Hawkeye review: Hailee Steinfeld makes Jeremy Renner’s Avenger shine

Remember 2020, when Marvel Studios didn’t release anything new all year? There was never a television show connected to this sprawling universe of superheroes. It’s hard to recall a year later. Disney has three MCU films out now, and another one is on the horizon for 2021. The January premiere of WandavisionDisney Plus offers multiple MCU series, including Loki, The Falcon and Winter SoldierAnd What If …?. But while you might have — some very reasonable — Marvel fatigue, their final show of 2021, HawkeyeEven the most skeptical viewers will be charmed and delighted by.

The fun-filled episodes one and two of the comic series fan favourite by Matt Fraction are based on David Aja’s and Matt Fraction’s popular Comic Series. Hawkeye introduce viewers to Hailee Steinfeld’s magnificent new MCU hero, Kate Bishop. She’s key to what makes the show work, and is very much the star. These episodes have some great Clint moments (no, really), but Jonathan Igla is the real star.Bridgerton, Sorry about your LossThe show is about the passing of the torch, and Kate Bishop is at its heart. Kate has been delighting comic book readers since she debuted in 2005’s Young Avengers #1. The opening episodes are a great way to start the series. Hawkeye are anything to go by (Marvel only provided the show’s premiere for an early look), Steinfeld’s version of the character will only widen the younger Hawkeye’s fanbase. The show is relatively safe for MCU TV standards. It has a basic setup. A young Kate was inspired to act by Hawkeye’s heroics at an important moment in MCU TV history.

Years later, Kate’s a privileged rule-breaking upstart who happens to have accrued an impressive amount of martial arts and archery skills. After her mother introduces Kate to her new would-be stepfather, our young hero quickly becomes entangled in New York’s criminal underworld. It’s a world away from the high concept meta storytelling of WandaVisonOr the dimension-hopping sci fi of Loki, but feels stronger for it.

That’s mostly thanks to a dynamite leading turn from Steinfeld and her co-stars, particularly Vera Farmiga as her mother Eleanor and Tony Dalton as her ultra swarmy and enigmatic new stepfather, Jack. This dysfunctional family dynamic gives Kate a raw and interesting dimension. We rarely see women heroes being as prickly or confrontational. But it’s not the empty “don’t tell me to smile” Captain Marvel Kate felt real and human. Even when her instincts are against her, she cares for her mother. She saves someone we saw her verbally spar with earlier — and who may be a huge danger to her — simply because it’s a person her mother cares for.

There’s a messiness to her that feels right.

Mary Cybulski/Marvel Studios

Kate enters the MCU with a natural and innovative approach. This is a great example for the next generation of heroes, many of whom lived under the Avengers’ shadows and had their lives and loss shaped by them. Her ease in entering the already crowded Marvel Universe is refreshing. And her inbuilt knowledge of the world — because she grew up in it — frees us of exposition. Steinfeld is charming and rude and funny, and also heartbreaking. Dalton is a perfect match for her, and she brings fury and fight to any intruder at her home. There’s no feature length origin story needed here; Kate shines in her world and is easily one of the most engaging MCU heroes we’ve had yet. Kate, despite her immaturity and privilege, is not annoying. She’s smart, dressed immaculately, and needs no validation from any of the ever more annoying men around her. Basically, she’s the hero the MCU has needed for a while, especially as there’s no hint of male love interest yet.

Of course, Kate isn’t the only Hawkeye. Clint Barton will be played again by Jeremy Renner. It’s hardly the kind of news to make anyone other than Barton diehards excited but the show surprises once again. Not only is Clint thankfully not the show’s star, but the team behind the series uses the first two episodes to reimagine the character. After, softening Clint’s serial killer edges Avengers: EndgameClint, a man with a heart for his children and a desire to become a great dad. There’s heart here we’ve never seen before, and seeing him through Kate’s eyes endears us even more. The character work that Renner manages with the help of Igla and the writing staff is easily the best he’s ever done as the world’s least favorite Avenger. There’s a humility here that has been missing in previous iterations. Renner brings life to a broken man, in a way that’s far deeper than the abstract violence of Finale. With the cultural impact of Hawkeye in the MCU and the way he’s perceived key to his journey in Hawkeye, and it’s a really interesting and fun bit of meta-commentary that also adds layers to Clint.

It’s a rare feat to take a bland character and make an audience feel for him after nearly a decade in the game, but HawkeyeIt’s a manageable task. While his quest to be a better father might not be off to a great start, it gives Clint depth and emotional resonance he’s never really had. The elder Hawkeye is taught that less is more and his first episodes only give him enough time to have an impact. He’s reluctant as a mentor to the young woman who could be his daughter and eager to make amends to his family, although his choices constantly contradict both of those statements. Digging into the more intimate dramatic elements of both Clint and Kate’s familial units grounds Hawkeye. The MCU is available for a wider audience, which means that viewers may be more interested in its superhero-focused stories.

Mary Cybulski/Marvel Studios

This show introduces viewers to Marvel’s ground-level superheroics in a lower-stakes story. It’s a new horizon for the MCU, which turned its most famous street level hero, Spider-Man, into a high-concept high-tech Tony Stark mentee. That’s how the MCU got its start. HawkeyeIt feels like watching the Netflix Marvel series, but it has a more family-friendly spin. It’s as common to hear good-natured banter than molotov cocktails. And cozy houses and snowy streets seem more frequent than the high-tech HQs. It’s grounded without being overly gritty, and while it leans on the MCU’s past it’s not too lore heavy. All these things are what make the episodes of HawkeyeThe most easily accessible MCU program yet.

It even works nicely in a Christmas setting. Hawkeye’s first episode is attractively scored with enjoyably recognizable seasonal music, and stuff with plenty of fun holiday movie tropes (for example Clint is definitely not making it home for the holidays). It often feels like a PG-13 Shane Black movie in this sense., It’s a clever way to mix twinkling lights and action. Each are given equal attention. The holiday atmosphere is lively and textured, while the action sequences are well-choreographed. Kate’s fighting style in particular is brilliant to watch. The show builds in enough narrative reasoning for her technical skill to go unquestioned, and it’s really enjoyable to see a hero who’s just immediately great at what they do (if not quite immediately great at how). As a result, it’s a joyful sight to watch Kate perform a cartwheel while she flies across an NYC taxi-packed street. In the background, a gigantic Christmas tree glows.

This brings us to Hawkeye’s Production designer Maya Shimoguchi (and set decorator Missy Park) are the most potent secret weapons. Each setting in the first two episodes is a living breathing space that not only feels lived in but also tells us so much about what we’re seeing. There’s an attention to detail that goes beyond the usual MCU dedication to Easter eggs or the shiny New York City of the Avengers. Whatever our journey with Clint and Kate, we always learn something and feel something completely new. mise en scène. It’s another way that Hawkeye stands apart from what’s come before. It’s less obviously intentional and pointed than WandaVision, but far more lived in and appealingly messy than the clinical “real world” tone of The Falcon and Winter Soldier. That said, it is worth noting that the ambition sci-fi storytelling by those who are and LokiIt is the first thing that draws you in. The sillier and sweeter tone will be more appealing. HawkeyeYou might be left wanting.

How much you’re willing to lose yourself in that fun tone, will likely define how much you enjoy it. This much-talked about musical number is often seen early in life. Rogers The Musical. It’s cheeky, meta, a certified musical banger, and laughs at the Avengers as well as poking fun at Clint himself. It’s the polar opposite to the dark Ronin era of the hero from the MCU. But it’s incredibly in line with the whimsical tone of the comics that inspired the show.

As a comic book fan it’s hard to watch Hawkeye — as delightful as it is — and not think about the people whose work has been so obviously taken from for the series. The big inspiration here is Aja and Fraction’s 2012 Hawkeye series. From the logo, to promotional materials, to character representations and storylines, to the tone, tonality, and tonal quality of the show, everything is derived from this series. It’s one of the closest adaptations we’ve seen. Aja is only a Special Thank You to Fraction, who was appointed as Consulting Producer. Aja has also tweeted that she wants to be paid by Disney. It’s an especially grim example of creator exploitation in Aja’s case, as his art has been directly lifted for the credits of the series and all the PR for the show. And that’s before we get to the characters that he took part in creating and the aesthetic of the entire series. This aspect is what makes these sweet treats, the two first episodes of the series. HawkeyeEtwas bitter

Although this aspect may not have been important to viewers, it is nonetheless significant, given that almost all Marvel and DC productions suffer from the same problem. That said, this adaptation of Aja and Fraction’s HawkeyeIt is clever, funny, beautifully shot and manages to frame the worst Avenger in an approach that works. Plus, it promises us a new generation of heroes who might just be able to be better than the ones who came before, and isn’t that just what the world needs?

These are the first two episodes HawkeyePremiere on Disney Plus, Nov. 24,

Hawkeye

Price at publishing time.

Disney Plus will air the series on November 24th