‘Hawkeye’ Is Hit Or Miss So Far

One of the jokes about The Avengers: Age of Ultron was that they gave Jeremy Renner some dialogue this time for his role as Clint Barton/Hawkeye. He had been part of the first Avengers movie but was overshadowed by some of the bigger characters. Renner has been acting in movies since the mid-1990s, but remained in mostly supporting roles until his breakout role as Jeffrey Dahmer in Dahmer leading Kathryn Bigelow to cast him in the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker. His first role as Hawkeye was in Thor, but that was 10 years ago and the Thor movies weren’t the best of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So far this year, Disney-Plus has been a life saver to the MCU after the long-anticipated Black Widow was less than stellar and Eternals which was highly anticipated as well so far hasn’t done so well with taking hits by critics and the box office. WandaVision was appropriate as it dealt with grief, resonating with the Covid-19 pandemic. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was not as memorable mainly for a pathetic villain. But the issue of whether we should go back to the way things were or continue seems to resonate with the divide in America as well as things are changing but some want to go back to the way it was.

In my opinion, the MCU hasn’t handled the Snap/Blip in a way that seems realistic. That last Spider-Man movie was foolish. They wouldn’t be sending the kids back to restart the semester. They would’ve probably did what we did with the pandemic. But that’s a post for another time. Hawkeye is set after the Blip but it seems the MCU can’t keep from going back to the Battle of New York since the first Avengers movie.

We’re introduced to a young Kate Bishop who loses her father in the ordeal, which is probably the first time they’ve addressed any civilians dying from that sequence. Cut to several years later, and Bishop (Haillee Steinfeld) is returning to New York City for the Christmas holidays. Her mother, Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) is engaged to Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton), who we immediately know isn’t a good guy because as they are attending a charity ball, he sneaks off to a black market auction in the wine cellar. A Russian street gang interrupts but Kate, who has tailed him down because her clothing confuses others for a waiter, finds the Ronin suit Barton wore in Avengers: Endgame and begins to kick some ass.

Barton is in NYC with his family attending Rogers: The Musical, which from what we see is about the Battle of New York again. And eventually, he sees the news of Kate in the Ronin suit and tracks her down. If you know anything, you know that Kate is going to be his protege. Barton is hardly in the first episode as much as he should, but things picked up in the second episode.

Part of the problem with the MCU series is they don’t seem to be getting where they’re going until the third or fourth episodes, while Loki went around and around only to tell us, wait for the second season to find out more. Since the MCU is constantly connected and ongoing, part of me wonders if Clint is going to pass the bow and arrow to Kate. He retired once before. After having to watch Natasha/Black Widow sacrifice herself to get the Soul Stone, I have a feeling this is where the series is heading. And Renner, himself, just turned 50 this year. Steinfeld is half his age.

As for Steinfeld, I must say, I like her, but she’s doing the same teen/youth angst shtick she did in Bumblebee and The Edge of Seventeen. She needs more mature roles than any other actress right now. And like Black Widow, I think the title may refer to more than one character. It’s already been announced and hinted at in the end of Widow that Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva probably to avenge Natasha’s death.

I’m not really sure how much longer the MCU is going to be as popular with audiences. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a welcome surprise but I feel that after the next Spidey movie, Tom Holland should also retire or at least send Peter Parker off to college in another part of the country. Right now, Marvel’s parent Disney who acquire 20th Century Fox can still dangle that Fantastic Four movie in front of audiences.

As for Hawkeye, I don’t know where exactly it’s headed, but I think it needs to start concentrating on the right targets. Some of the MCU’s best works have been the ones that weren’t so heavily anticipated. I’m not sure if this will be a big surprise or let down. Time with tell.