Matt Dunn

A good movie that was very fun to watch if you don't think about the themes, and considerably more interesting if you do. Visually it was a spectacle, the action was distinct and punchy, and writing-wise was above average, though at times it did strain with the weight of what preceded it; there was a fair amount of exposition to help those who are not up to date. Reflecting on it, it did a great job at leveraging the externalization of the internal conflicts of the main characters, set on a global stage. It was exciting to catch up with legacy characters and see how they integrate with the newer characters and the current state of the MCU. Though it may not be "The Winter Soldier," I think it held it's own in it's own right.

Literally everyone I talked to about this show (none of which actually saw it) said “I heard it was bad.” I agreed based on what I had heard, but vowed I would watch it before I watched the next season of SHIELD. I binge watched it all day today from around 1 pm to now and I was not at all disappointed. I saw a review that said bad acting, bad actors, bad everything. That nothing was convincing. I strongly disagree. Was it the best Marvel has to offer? No, not by any means. Was it bad? Absolutely not. I thought it established the backgrounds, powers and personalities of the main characters in the beginning and gave a sense of who they were enough to show that the events that unfolded as the season progressed showed how they dealt with their way of life being challenged, and you could tell it was humbling to the characters. I saw each of them grow in their own way. As much as I disagreed with them choosing to make a show out of The Inhumans instead of the originally slated movie, I think it was the right choice given the extent of the plot. It would be hard to build the world, give it depth and make you care about the characters in such a short time. My biggest complaint is that there were minor inconsistencies with how things worked in Agents of SHIELD. I also didn’t particularly like the opening sequence...mainly the lockjaw part at the end. It felt campy. That being said, I did not read much from the comics, but knew enough about the characters to know that they were at least somewhat acurately represented on screen, and could have been developed even more as the series progressed. Someone complained about Crystals powers being too weak; she’s young and naive. If she was already super powerful there would be no room for narration and growth. There would be no challenge. She also wouldn’t have known the true strength of her powers given Attilan was never at war before. Taking away Medusa’s hair gave her new challenges she had to face that she couldn’t just dispatch with her superpowers, and gave more depth to her character than “the girl who can control her hair.” I also really liked (and by that I mean hated, in a good way) Maximus. The events that unfolded as the series progressed really made me upset with him and his plans drove the narrative forward. There may have been a little bit of a lack of originality in his motives and execution, but his arc was pretty satisfying all the same. I would argue he was a little similar to Killmonger in Black Panther. My hatred for Maximus is what connected me to the Royal Family, and helped me care more about their struggle. The characters in The Inhumans were put in the places they were for a reason; to show how they dealt in the face of adversity, and I think it all came together well enough. If they could all dispatch their powers to their full extent right off the bat, or for the duration of the season, where would the challenge be? Why would anyone want to come back if they knew the heroes would just use their abilities and win? That was the exact reason I thought it was a good show; even when stripped down to near-powerless, they still managed to defeat the enemy, the leader of which by the way, has no powers. Would that have been fair? Overall I think this series deserves a lot more credit than it got. I would give it a 7 or 8 / 10.