allowing us to clearly see his comic book persona taking shape before our eyes. Although a decent effort from the Shaun of the Dead actor, the poor script and unfunny jokes make for a flat character – even his superhero powers are bland!
Griffin Newman offers more depth with his portrayal of Arthur Everest, the mentally unstable geek who becomes a superhero himself, teaming up with The Tick. It’s an impressive performance from the self-proclaimed fan of the originals, but there’s no natural chemistry between the pair and Newman’s character suffers from a shoddy script which lacks development, and includes clichéd moments in a borderline amateur production. We are thrown into his story too quickly, so perhaps longer episodes (which we’ve become so used to on Netflix) would have benefitted the series and prevented each one from feeling rushed.
The show is supposed to ridicule and parody the superhero genre, but unfortunately it fails to deliver on every level. With the recent success of Deadpool, this was a perfect opportunity to bring back The Tick and attract audiences by subvertly mocking a genre which is as strong and popular as ever. But unlike Deadpool, The Tick lacks character, humor and guts (literally).
Editor’s Note: This review was based on seeing the first two episodes of the show.
The Tick Season 1 is currently on Amazon Prime. See its trailer below:
2/5