2021 was the year the MCU decided to give us mini-adventures based on characters from the MCU. This isn’t the first time that the MCU created spin-off shows for smaller MCU characters, but it is the first time that we’ve seen so many from the ever-growing blockbuster franchise pump these things constantly. From Wandavision to Loki, these smaller but interesting storylines were made available on the ever-growing streaming service Disney+. Despite Wandavision being the first of the MCU series, I will admit that I was late to the game with watching these mini-series just like I was with watching the MCU films in general. I decided to start watching Hawkeye seeing that the holidays were upon me. Seeing as this show also takes place during the holiday season it was perfect timing for me and my thoughts are as follows.
Young Archer Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), lands in the middle of a conspiracy theory that gets the attention of Kate’s hero Clint Barton A.K.A Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) who was supposed to be on his way home to be with his family for Christmas. With no returning home anytime soon, Hawkeye reluctantly agrees to uncover the conspiracy while finding out more about each other in the process.
Now the idea of a younger person meeting his or her reluctant hero is not a new plot thread even for Marvel. Still, the way they handle telling the story is still well-executed and at times can be very fun. It can be familiar at points but the relationship between Kate and Hawkeye still carries that amount of charm I would expect them to have and it is easy to route for them to be together even when things go bad. The only thing I didn’t like was the 2nd act breakup which is common in a lot of partnering adventures and I wish they could have done something else instead of creating unneeded drama. Each episode is made like a crime thriller as there is a big mystery surrounding our main characters that they need to try and stop. There are of course many callbacks to previous MCU adventures but there is still enough enjoyability to make the story fun to watch. It’s also great to have another MCU project to be set around Christmas so do expect a lot of plot elements to revolve around the holiday season.
Kate Bishop is the newest addition to the MCU and after seeing her in action, I would welcome to see her on many future adventures in the MCU’s lineup. Kate is fun and very likable. She’s still young but does carry the same amount of passion that almost reminds me of the MCU Peter Parker. Hawkeye himself is given a lot more to expand with seeing that most of the focus of the show is about him trying to fix his past mistakes and make some wrong things right. You’d think that with Hawkeye being more of a side character in the Avengers franchise he wouldn’t be able to carry a show but this series proved many of us wrong. There is even a butt-kicking female character who speaks in sigh langue which I found quite interesting as I’ve never seen a character like hers in any kind of action-adventure-like story. There are many other characters that appear in the series but some of them come from previous MCU movies and they even may provide to be important to our heroes' journey.
Since this takes place around Christmas, there will be plenty of Christmas imagery that surrounds the streets of New York. even though the whole series is action and adventure the Christmas visuals surprisingly create that warm nostalgic feeling that you’d get from the holidays. Speaking of action, it only happens in bits and pieces but when it does happen it's friggen cool. I like the way that Hawkeye and Kate use their arrows and I like how this series expands upon the different types of arrows that carry different types of abilities. The fighting is of course top-notch since it is an MCU production and they once again never fail to impress me with their fast-paced action-packed suspense. Another thing that is also pretty cool is the end credit sequences which show 2D illustrated versions of characters and Christmas imagery.
The music for this mini-series was done by Christopher Beck most well known for scoring the Ant-Man and Frozen movies and co-conducted by Michael Paraskevas. The music is what you’d expect from Marvel and it may not be anything that remotely new or interesting. That is expected for in the beginning when they show a full-blown out musical number from a fictional play titled Rogers which is based on the 2012 battle from the Avengers. The song was written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman who both have experience with musical plays and movies so its very cool they got to use their talents to bring a fictional play to life with its great singers and over the top physical performances.
I’m not gonna act like this is on par with some of the best things the MCU has ever done. However, Hawkeye was a charming and fun adventure that while does have many familiar elements it also carries likable characters and pretty solid action that we have come to expect. If this is your first MCU Disney+ show you start on, it wouldn’t be a bad pick. There are plenty more MCU Disney+ shows that have gotten better reviews and have more of a fan base behind them. Until I see those, this was still a fun and likable journey that left me mostly satisfied in the long run.
(Final Grade: B)