Hawkeye

Happy Holidays! A lightweight, enjoyable snack, nicely following up on and complementing events at Marvel. Renner is excellent and passes the baton on to a thrilled Hailey Steinfeld. Bishop has the balls to be in the Avengers, but it remains to be seen who else Feige will cast in the movies. It’s good to see Yelena and Wilson here and their appearances are meant to be the high points of the series. But it turns out that the real high point is the chase through the streets of New York with the souped-up darts. The series is worth watching for this alone. We're all gonna die. (22/12/2021)

Christmas popcorn from Marvel with two diametrically opposed halves. While the first 2 or 3 episodes are almost pure candy for small, young and simple viewers, where the cute little dog has to have only one eye and the black policewoman has to be a lesbian and say it out loud with nonchalant elegance in order to make everything as politically friendly and correct as possible, from the middle onwards the pace picks up and the story builds up solidly. Hawkeye ultimately deepens the Marvel universe pretty cleverly, revealing cards that we haven't quite got to see in the big movies or the series spin-offs. And with the arrival of Florence Pugh, everything jumps up another level. Four stars, but just barely. (22/01/2022)

Pathetically mediocre Marvel projects on Disney+ just keep on coming. Hawkeye had the potential to be an awesome show - excellent pair of leads, MCU setting, and an atmosphere that automatically makes you think of Die Hard. You'd think nothing could go wrong here, but sadly that's not the case. The series looks awfully cheap, the fights and action scenes in general are downright terrifying, and the bad guys and most of the supporting characters are totally bland. Even the pace of the narrative itself is unnecessarily fast. By the time the story gets going, it's actually all coming to an end. I really wanted to enjoy the series, but it was difficult. Not to criticize too much, it wasn't a disaster like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't bored most of the time with all six episodes. Finally, let me just say that I've hated Florence Pugh's "Russian" accent since the first Black Widow trailer, and I literally had to suffer through it in the film. Here, it's to be continued. Enough is enough, please, I can't take it anymore. (22/12/2021)

A treat for winter, or even Christmas, which is irresistible. Whether the main hero is uttering lines like from Die Hard, enjoying perfect friendly chemistry with an unexpected partner, or just sadly staring into the distance, I marvel at the perfect symbiosis of everything and everyone. A cult villain, a dramatic storyline, a dog, and last but not least, a fulfilled dream in the form of Hailee Steinfeld and Florence Pugh as possibly my favorite talents of recent years, who come together for a chat over a heap of pasta. (08/04/2024)

I don’t know what to say, but I didn’t quite connect with Hawkeye. I wasn’t particularly excited about the series, but after reading positive reviews and feedback, I decided to check out this 6-episode Marvel project. Jeremy Renner, as always, doesn’t disappoint; his character might have seemed like just a shell with no real depth in The Avengers, but he convinces you otherwise in every scene. His acting talent shines through the screen throughout the runtime. My issue is with the supporting characters. I loved Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit (she outperformed everyone there), but as Kate Bishop, she didn’t win me over; I often found myself wishing her pompous character would disappear from the spotlight as soon as possible. The action is unremarkable, standard by Marvel’s standards, and the plot is like something for a 5-year-old. The ending with Kingpin was nice, but unfortunately, it came too late. An average viewing experience in every respect. For me, it’s 5.5/10. (29/12/2021)