HEROES REBORN
A troubled rebirth
released 9 May 2015 | 15 | Blu- ray/ DVD
Creator Tim Kring Cast Jack Coleman, Zachary Levi, Robbie Kay, Kiki Sukezane
When Heroes Reborn first aired, the show’s makers also produced a six- part found- footage web series called Dark Matters. It’s included on this release – and it’s the best thing about it.
At least it does something different with the franchise. Heroes Reborn, however, is the same old same old. There are new characters, sure, and a new storyline about humans and super- powered “Evos” trying to live together in harmony. Other than that, this miniseries resolutely fails to acknowledge that multiple shows and films – Alphas, Sense8, The Avengers, the second X- Men trilogy – have all moved the genre on since Heroes first launched. Its first series was revolutionary; Heroes Reborn looks like something we’ve seen many, many times before.
Based on an epically bloated and consequently resoundingly hollow premise about a BIG EVIL CORPORATION manipulating Evos for its own ends, Heroes Reborn fails to bring back the original characters you’d most like to see ( Sylar, Claire, Peter) and gives roles that are barely more than lip- service cameos to many others ( Hiro, Parkman, Mohinder), while trying to force you to care about a next generation of Evos who suffer from having no exciting new powers to mark them out. Or decently written characters. Only Noah Bennet returns for a major role, and he appears to be ill- at- ease throughout.
There are some impressive visuals, a few good action setpieces and occasional wry moments of self- referencing humour, but overall this is a bland, half- hearted, not- very- heroic failure that makes the end of the world feel immensely ponderous.
Extras The aforementioned web series Dark Matters ( 41 minutes), which is good fun; “Reliving The Legacy” ( 10 minutes) – mostly clips plus cast and crew telling you how great the show is; 15 deleted scenes ( 16 minutes). Dave Golder
Part of the series takes place 7,957 years into the future. Showrunner Tim Kring was born on 7/ 9/ 57 ( in US- style date order).