Hawkeye Review Episode 1-2: Kate Bishop’s Explosive Debut New Enemies And The Same Clint Barton As Ever

Director: Rhys Thomas

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Vera Farmiga, Alaqua Cox, Tony Dalton

Streaming Platform: Disney+ (watch from here)

Filmyhype Ratings: 4/5 (four star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

The new Marvel Studios Hawkeye TV series debuts November 24, 2021 on Disney+ with the first two episodes (out of 6 total). The plot is dedicated to the origins of Kate Bishop or the heroine who becomes the heir of Hawkeye in the Marvel comics. Clint Barton, in spite of himself, will have to collaborate with the young archer and be able to reach his family by Christmas day.

Hawkeye Review: The Story

These first two episodes of Hawkeye are incredibly connected with the first unforgettable Avengers movie. There are constant references to the film and beyond. Marvel has done an excellent job, also showing us some of the consequences to the normal population of the Chitauri attack in New York, consequences never shown until now. The series is set in the post-blip New York City, where all the inhabitants remember what the Avengers did to save the city and the whole world. But it is the Christmas atmosphere that makes everything magical and incredible. It is useless, all products (films or series that are) set in Christmas New York have an edge.

Hawkeye starts from an extremely romantic premise. Since 2012, from that fateful day in New York that changed the life of the Avengers forever. We are shown little Kate, who in spite of herself ended up the victim of a violent attack by the Chitauri army, only to receive enlightenment before her eyes. Hawkeye, the human hero, battling hordes of aliens sporting his unfailing bow.

An epiphany that, in the aftermath of a family tragedy, will push the very young Bishop to take the path of the warrior training in martial arts and archery. Years later we find her grown up, with the face of a convincing Hailee Steinfield who seeks his place in the world by making his mother apprehensive. But when she finds herself involved in a shady auction house, discovering that a person close to her family seems to be involved in non-transparent matters, Kate takes on her responsibilities and faces a dangerous criminal gang, finding herself at the center of a large misunderstanding that brings back the figure of the Ronin on the stage.

The killer executioner that Clint Barton had impersonated following the Blip, enraged and blinded by grief for having lost his family, then returns to torment the former Avenger played by Jeremy Renner, who in pursuing the false vigilante runs into the young and exuberant Bishop, who in turn recognizes him as the legendary hero who has inspired her throughout her life. From these premises the Hawkeye plot starts, which therefore will tell us about the relationship between the two protagonists in what seemed to us an interesting emotional crescendo.

Review and Analysis

Kate Bishop, the young archer played by Hailee Steinfeld, is perfect. The character has perfectly integrated into the atmosphere of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the alchemy that has been created with Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is incredible. We are sure that you will soon fall in love with Kate and her way of doing things. Hawkeye takes the best of the MCU and brings it back in a revised and fresher way. The irony, never out of place and not exaggerated, the references to the other heroes, the new villains. Everything seems to us in the right place and in the right proportions. We will see how it will evolve in the next episodes.

The first two episodes of Hawkeye also feature several new characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and are already useful in introducing what is thought to be one of the big mysteries of the show (and for which several theories will probably be elaborated by fans). Obviously, from the third episode onwards, it is expected that the situation will heat up even more and that the true intentions of the villain will be revealed.

Kate Bishop’s character is a real surprise: you immediately realize how confident, independent, enterprising and even cheeky the girl is. Hailee Steinfeld’s interpretation is authentic: it seems that Kate has always been in the MCU! Jeremy Renner is obviously comfortable playing Clint Barton after playing the archer for 10 years. Hawkeye is the most human of the Avengers, he has no superpowers and to be happy he just needs to spend time with his wife and his three children. There are only 6 days left until Christmas and his plans are turned upside down by a young girl who gets into trouble and whom he feels the need to help. The how and why Clint and Kate make a couple is very well explained in these first two episodes and it is not entirely coincidental as you might think.

There seems no doubt how much the Marvel series, both in the graphic style and in the tones of the story, wants to be inspired by the famous comic run by Matt Fraction and David Aja, recovering different stylistic references and more generally the atmosphere of an ironic and funny action movie.

Hawkeye does not spare himself, in fact, a certain basic lightness that perhaps has little to do with the more serious and introspective writing of The Falcon and the Winter. In this sense, we find that the first episode of the show coming to Disney + is undoubtedly the most successful of the two initials, as it effectively introduces the various protagonists of the story while maintaining an aura of overwhelming nostalgia towards the past of the good Barton; at the same time the pilot manages to characterize the figure of Kate Bishop very well, writing its origins in an incipit that cannot fail to excite longtime fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The second episode is, in our opinion, a little more subdued than the previous one: it develops the trend of the plot, which inevitably will not have to allow itself too much lengthening due to the reduced format of 6 episodes, and above all confirms the mostly light-hearted tones and humorous production. A style that, unlike many other Marvel products, does not clash too much with the intentions of the work, but which perhaps has yet to discover its dimension. In the premiere there is a good amount of action, which we found sparkling and well choreographed but even in this sense we believe that Hawkeye has yet to show its best.

To complete our first impressions, therefore, we believe that the most successful element of the product is the excellent alchemy between Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfield: the first now widely tested in the characterization of a more tired and inclined to parenthood Clint Barton, the second already from this beginning promises to give life to a charming, energetic and nice Kate. A beautiful baptism that, given Steinfield’s young age, projects Hawkeye’s co-star towards a more than rosy future, both in the film industry and in the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe, and this we could only find out during Phase 4, at the helm of the much vaunted and anticipated Young Avengers… but that’s another story. In the meantime, let’s see how sharp Hawkeye’s arrows will be.

Hawkeye Review: The Last Words

After watching the first two episodes we can tell you that Hawkeye seems a fun and pleasant product, aware of its more light-hearted and amused tones but equally inclined to tell us about a good mentor-student relationship. The alchemy between Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfield is undoubtedly the most successful element of a production that has yet to demonstrate the quality of the writing and the effectiveness of the action scenes. The premises to give the MCU Clint Barton a worthy epic (and perhaps conclusion), but also to launch an exuberant and pleasant character like Kate Bishop, are all there. So let’s see if the series on the two Hawkeyes will prove to be, as per the premise, the enjoyable Christmas action that Marvel Studios have promised us.