She-Hulk Review: Episode 1-2 MCU’S First True Comedy Convinces and Entertains
Cast: Tatiana Maslany, Mark Ruffalo, Tim Roth, Benedict Wong
Director: Kat Coiro, Anu Valia
Streaming Platform: Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Starting on August 18, 2022, on Disney+ arrives She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the new Marvel series that sees Tatiana Maslany’s protagonist. The actress, best known for her acclaimed performance in Orphan Black, debuts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the interpreter of Jennifer Walters, a lawyer who serves as legal counsel to various superheroes and who is the cousin of Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s alter ego. When Marvel announced the development of a She-Hulk series, skepticism reigned above all among fans. Things did not improve that much when the first images were shared showing Tatiana Maslany in the role of the protagonist, with green skin and a CGI work judged insufficiently or in any case below expectations. What arrives this month on Disney+, however, is a TV series ready to make even the most skeptical viewers think again.
Why She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, at least in the first 2 episodes that we were able to preview, yes it begins with the classic modus operandi of the MCU TV series, which is a somewhat staid departure aimed at introducing the protagonists or the circumstance of the moment for good, and then taking a very specifies: it is 100% a comedy, both structurally and thematically, and from a certain point onwards the focus is really on Jennifer Walters’ legal career, complete with episode cases. A direction taken decidedly with force and in no uncertain terms, always pleasant and fresh just the right, despite some of the usual defects of the Marvel series has already come knocking on the door.
She-Hulk Review: The Story
From the very first episode, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law does what all (or most) superhero-centric works should be trying to do, which is to entertain. It does so with a constant lightness, typical of the best international comedies, of which it is the spokesperson not only the protagonist but also characters (especially the Nikki of Ginger Gonzaga, Jennifer’s hilarious best friend) that we cannot define simply as secondary because this would mean to diminish their contribution to the narrative which instead, thanks also to them, flows like a wonder. She-Hulk is the result of work carried out by a purely female team: it is no coincidence, therefore, that the series has fun and is committed to showing what it means to be a single and independent woman in today’s society, for good and in evil, from giving in to the temptation of blind dates to facing a group of bad guys while walking alone in a dark alley. Friendship, family relationships, compassion and empathy are among the ingredients that most enrich the show. Jennifer Walters, despite her small physique, immediately demonstrates that she has a different strength from that of her alter ego but is still just as effective when it comes to juggling the best in the metropolitan jungle.
As anticipated, the protagonist is Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), a lawyer desperate to make a name for herself and cousin of the much more famous Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), aka Hulk. A life destined to change definitively following a car accident – perhaps staged a little too cartoonistically – precisely during a trip with her cousin, as she will accidentally end up absorbing Hulk’s blood in her veins. Awakened in a sort of tropical resort that Bruce uses as a laboratory, she will be examined by him far and wide and will begin a long inner journey made of hard training, yoga and meditation to learn how to keep his Hulk at bay. Or, at least, this was Bruce’s plan, which will immediately be shattered by the huge differences that Jennifer exhibits: she can control the transformation and maintain her personality even when she becomes a green giant.
She is then convinced that she can ignore these unpleasant events without remorse and freely return to her career, which obviously will take a very different turn. And first of all, we would like to clarify how central the presence of the breaking of the fourth wall in She-Hulk, a crucial and inevitable aspect for all fans of the character, here used essentially in a very light way and as a pure comic trick, simple and functional. But that’s just one of the ideas that the Marvel series has brought to life with near-icy perfection.
She-Hulk Review and Analysis
To make She-Hulk a series to devour in a short time (in addition to the short duration of each episode) is however the perfect balance between comedy and action, which makes both the scenes concerning Jennifer Walters’ private life and the more eventful ones that show the Marvel heroine in action. A show with enormous potential that, thanks to the classic structure of the best legal dramas, would have the opportunity to develop an infinite number of cases and bring more and more characters from the Marvel universe to court, alternating new faces with old acquaintances. Something that, however you think it, brings a breath of fresh air that the Marvel Cinematic Universe certainly needed, dampening that strip of drama that has recently characterized most of the works that have arrived on small and large screens.
The cameos, scattered here and there within the episodes, fuel the enthusiasm of Marvel fans, underlining the series’ connection with the MCU. However, the show does not miss an opportunity to remind us how it could very well live by its light and achieve just as much success, even if only for Tatiana Maslany who returns to reaffirm all her interpretative talent even in a decidedly less dramatic context than the one for which she is most remembered. She-Hulk as already promised cameos galore and unveils a few from the start, with Emil Blonksky and Wong coming into play almost immediately. As for the other surprise appearances, fans are ready to witness the return of Charlie Cox as Daredevil and the series’ lead screenwriter Jessica Gao has said that other cameos have not yet been revealed.
The desire to involve the viewer and connect with him directly emerges through the (successful) choice of breaking the fourth wall. The screenwriter admitted that she was inspired, by a successful series like Fleabag, which also centered on a female protagonist capable of asserting herself without necessarily having to cling to a male counterpart. While watching the series, the viewer waits to catch the eye of Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk, ready to wink at him and explain what is going through her head at certain times. The only discordant note to report is probably the work of CGI which leads to a result that does not fully convince, although in any case the improvements compared to what was shown months ago are remarkable:
On the other hand, we were very surprised by how the now well-known tone of Marvel productions has been wonderfully translated into a comedy: at a superficial glance it might seem a trivial step, but it should always be remembered that a complete comedy has its own its time, it must be studied and prepared from scratch even when you are used to so many jokes in different products. In this sense, the reduced time has come to the rescue, which is around half an hour (abundant or thin depending on the case), because it allows a fast pace, in She-Hulk no time is wasted and something is always happening or is about to happen.
Apart from the première, which serves as a real general introduction to the entire series, both the horizontal and vertical plot develops seamlessly, with no downtime. And, if we add basic but incredibly multifaceted humor, the aforementioned breaks in the fourth wall that even tend to comment on the progress of the MCU with a touch of meta, the cameos that add further variety and the situations proposed at the limit of the absurd, She-Hulk is a candidate of arrogance to be the most coherent and constant Marvel series, at least for now. Unfortunately, the defects are instead of the known entities, between the CGI which stands at a fair level – far from standards of exceptionality and very disappointing and roughly shot action sequences. Sure, they’re a long way from being a central part of the show, which follows almost opposite paths, but more could and should have been done.
She-Hulk Review: The Last Words
After seeing the first 2 episodes, She-Hulk is curiously a candidate to be the most consistent and constant serial production by Marvel Studios. It does not attempt to tell immense things or introduce an incredible amount of new ideas, it does not seem to suffer any kind of drop in pace or quality, and it does not deviate from its main focus for minor secondary deviations that waste precious time, but just wants to be a simple pure comedy. And she does it practically perfectly: the reduced minutes allow an always-on rhythm and zero dead moments, there is the right variety of primary and secondary characters to bring different humor to the screen, Jennifer’s breaking of the fourth wall is bright and fresh, with cameos that also dramatically increase all these positive aspects. She-Hulk just works and never gets bored, at least for now. The only ones are now the classics of the Marvel series, starting with a CGI certainly decent and functional but little more and disappointing and approximate action sequences. If action which currently plays a very marginal role were to increase, much more must be done.
