If it’s any Avenger that’s underrated in my opinion, it’s Hawkeye. “But he doesn’t even have superpowers, and his main weapons are just lame trick arrows”, you may scoff. You may say that now, but I’ll bet many of you guys chose to be a stealth archer class and still took down whole dragons in Skyrim. If you guys don’t already know, archers are cool, and always have been. Look at Robin Hood, Katniss Everdeen, Legolas (you can’t deny his body count), and Merida. And Hawkeye is every bit as bad-ass (if not more so) than all of them. It’s just difficult to stand out when you’re put next to some of the most powerful fighters in the universe, battling the most overpowered villains. Forgive me if I seem a bit defensive over him, but I’ve been defending Hawkeye since the first Avengers. I’m just happy he finally get’s his own spotlight, albeit in the form of a series, not a film. But the way the other MCU shows have been going on Disney+ so far, that’s almost a better thing.
The aforementioned series begins with our hero Clint Barton, aka “Hawkeye”, (Jeremy Renner) spending some much needed quality time on Christmas holiday in New York City with his kids. Ok, it actually begins in 2012, when the other main protagonist Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) witnesses Hawkeye being a badass in the epic final battle of the first Avengers film. From that event, Kate’s life is forever shaped from her hero worship, as she dedicated herself into the study of fencing, martial arts, lock picking, and most of all–archery. Skip back to present day in which Kate has become an incredibly skilled young woman…with not much of an outlet put her hero skills to the test. That soon changes when comes across Ronin’s (also aka, Hawkeye when he was going through some dark times) suit, and attracts some very bad attention from some local gangsters. Thankfully her hero Clint just happens to be in town to help her clean up the mess.
As complicated as I’m making the plot sound, this is arguably the easiest watch so far in the MCU Disney+ series line up. While that definitely doesn’t make it the “best” one by any means, I found myself much more willing to binge this one. Hawkeye just had a much more straightforward story telling style than the others, combined with pretty even pacing, charming dialogue, and just the right balance of funny and heavy moments.
Hailee Steinfeld is no rookie to acting, and I’m really thankful for her being cast as Kate Bishop. Hailee was excellent at portraying Kate as cocky, yet unsure, strong, yet innocent. I’m also actually pretty excited that they brought in Kate Bishop to the MCU in general, as her character (debuting in 2005) is a relative newcomer as far as comics are concerned. The series would not been nearly as good if not for her fun dynamic with Jeremy Renner. Watching these two bicker the entire time made it feel like they were already three MCU movies into their career together. As far as Renner’s individual performance goes, we can really see and appreciate the evolution in character between Clint Barton’s first MCU introduction and now.
While all of the episodes are pretty consistent and solid with no real stand outs, if I had to pick a personal favorite, it would probably be Episode 2, “Hide and Seek.” While it was by no means the best in terms of action in the series, it was just so funny that I actually had to pause and rewind a couple of times…not something I was expecting to happen from this series. The later the episodes go, the better the action scenes got, and lovers of archery heroes and trick arrows like me are definitely in for a treat.
Depending on what time of year you watch it, Hawkeye, has either a major perk or flaw; and that is it’s at its core a Christmas story, dare I say more than people think Die Hard is. Not only does it take place during Christmas, but the holiday drives much of the plot of the series, as Clint’s main goal is to finish cleaning up Kate’s mess in time to spend Christmas with his family. The show also was brimming with subtle homages to many other classic Christmas films and tropes. Anyone watching as it first aired saw it all throughout December, right as that Christmas season hype is getting real. Was that why it was so easy for me to watch? I just wanted a Christmas show? I really hope that’s not the case. The real test will be to watch it anytime not during the holiday season and see if it’s just as effective. My theory is the more “Christmassy” a media is, the more you only want to watch it around Christmas time…it just feels wrong any other time of year.
While I can’t say for sure, I think Hawkeye can still be enjoyed even after the holiday season. And if you haven’t caught it yet, I recommend you do so. Not only is it a fun, easy to digest watch, but also throws some curveballs that may prove to be pretty important in future MCU installations. Then again, who am I kidding? Everything MCU we’ve seen so far on Disney+ is setting up for something big. I’m just thankful that my man Hawkeye finally got some of his own spotlight.
