Review 624: Hawkeye

 

Out of the first five of the MCU/Disney+ shows, Hawkeye feels more akin to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in that it feels much more grounded especially compared to the wierder nature of the three previous offerings (WandaVision, Loki and What If...? (Season 1)). Yet despite its lack of grandiose ambitions, it's all the more successful for it, giving the spotlight to the most overlooked Avenger.

Set over a year after the events of Avengers: Endgame; Former Avenger, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) has a seemingly simple mission: Get back to his family in time for Christmas. Possibly? Maybe with the help of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a superhero. The two are forced to work together when a presence from Barton's past threatens to derail far more than the festive spirit.

The show draws heavily and intelligently from Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye comic run. Elements such as Lucky the Pizza Dog, an adorable golden retriever who is a companion to Barton and Bishop are very clearly taken from that run. But rather than forcing his perfonality from that run, Clint's new depths are found by digging into events he's endured during his onscreen career.                                    A lot of the show explores the ramifications of Clint's time as the Ronin during the Blip. He watched his familly his family turn to ash as a result of Thanos' snap and how did he deal with that? By dressing up as a ninja and ruthlessly killing gangsters with a sword.

At it's core Hawkeye is about the nature of Heroism and Second Chances: When he confronts Maya and the Tracksuit Mafia

The series explores the nature of Heroism through both Clint and Kate. What makes their partnership so enduring is the contrast between the enthusiastic, eager kid yearning to get her shot to prove she too can be a hero and the older wrold weary vet which makes for a superbly inspired double act. Their aspiring hero/mentor relationship between them is the emotional core of the show.

At its core, Hawkeye is fundementally a Christmas, Superhero    

Directors Rhys Thomas and Bert & Bertie’s direction is rousingly sharp, the cinematography is fantastic and captures the beautiful, delicate atmosphere of New York during at Christmas time. The score by Christophe Beck is catchy, the action scenes are exciting, expertly staged and well choreographed, the production design is terrific, the costumes are fabulous,

Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld are a simply inspired double act playing Clint Barton and Kate Bishop. Hawkeye is very much Kate’s story as it is Clint’s. They have a wonderful surrogate father/daughter relationship where Clint is definitely the weary soldier to Kate’s excitable kid where their meeting brings an onslaught of problems into Barton’s life as he doesn’t understand her obsession with him. In his mind, he wants to protect Kate and makes sure his war with the Tracksuit mafia doesn't endanger her in any way. But despite that they do bond and quickly become friends. His relationship with her provides Clint with a lot of nauance and they both learn from each other about what it means to be a hero in a unforgiving post-blip world. Kate brings out Clint's more quirky and humorous side.

At the start of the show, Clint seems to have found the peace that he's always wanted yet this enormous price has been paid. He's living with this insecurtity of is his true self Hawkeye or the Ronin? Because on the one hand, Hawkeye is the hero that Kate idolises but he knows he's also the Ronin.                             He blames himself for Natasha's death and his past as the Ronin has come back to haunt him and it's only when he meets Kate that he realises that he has to stop blaming himself and that he has put those demons to rest and own up to what he's done.

Although at first Clint doesn't want anything to do with the girl whom he see's a someone who ruined his Christmas, over the course of the show, he finds himself drawn to this reckless, confident, brave, good natured young girl with a strong sense of justice. Against his better judgement, he takes her under his wing and mentors her. Much like he did with Natasha at the beginning of her defection to S.H.I.E.L.D. and with Wanda Maximoff in Age of Ultron, Clint provides Kate with encouragement during scary moments in the field, shows her how to properly take care of herself after a nasty fight and gives her serious life advice about how loss and mistakes come with being a hero just as much as recognition and colourful costumes. He provides a mentorship that fills the void of her recently deceased father, she can't find from anyone else.

Steinfeld beautifully embodies the good-natured, quirky, thrill-seeking nature of Kate Bishop. Having idolised Clint since childhood, Kate has dedicated her life to learning archery, fencing, gymnastics and martial arts. A young girl in her early 20s who aspires to be a superhero. Opening with an expertly executed flashback to The Avengers (2012), the premire episode "Never Meet Your Heroes is told through Kate's eyes where we get to see her history of loss and the ways in which Hawkeye became something of an idol for her. She took a moment of tragedy and loss and turned it into something positive.             

Over the course of the series, they become a surrounded by a cast of colourfully eclectic characters that filter in and out throughout the series.

Alaqua Cox is a true find playing Maya Lopez/Echo. I was surprised by the directions they took her in this series considering she's a superheroine in the comics. Through her, we see the ramifications of Clint's time as the Ronin and how it affects her giving Clint a personal stake in his excapades. Being able to say alot whilst not having any spoken dialogue. 

Fra Free  playing Kazimierz "Kazi" Kazimierczak, a mercenary for the Tracksuit mafia and childhoodfriend of Maya's. There's a quite intensity to the character that Free captures expertly onscreen. He's desperately wanted to work his way up the ranks, but been unable to do so because of Maya's position as the leader.

Better Call Saul's Tony Dalton is a lot of fun playing Jack Duquesne/Swordsman; in the comics, he's Hawkeye's mentor as well as a character who switches between a hero and a villain. That's definately not the case in this show where he's Kate's mother Eleanor's (Vera Farmiga) fiance and potential stepfather to Kate, brilliantly playing the character with an air of mystery, chummy excentricness and charisma and while his character never felt fully utilised in the long run, Dalton's delightfully off-kilter perfromance never failed to impress.

Vera Farmiga is very strong playing Eleanor Bishop, Kate's mother who may or may not have a few secrets of her own. Outwardly a simple, loving mother, doting on Kate and worrying about her getting hurt, as the show goes on, the layers start to unravel and show that she has a dark side and willing to go to the extremes to protect her daughter.

In the second half of the season, Clint and Kate get accosted by Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) from Black Widow because she is out to kill Clint on the misguded intel that he killed Natasha Romanoff during the events of Avengers: Endgame. Pairing her with Kate Bishop was a stroke of genius on the writers part. Those two were so entertaining because they’re presented as such as great contrast to each other: Both are skilled young women but whereas Kate is a relative newcomer to the superhero game, Yelena was indoctrinated into the Red Room at a young age and is a trained a playing Yelena’s experience off of Kate’s naïvety is just inspired. 

Linda Cardellini also reprises her role playing Clint's wife Laura have been a one-note plot device into  into a captivating three-dimensional character that feels like an integral part of the storyline even when she isn't.

It's almost impossible to talk about the overeaching villain of Hawkeye without giving away a major spoiler. Late into the game, we learn that Echo and the Tracksuit Mafia have been operating under Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio reprising his role from the Daredevil Netflix Series, unseen by me but not by it's dedicated fans). If there's one thing the success of Daredevil has taught me, you really can't go wrong with D'Onofrio as Kingpin and he is every bit as impossing as he was then. He only shows in the finale, So, This Is Christmas? But D'Onofrio is such a powerhouse actor, he makes every scene he's in count.

Hawkeye hits the Bullseye, 4.5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.