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Hawkeye Review: Clint Barton & Kate Bishop Need More Than Chemistry To Keep The Audience Hooked
Hawkeye follows Clint Barton on a trip in New York with his kids when he is forced to face his dark past and the enemies he created as the famed assassin Ronin
Available
On:
Disney+
Hotstar
Duration:
40
Minutes
/
8
Episodes
-
Weekly
Release
Language:
English
Story: Hawkeye follows Clint Barton on a New York trip with his kids when he is forced to face his dark past and the enemies he made as the famed assassin Ronin. He then meets young Kate Bishop who claims to be 'world's greatest archer'. They both team up to fight his enemies before he has to go back to his family for Christmas.
Disclaimer: This is a review of the first two episodes of the show.
Review: Marvel has raised the expectation of OTT shows with releases like WandaVision and Loki, however, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye stays at most mediocre with little storyline explored in the first two episodes of the show. The show does not take itself too seriously and plays with the chill Christmas mood as opposed to the previous mind-bending releases of Phase 4. While it might seem like a relief at first, it does lack the magic (not literally) of other Marvel shows.
Hawkeye is set out to be a mix of things, not only does it attempt to explore Clint Barton's character, humanise an Avenger, introduce a new superhero but also pay homage to Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. The first episode explores Kate Bishop's only connection to Clint Barton until they truly cross each other's path. Kate who lost her father during the alien attack in New York was also saved by Hawkeye. Ever since she grew up idolizing him enough to take up archery, martial arts, fencing and similar sports to sharpen her skills.
Years later, post blip and Natasha's death they cross paths in New York once again during Christmas. This time, it is Kate Bishop being chased by Barton. Kate who happens to have landed her hands on Ronin's suit starts to attract attention from the media as well as Ronin's age-old enemies. However, the enemies are already on her tail and the suit is gone. That's where episode two takes the leading stars, with Clint trying to retrieve his lost suit during LARPing. It makes for a fun episode watching the superheroes take a moment to enjoy life similar to watching them eat shawarma.
They finally end up joining forces with Kate as the eager apprentice and Clint as a reluctant partner to fend off the enemies for good. They both have fun and remorseful chemistry enough that they stand on their own even while having most of the scenes together.
Hawkeye does plenty to give Barton a chance to be a regular guy, which also happens to be something he has been wanting to do all along. Live a simple happy life with his family that had been killed after Thanos's attack in- End Game. However, it is hard for him to move on knowing his best friend Natasha won't be around to see any of it. Meanwhile, Kate who has been waiting all for life to interact with Clint is disappointed in his shrewd behaviour but cannot give up on the chance that easily.
What drags the show down is the screenplay and dialogues. With everything established in the first episodes, there were high hopes to push the drama forward however, it turns into a crime drama similar to Hulu's Only Murders In The Building.
Even with enough chemistry between Clint and Kate, it is not enough to counter the slow paces and pauses between each dialogue. Hopefully, the show will pick up the pace in the next couple of episodes and include more of the MCU characters including Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova.
