Hawkeye Episode 1 and 2 Review
The final Marvel Disney+ show of the year, Hawkeye dropped its first two episodes on Disney today. I’ve been pretty excited for this show ever since they announced it, because I like the character of Hawkeye and like Jeremy Renner as an actor. And the trailer they put out back in September only affirmed my excitement level for this show. So how are the first two episodes? Let’s get started!
The Good:
I think it’s safe to say this is a super grounded and realistic MCU project. I think it might even be the most grounded and realistic MCU project. The threat here is very street level with mafia gangs stealing stuff. There isn’t a big laser beam in this show, there aren’t time cops trying to save the timeline. There aren't witches battling it out in a sit-com. No it’s very much a street level Christmas show set inside of the MCU. So this show feels very different from the rest of phase 4 and the entirety of the MCU. And that’s what I like about phase 4. They are doing new and different projects that still feel like they are inside of the MCU.
The show also does a nice job of balancing it’s done very well. Because certain scenes are pretty funny when you have Clint Barton and Kate Bishop bickering back and forth with one another. But with where Clint is at in life after dealing with the events of Avengers Endgame, there can be some darker elements in this show. And the show has one consistent tone running through-out the episodes. They balanced each other out very nicely and I thought it helped the show out.
And the cast and the characters here are pretty good. Of course you have Jeremy Renner in the lead as Hawkeye. He’s been playing this character for 10 years now and he’s rock solid as this character. And since Clint is in a different point in time he plays the character very differently but still feels like the Hawkeye that we know. But stealing the show is Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop who is just so great at playing this fun and likable character that has this troubled side about her. Renner and Steinfeld have a great chemistry with one another, they bounce off of one another very well in this show. Vera Ferminga does a great job as Kate’s mother and she’s not in the show a whole lot but used just enough to be a nice spice.
Finally, these episodes lay the foundation for the conflicts and story arcs for the rest of the season. These episodes set up who the looming threats of the season are going to be. It’s a very clear good versus evil situation going on here.
The Bad:
The big thing here is this show has a bit of the problem that Black Widow had. Where finally after 10 years of being the side character in 2021, both Black Widow and Hawkeye finally get to start in either a movie or a tv show. But both of those projects had a side character that stole the show. With Black Widow it was Yelena played by Florence Pugh, and here it is Kate Bishop. So Clint in this show feels a bit on the back burner and he’s just along for the ride. This feels more like Kate Bishop with Hawkeye rather than the Hawkeye show with Kate Bishop. Hopefully in the upcoming 4 episodes they change that a bit to make it a bit more so Clint is in the lead.
Also I found both of the episodes to be off putting from the tone that was promised with the trailers. The first trailer they put out for this show really showcased this high energy show with a lot more entertainment value to it. But these first two episodes were much more slow and dialogue based then full on action based. I’m a bit confused as to why they did that. It feels like a cheap marketing gimmick to get more people to watch the show. I hope that in the rest of the season the show is more like what the trailers promised.
Finally, there isn’t a lot of action in these episodes. But when it does happen, I don’t think it’s done very well. Episode 1 has two fight scenes and they happen within 5-10 of one another. One is in a dark room where the character is wearing dark clothing. The second one you are watching it through the perspective of a character but she is sitting in a car, so you are looking at it through the car’s windshield. Episode 2 doesn’t really have much action, and once again it’s not very well done.
Final Thoughts: In general, Hawkeye was a tv show that I was really looking forward to. I dug that trailer they put out a couple months back. And everything they were saying about it, made me even more excited for this show. But after watching episodes 1 and 2, I was disappointed by this show. I sure hope this show gets better as it goes along, because episodes 3-6 are on the same level as 1 and 2. This will be one of the weaker Marvel Disney shows we have gotten.
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