Hawkeye (****)
After a year of incredible content, the MCU decided to close out 2021 with one more gem.
Having now seen all of the MCU’s Disney+ content for the year, I can confidently say that Hawkeye is the second-best show they’ve put out – right behind WandaVision, which still takes the cake for me because of its novelty and genre-bending zaniness. Hawkeye succeeds in a number of ways; one of them is by telling a compelling story about a father trying to get home for the holidays. Jeremy Renner’s been playing this character for ten years now, and he’s really comfortable at portraying a guy who’s uncomfortable being seen. It’s not that he doesn’t want to save the world – it’s just that his kids are waiting for him at home. The motivation there makes him a likable character even when he’s being a bit of a downer for others. He really held his own and proved that his character has more juice left in him even after a decade of storytelling.
Much like Florence Pugh earlier this year in Black Widow, though, this show kind of got stolen by Hawkeye’s number two – Kate Bishop, played wonderfully by Hailee Steinfeld. Kate brings so much to the table. She’s funny, competent, and filled with energy. To that end, the scenes where Steinfeld and Pugh (yeah, Pugh’s in this!) get to perform together are just so entertaining. They’re both firing on all cylinders, and I can’t wait to see where they go next in the MCU. There’s other characters like Kate’s step-dad-to-be and the Tracksuit Mafia member Ivan who add their own fun flavours as well. No one really drops the ball cast-wise.
I can’t go any further without addressing the return of Kingpin, played just as menacingly by Vincent D’Onofrio as he was back when Daredevil was still running on Netflix. Not only is he a great addition to this series as the “big bad” who’s operating behind the scenes, he’s an exciting addition to Phase Four of the MCU. Now that we’ve seen Charlie Cox’s Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Home, there’s a lot of room to rumor and speculate about the future of Daredevil and the Netflix characters. D’Onofrio and Cox were both unarguably the best characters from that whole branch, so any hope of seeing more of them will be fiercely guarded. They’re all great.
While not as challenging or ambitious as Loki or WandaVision, Hawkeye relies on fun writing, great performances, and a holiday setting to make it a blast from start to finish. There’s a number of great action scenes, from the car chase in episode 2 to the ice rink showdown in the finale. This is television that really feels like a movie, which gives it a greater sense of legitimacy and significance in the wider MCU. I also really loved the Christmas score in the finale – there was an epic interpretation of Nutcracker themes playing during Hawkeye’s adventures at a holiday party. Loved that.
People who think television doesn’t matter to the MCU are sorely mistaken. This year has proven that Marvel cares about their small-screen works just as much as their big pieces. It’s been a wonderful year for Marvel fans, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.