TV Review: Hawkeye (2021)

Hawkeye (2021) created for television by Jonathan Igla based on the Marvel Comics character

Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is enjoying a little Christmas time with the kids in New York City when he gets dragged into a problematic situation. Some organized crime types hold an underground auction that includes items from the ruins of the Avengers Tower in Manhattan. Some of those items are compromising materials for Clint. Worse yet, an arrow-shooting Hawkeye fan named Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) happens upon the auction during a swanky party and she steals the costume that Clint used after The Snap when he went a little AWOL and was killing off criminals as Ronin. She puts on the suit and is mistaken for Clint's other alter ego, engaging the ire of some local criminals, including the "Track Suit Mafia," a group of Russian ne'er-do-wells who start gunning for Kate. 

Kate has her own problems as she discovers that her mom (Vera Farmiga) is romantically linked with a smarmy and potentially criminal guy (Tony Dalton). So she's dodging bullets from the Track Suit Mafia and investigating her maybe-future-father-in-law. She's also so new to the hero business that she makes lots of mistakes. As if the holidays weren't already tough enough.

The show is definitely a product of the Marvel Formula. It has humor and heart and drama well balanced. It connects with the continuity of the other Marvel films and TV shows (happily, even with Netflix) without being inscrutable or just a cog in the wheel of the greater Marvel narrative. The actors are well cast and no one is phoning in a performance for a paycheck. The new hero (Kate) has a lot of challenges to overcome in learning to be a hero. 

One of the challenges with the character Hawkeye is that he has, other than preternatural marksmanship, no superpowers. He doesn't have invulnerability or flight or magical healing. He even has a hearing aid because of the extremely noisy lifestyle he leads. The villains are appropriately scaled back to his level, giving him plenty of challenge without him being ridiculously overmatched. His main goal is to make it home for Christmas, though being a just man he can't leave people like Kate Bishop, who in many ways is her own worst enemy, in jeopardy. His heroism is that he does the right thing regardless, a message that is often repeated because it always needs reinforcement.

Recommended, highly for Marvel fans.

Currently (January 2022), the show is only streaming on Disney+.