Hawkeye review: Hailee Steinfeld is the shining star of Marvel's piece of festive fun

 

In a year full of Marvel film and TV offerings, Hawkeye has emerged as a surprising frontrunner and festive treat. Clint Barton may be seemingly semi-retired and wanting to spend Christmas with his family, but he certainly isn't the most boring Avenger anymore. Surrounded by a colourful cast of characters and exceptional performances, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye is thrust into the middle of a criminal conspiracy alongside a plucky young woman who idolises him - Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld).

Brimming with enthusiasm and perhaps a little overconfident, Kate sneaks into a black market auction and finds the suit of the Ronin – Clint's criminal-killing alter ego during the Blip. Her discovery draws the attention of New York's criminal underworld, many of whom remember Ronin's deeds and have a score to settle. Also involved in these events as they spiral out of control are Kate's mother Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) and her fiancé Jack Dusquesne (Tony Dalton), as well as the mysterious Echo (Alaqua Cox) who seeks revenge for the death of her father.

The show really does have a star-studded cast, and not one person lets the team down. Every performance is brilliant and feels as though the cast are truly having fun in their roles. Dalton especially is having a ball as the affluent Jack Dusquesne, a fencing enthusiast who alternates between being charismatic but shady, and blissfully ignorant of the the superhero antics going on around him. Despite some of the dark elements to the story, Hawkeye doesn't miss an opportunity to inject some humour, as evidenced by Clint receiving some unlikely aid from a group of LARPers (Live Action Roleplayers, who don fantasy armour and weapons for fun).

With such a talented cast, it is really impressive that Steinfeld carries the show's first half effortlessly on her shoulders. The pacing is slow to begin with, while the focus is on the growing mentor/student relationship between Clint and Kate. Her bubbly, irrepressible attitude is always 100% on; Steinfeld never wavers in her performance and attacks it head-on with a fiercely animated and positive demeanor. She also possesses a rare gift in that she has a great rapport with every actor she's on-screen with. No matter who they are or what their characters' relationship is meant to be, Steinfeld can connect with others easily, and it makes even her one-to-one, dialogue-heavy scenes really captivating.

There are downsides to having such a broad and interesting range of characters. Some of them don't get as much of a chance to impress. Two incredibly talented actors, who play the leader of the Tracksuit Mafia group of gangsters and an assassin after Clint, respectively, don't get introduced until the last episodes of the series. The actors give everything to their roles, and the characters are exceedingly well-written, but unfortunately the series is too short and too overstuffed to give everyone an equal chance to make an impression.

It may be crammed full of characters, but part of Hawkeye's charm is the fact that narratively and thematically it's stripped back to a simpler, more down-to-earth story. There are no alternate universes or aliens (except if you count the performers dressed as Chitauri in Rogers: The Musical), this is just pure vigilante heroism. Even though our heroes may have a chequered past and not all villains are unsympathetic, the series takes a much more simple narrative approach in a Clint and Kate vs criminal underworld story. It's a refreshing change from always having to think about different universes, timelines, and supernatural entities in the more complex shows like Loki and WandaVision.

Not only are the performances and writing great, Hawkeye absolutely nails its action sequences as well. The fights, whether one-on-one or Kate and Clint against the whole of the Tracksuit Mafia, are just as thrilling as anything else the series has to offer. No one would dare to argue that Hawkeye is a boring character after this. There's car chases, hand-to-hand combat, and more ridiculous, superpowered arrows than you could possibly imagine.

Hawkeye is just great festive fun with an all-star cast. If Kate Bishop gets her own spin-off, it would be well deserved after Steinfeld's show-stealing performance.