What Is the Story About?
Adapted from 2008 Marvel Comics of the same name, Secret Invasion follows Nick Fury who works with Talos, a shapeshifting alien Skrull on a mission to uncover a conspiracy by a group of renegade Skrulls led by Gravik. The ultimate goal of Gravik is to gain control of Earth by assigning the duty of posing as different humans around the world to the Skrulls.
Performances?
Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury is the best and sometimes the only good thing about the film. He is Nick Fury, and more than the Nick Fury we know of. His vulnerabilities find screen-time in Secret Invasion, albeit not over the Skrull-plot of the series.
Another infectious performance is from Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth. The actress with her veteran-like magic makes you crave more of her on-screen with her original grey energy and sass. The actor deserved more screen time and probably much much more to do onscreen.
Don Cheadle’s Rhodey doesn’t get much to do while Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos is one of the most likeable characters who doesn’t get the meat he deserves (in short, underutilized).
Emilia Clarke exudes the star-charisma and larger than life persona from her Game of Thrones days back in the show as G’iah. She gets an important role, but not a complex one, and probably would be very pivotal for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik, reminiscent of Karli Morganthau (Falcon & the Winter Soldier) is just a lost opportunity for the creators to churn a memorable antagonist.
Analysis
After 15 long years, Samuel Jackson finally has gotten his chance to shoulder and shine in an MCU outing, written by Bradstreet and directed by Ali Selim. Based on the Marvel Comics of the same name, Secret Invasion is the 9th television series produced by Marvel Studios.
** Spoiler-free Review ahead**
Secret Invasion is essentially a fantasy-thriller series. It’s very human, but the human can go back and forth time still being a human. There’s no super-hero in Secret Invasion to save the day or call the shots, but an ageing man who has to rise up and save the world from shape-shifting skrulls.
To begin with, Secret Invasion does start off with a very intriguing and promising premise. It ventures darker horizons with more mature execution (barring the MCU comedy quota), but this doesn’t last long. We have really good actors come and go, that includes Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Ben Mendelsohn et al (the former getting little to do (but she aces whatever she gets) and the latter never getting the showdown her character deserved.
To think of a plot that follows a specimen of aliens Infiltrating the world, holding humans hostage by shape-shifting yada yada is very interesting on paper. Had the writing team put in more effort and had the producers not been adamant on a mini-series format, the show probably could have ended up as a really good binge.
However, the show does try to do things that actually stands novel, deviating from the comics. The entire idea of MCU Skrulls being refugees in search of a home, emotions and affection rather than the extraterrestrial aggressors from the comics and the spark of a rebellion that stems from disappointment and betrayal from humans, etc is a welcome change. But, the show doesn’t stand on its legs till the finale.
After a point there’s no more thrill of an espionage thriller, everything is out in the open, who’s who and what’s what is no more a secret. Secret Invasion falls under the shadow of predictability, boredom, & time constraints and ends up being a colossal disappointment one wouldn’t want to remember more of. No matter how much Kevin Feige tells you it’s connected to The Marvels or upcoming MCU films, you just don’t feel like finishing the show.
In short, the format of Secret Invasion and the cluelessness of its writers come as a killer for an otherwise intriguing idea. Die-hard MCU fanatics could give it a try, but one can’t help but notice how much the streaming wing of MCU has dented the brand and its outings quite badly in the last few years.
Music and Other Departments?
Ali Salem’s direction takes MCU back to the Winter Soldier/Captain America era with the grey-dull colour palette (goes well with the espionage sub-genre) and actually it does work (mostly). The music from Kris Bowers is quite ordinary and nothing special.
Highlights?
Nick Fury
Supporting Cast
Novel and Relevant concept
Story gets into dark realms
Drawbacks?
screenplay
Sluggish pace
Unconvincing chase sequences
abrupt ending
doesn’t justify the concept’s relevancy
Underutilized starcast
Did I Enjoy It?
Not much.
Will You Recommend It?
Not really. If you’re an MCU fanatic, you may want to give it a try.
Secret Invasion Series Review by Binged Bureau
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