ADVANCE REVIEW: Renner and Steinfeld are On Screen Perfection in Marvel’s Hawkeye

Over the course of twenty-three movies, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) has been the only original Avenger to not have his own solo movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The hero has played a major role in three of the four Avengers movies and minor roles in other MCU films, but has never had a story all this own, until now. Unlike his counterparts, Barton’s story will not be told out on the big screen, but instead on the television screen and his story will be the first Avenger’s story to be told in the Post-Blip world.

Marvel’s Hawkeye finds Barton in New York City, spending time with his children, days before Christmas. The former hero is on a mission to make this year the best Christmas ever for his kids, but when his past catches up to him, Barton realizes he may not get his Christmas wish after all. And if that isn’t enough for Barton, there’s the introduction of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) into his life. Newcomer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Bishop returns back to NYC to spend the Holidays with her mom (Vera Farmiga), but when mysterious things begin to unfold, Bishop finds herself on the hunt for a killer. When her paths cross with Barton, the two may have to team up if they expect to survive to see Christmas.

I had the opportunity to see the first two episodes of the series and, story wise, both episodes were used to build the foundation of the story rather than move it forward. With only six episodes in the season, I was hoping the writers would have opted to dive headfirst into the story rather than spend the first two episodes building it. My fear now is that this decision doesn’t leave a lot of time for the story to really unfold with only four episodes left in the season.

With that being said, Renner is just as great in this story as he has been in previous MCU movies. It is nice to see Renner take center stage in this series and Steinfeld was the perfect pick to join him for the ride. I have always been a fan of Steinfeld and this role continues to solidify those feelings. Her back and forth banter with Renner is one of the highlights in the first two episodes, while her solo scenes are just as compelling. The first two episodes leave you wanting to see more scenes between the two characters, and will leave you with no doubt why Steinfeld was cast in this fan favorite Marvel comics role.

Is Marvel’s Hawkeye the best MCU TV series, so far no. But does it have potential, yes. The first two episodes do leave you wanting to come back for more, especially because of how good Renner and Steinfeld are, but I think this should of been a show where the whole season was dropped in one swell swoop rather than an episode a week. The show has a very down to earth feel to it, which is great, but I’m hoping the story begins to pick up some steam by episode 3 or it may lose some of its audience.

Fans of Barton and fans of Kate Bishop will definitely want to check this series out. Those who are unsure, wait until Disney+ releases all the episodes, then give it a go.