Hawkeye (2021)

Overall, these first two episodes do a nice job teasing some mysteries while putting character and comedy front and center. The action is solid, if not particularly superb, with the wine bottle fight as a highlight. But it’s the Yuletide joy that takes center stage here.

It’s not the most exciting, challenging thing you can experience, but it’s never going to disappoint you, with its warm and cozy feelings. And that warm and cozy feeling primarily comes from the chemistry between Clint and Kate. Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld are just fantastic together.

Hawkeye manages to tell a story about the physical and mental wounds of Barton, while still maintaining a spirit of festive joy and warmth. He may be the last of the original Avengers to get his own story, but Hawkeye makes it worth the wait.

Marvel's latest Disney Plus series is a fun, free-wheeling action show energized by scene-stealing Hailee Steinfeld, who joins grouchy archer Jeremy Renner for some good, honest comfort viewing.

Hawkeye works because of the chemistry between Renner and Steinfeld, but also because it prioritizes character slightly more than action.

It’s Kate herself who is the true star of Hawkeye, and who seems destined to emerge at the other end as a new fan favorite. ... Hawkeye stands as a rare treat — a Marvel story worth saving not in spite of its humbleness, but because of it.

Hawkeye is modest in terms of threats and mythos compared to its MCU Disney+ predecessors, but it is nonetheless charming and full of heart. Hailee Steinfeld shines as Kate Bishop and will have many looking forward to her future at Marvel.

This adaptation of Aja and Fraction’s Hawkeye is smart, silly, and wonderfully shot, and it manages to reframe the worst Avenger in a way that works. Plus, it promises us a new generation of heroes who might just be able to be better than the ones who came before. And isn’t that just what the world needs?

When it focuses on its leads, it has the potential to be a relatively diverting, if airless, chapter of the Marvel universe — one unfettered thus far by the weight of Phase Four’s multiverse mishegas.

The Marvel Cinematic/Streaming Universe will never stop expanding, and this latest chapter holds the promise of becoming a solid and entertaining addition to the canon.

This is all in the name of torch-passing, handing off the role of Hawkeye from Renner to Steinfeld, and it's more exciting, one supposes, than doing it in a press release. But just like Hawkeye himself, nothing here feels essential.

“Hawkeye” features plenty of Marvel-standard action, but it’s the comedy and Christmas setting that make this entry stand out.

The action is as fun as ever, but I'll be watching for that heartwarming holiday cheer. [6 - 19 Dec 2021, p.10]

At least Hawkeye has atmosphere in spades and the refreshing presence of Steinfeld to set itself up for telling Clint’s story on a more human—and less superhuman—scale.

It’s a modest but promising start, and it seems likely enough that the show can carry its low-key comic energy through four more episodes.

There’s a lot to like here, most of it coming from Steinfeld. It feels like a superhero movie from the 2010s, all snarky quips and bombastic fight scenes – though it is strange neither Hawkeye nor Kate use their famed arrow skills in such action sequences. But the storyline is complicated, and you have to deeply care for Marvel lore to be invested in the mystery of Ronin’s suit and his missing sword (told you to swot up).

Overall Hawkeye’s not bad, or boring, it’s just… fine. It’s totally fine. Some people will like it, others might not, but it’s hard to see it arousing a great deal of passion either way.

Based on the first two episodes shared with critics, Hawkeye is a reasonably entertaining series with a holiday vibe that makes it fun to watch at this time of year. ... Yet it is still challenging to watch without feeling distanced from what’s transpiring. Like Falcon and Loki, Hawkeye is emotionally impenetrable, even though the gifted actors try their best to make you feel something.

If the plot isn’t up to much – what little happens in the first two episodes is erratic and riven with holes that leave you taking a lot on trust and hoping backfill will begin soon – the characters are credible and worth a little more emotional investment than usual.

Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld acquit themselves well in Disney Plus’s six-part superhero series that runs a little dry on yuletide gaiety.

Acknowledging that the character is the least-exciting Avenger can be fun in small doses, but it’s not a thing to base an entire series on.

The Disney Plus “Hawkeye” is too beholden to the larger MCU as a guiding narrative force and generic house style of filming to truly find its own voice as Fraction’s “Hawkeye” once did.

Marvel might have reached into its quiver once too often with "Hawkeye," at least based on the first two episodes, which offer a slow start tilted more toward the character of Kate Bishop than the titular Clint Barton. Amusing in places, this holiday-themed series makes jokes about trick arrows, but it's going to need a few more tricks up its sleeve.

“Hawkeye” is clearly more concerned with setting up Kate Bishop for future MCU phases than creating a problem worthy of two heroes’ time. And at six hours, it’s certainly not worthy of yours.

I wanted a “Hawkeye” that translated the wit and creativity of the Fraction/Aja series into something that stood on its own instead of just echoing a better work on the page while previewing likely better works on the big screen. This series lacks the zip and polish that Kate Bishop and Clint Barton deserve. ... It feels like it’s shooting at the wrong target altogether.