“Arrow,” a new CW series based on DC Comics’ popular Green Arrow superhero character, comes to us from Greg Berlanti, the longtime “Dawson’s Creek” showrunner who wrote both ABC’s “No Ordinary Family” superhero series and the big-screen “Green Lantern” movie (also based on a popular DC comics franchise).
This is not the Green Arrow who became a regular character on “Smallville.” This Ollie Queen never met Clark Kent and, indeed, appears to exist in a world without superpowers.
In this version of the tale, zillioniare Queen not only learned his archery skills while shipwrecked five years on a remote island, he also apparently invented an arrow that can drain bank accounts of millions of dollars. Hopefully it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Queen also appears to have grown quite adept at parkour.
Queen is so good with his bow that multiple bad guys toting machine guns find themselves runnig away from him.
The guy who plays Queen looks like he does a lot of sit-ups.
I love Denny O’Neil’s comic book Green Arrow. But even with the stunning Willa Holland as kid sister Speedy, I don’t see myself bothering with a second episode.
… competently-made ... well-done for what it's trying to be. Perhaps in time it'll find its own distinct take on Green Arrow, even if it's not exactly what O'Neill, Grell and other writers did with him on the page. …
... pretty watchable, even for those who tune in agenda-free. …
... with executive producers Greg Berlanti ("Green Lantern"), Marc Guggenheim ("FlashForward"), Andrew Kreisberg ("Warehouse 13," "The Vampire Diaries") and David Nutter ("Smallville," "Supernatural," "Game of Thrones"), the quality of "Arrow" is not surprising. …
... There is absolutely nothing new about anything seen here — including Ollie’s “Hamlet”-like oedipal issues about his mother’s remarriage and the pomposity that lurks on every parapet in comic-book movies and TV shows — and yet “Arrow” has nice aim. Grade: B- …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... pure, action-packed fun worthy of the kind of longevity that "Smallville" enjoyed for 10 seasons …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... hits its target as an OK comic book-inspired show. …
... If that all sounds a little silly and yet fairly dark, it is. Both the tone of the pilot, in which this superhero is a killer and another character commits suicide, and the show’s look — it rains atmospherically on the island, at sea, and in Starling City — set a grim mood, even as Amell’s stilted narration keeps it in slightly cartoonish territory. …
... Granted, it's all standard superhero stuff. But the action scenes are well-handled, the emotions and the characters mostly ring true, and the plot offers enough twists to keep you intrigued. …
... proves to be both on-brand and entertaining -- if you turn off the snark detector and downplay the need for plausibility or logic. …
... there's only so much action an hourlong drama can afford, and the characters necessary to sustain the series are, initially, strictly two-dimensional …
8 p.m. Wednesday. The CW.
