'Hawkeye' lets the grumpiest Avenger have some fun

The Disney+ series is a Christmas lark.

A Hawkeye TV show sounds like a joke. 

After all, Black Widow already gave one super-powerless Avenger a showcase. And while it was a fun little movie, I can’t imagine that anyone was clamoring for anything about the one hero whose most well-known characteristics are that he lives on a farm, is grumpy and likes to shoot arrows. 

And Disney+’s Hawkeye isn’t coming at the best time for my relationship with the MCU. Eternals opened to the worst reviews ever for a Marvel film, and while it’s still been fairly successful at the box office, it doesn’t seem to be the cultural juggernaut most of the properties are. It’s the first Marvel film I haven’t rushed out to see in theaters, and I’ve already pondered whether my blasé attitude about Spider-man: No Way Home means I’m getting some Marvel fatigue. I can’t say I was overly hyped to watch Jeremy Renner do archery in New York. 

And yet, Hawkeye is a lark that, based on the two episodes I’ve seen (of six in total), is a fun Yuletide addition to the growing MCU streaming-verse. 

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The show finds Clint Barton in New York at the holidays, spending some alone time with his kids while his wife is back on the farm at home (presumably because Linda Cardellini couldn’t get away for long). He has plans to take in a Broadway show and watch some Christmas movies with them before heading home, but he’s intercepted by college student Kate Bishop (Haillee Steinfeld), who has her own problems involving a stolen suit and the shady behavior of her mother’s fiancé. Hawkeye gets his kids on the next train home and vows to clean up Kate’s mess and still make it home to welcome Santa Claus. 

After the multiverse-hopping of What If…, the time warping of Loki and the global intrigue of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye feels positively quaint in its first two episodes. With its New York location and low-level Russian thugs, so far it feels not that far removed from a ‘00s ABC drama like Alias. That’s not a knock; director Rhys Thomas, who previously helmed specials for John Mulaney and Saturday Night Live, keeps things moving with a good sense of humor. There’s a lot of mileage gained, particularly in the first episode, from its holiday in New York setting, which always gooses any worthy actioner. And the show makes sure to include the requisite Marvel in-jokes; in this case, a Broadway special called Rodgers: The Musical will be the highlight for many. Plus, there’s a dog. 

Despite the show’s name, Steinfeld’s Kate is the show’s main character, and she’s a compelling one. Kate has her own archery background and martial arts training, for reasons made clear in the pilot’s opening sequence. Steinfeld brings a welcome sense of humor and heart to the role, and she’s adept in the show’s many hand-to-hand combat sequences. The relationship between her mother (Vera Farmiga) and her soon-to-be stepfather (Better Call Saul’s Tony Dalton) is clearly going to play a major role over the six episodes, and the show gets a lot from these very watchable actors.

I kid about Hawkeye being the grumpiest and most uninteresting Avenger, but only partially. It’s not Renner’s fault; unfortunately, when you have a regular Joe in an ensemble with gods, super soldiers and tech geniuses, he’s going to get lost by default (the exception being Age of Ultron, which found interesting layers to add to Clint and his family). As the focal point, Renner’s a lot of fun here. He’s gruff and grumpy in a charming way, and the show does explore how it feels for him to be the least cool Avenger. He’s also given a vulnerability via hearing loss sustained in the heat of battle that isn’t dealt with too much in the early episodes, but that I’m sure will play a role in the rest of the season. 

There’s not much else I can say without seeing the other episodes or having Disney’s spoiler cops batter through my door. Two episodes in, though, Hawkeye is fun. The action is fast, there are moments of good humor and the show’s holiday setting helps it stand apart from other New York-set adventures. I’m a bit worried about how closely its plot seems to hinge on events from previous movies — a particularly annoying corner Marvel Studios has backed itself into — but we’ll see how that develops. For now, Hawkeye’s a perfectly fun, down-to-earth Avenger adventure.