Secret Invasion
Year: 2023
Created by: Kyle Bradstreet
Starring: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Don Cheadle, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Samuel L. Jackson & Ben Mendelsohn
Episodes: 6
BBFC: 15
Published: 18/09/23
Created by: Kyle Bradstreet
Starring: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Don Cheadle, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Samuel L. Jackson & Ben Mendelsohn
Episodes: 6
BBFC: 15
Published: 18/09/23
I had to take a break from the MCU for a little while. Following the seemingly endless string of disappointing films and TV series I just wanted to get away from it for a little while. This coincided with Secret Invasion and it was hard to avoid the negative reception the series garnered online, but I chose to ignore most of it and try to forget it even existed. I knew I would watch it, but I was in no rush. But then I saw the trailer for The Marvels and I got kind of excited so I felt like I should cut short my break, but even still, the series had ended around a month prior to me even starting it so everyone had already promptly forgotten it even existed. I could kick back, relax, and just take it for what it was, and I think I was all the better for it.
Following the events of Captain marvel, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has allowed a significant number of the Skrull population to seek refuge on Earth whilst he finds them a new home. Thirty years later, that has still not happened, and the Skrull have been used as shapeshifting spies ever since. Disillusioned by Fury’s promises and having lost faith in the Skrull leader, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), a Skrull by the name of Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) has formed a rebel group that has been infiltrating various positions of power throughout human government systems for years. Now that everything is in place, he executes a plan that will spell the extinction of humanity, leaving Earth to be the new home planet for the Skrull population.
Following the events of Captain marvel, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has allowed a significant number of the Skrull population to seek refuge on Earth whilst he finds them a new home. Thirty years later, that has still not happened, and the Skrull have been used as shapeshifting spies ever since. Disillusioned by Fury’s promises and having lost faith in the Skrull leader, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), a Skrull by the name of Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) has formed a rebel group that has been infiltrating various positions of power throughout human government systems for years. Now that everything is in place, he executes a plan that will spell the extinction of humanity, leaving Earth to be the new home planet for the Skrull population.
For the most part I liked what Secret Invasion was doing, and I felt that it was a far better espionage thriller than Marvel’s first attempt in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, it still falls at many of the same hurdles as a lot of Marvel’s most recent projects. It’s just not particularly interesting.
I like that Marvel are trying to tackle the issue of immigration, and displaced people. Showing how that can grow into a terrorist network if left unchecked. You can understand the plight of the Skrull people, and Gravik seems to be this charismatic man with a plan that they have so desperately needed.
I then also like that this becomes a personal mission for Nick Fury. Whilst he could call in the Avengers to sort this out in a big punch up, he feels personally responsible for all of this, and in his attempt at coming out of his deep depression post-blip is trying to get this done without painting Skrulls as dangerous to humans.
It’s a good premise, and it does work for the most part, it’s just kind of sterile, and I think it would have worked better as a film with a tighter paced and more consolidated story. It doesn’t ever waste time as such, but I think a two-and-a-half-hour film would have been preferable to a five-hour series for this.
Jackson’s performance as Fury is perhaps the best it’s ever been. We get to see so much more depth to the character here than he’s ever been afforded before. He’s no longer the elusive former head of S.H.I.E.L.D. but now he’s a broken man with a family, and a desire to fix what he feels he’s broken.
Talos gets a good amount of depth too. In Captain Marvel he was never given the spotlight for long enough to be given proper characterisation, but here in Secret Invasion we learn so much about the Skrull people and their plight through him. We learn about everything he has sacrificed to try and give his species a new home, how it cost him the relationship with his daughter G’iah (Emilia Clarke).
Gravik is a decent villain too. I mean he’s no Thanos or High Evolutionary, but he’s not exactly far off Killmonger in his misguided ideals and how he uses violence to achieve his ends rather than cooperation and building bridges.
I also loved Olivia Colman as Sonya Falswoth, an old ally of Fury’s in MI6. She brings her trademark chipper and overly British demeanour to a role that’s otherwise quite gritty and nasty. She’s nothing short of hilarious and I’d love to see her crop up in future MCU projects, honestly, she was the best part of the show by a significant margin.
I like that Marvel are trying to tackle the issue of immigration, and displaced people. Showing how that can grow into a terrorist network if left unchecked. You can understand the plight of the Skrull people, and Gravik seems to be this charismatic man with a plan that they have so desperately needed.
I then also like that this becomes a personal mission for Nick Fury. Whilst he could call in the Avengers to sort this out in a big punch up, he feels personally responsible for all of this, and in his attempt at coming out of his deep depression post-blip is trying to get this done without painting Skrulls as dangerous to humans.
It’s a good premise, and it does work for the most part, it’s just kind of sterile, and I think it would have worked better as a film with a tighter paced and more consolidated story. It doesn’t ever waste time as such, but I think a two-and-a-half-hour film would have been preferable to a five-hour series for this.
Jackson’s performance as Fury is perhaps the best it’s ever been. We get to see so much more depth to the character here than he’s ever been afforded before. He’s no longer the elusive former head of S.H.I.E.L.D. but now he’s a broken man with a family, and a desire to fix what he feels he’s broken.
Talos gets a good amount of depth too. In Captain Marvel he was never given the spotlight for long enough to be given proper characterisation, but here in Secret Invasion we learn so much about the Skrull people and their plight through him. We learn about everything he has sacrificed to try and give his species a new home, how it cost him the relationship with his daughter G’iah (Emilia Clarke).
Gravik is a decent villain too. I mean he’s no Thanos or High Evolutionary, but he’s not exactly far off Killmonger in his misguided ideals and how he uses violence to achieve his ends rather than cooperation and building bridges.
I also loved Olivia Colman as Sonya Falswoth, an old ally of Fury’s in MI6. She brings her trademark chipper and overly British demeanour to a role that’s otherwise quite gritty and nasty. She’s nothing short of hilarious and I’d love to see her crop up in future MCU projects, honestly, she was the best part of the show by a significant margin.
A big point of contention for many surrounding Secret Invasion has been the utilisation of AI to replace visual effects artists. For a number of years Marvel have struggled to produce anything close to the kind of spectacular digital effects they were known for in the early days of the MCU, and that is primarily down to the way they burnt out their visual effects artists with an impossibly heavy workload. The answer to that it seems, is rather than employ more artists, give them more time, and pay them more, is to replace them with computers where possible.
To clarify, most of the shows visual effects are still made by people, but it still looks just as bad as all of the other Marvel projects in recent memory. Rubbery looking people and environments, iffy lighting effects, and once things start exploding it looks like something out of a videogame. It’s scary that Disney’s answer to bad special effects is just to get a computer to make back special effects, perhaps this is the wake-up call audiences need to stop supporting such heinous business practices?
For what it’s worth, Secret Invasion is fine. There are bits that work, bits that don’t, bits that show promise, and bits that you wonder why they were ever conceived in the first place. The performances are solid, but the writing can be wobbly. The action is well shot, but the special effects are ropey to say the least. For every good there is an equal bad, and I will say that it never does anything so awful that it ruins the experience, but likewise, other than perhaps Colman there’s nothing that stands out as particularly impressive. It’s fine, you can do worse, but you can very easily do better. A shame for a show that had such a good premise.
To clarify, most of the shows visual effects are still made by people, but it still looks just as bad as all of the other Marvel projects in recent memory. Rubbery looking people and environments, iffy lighting effects, and once things start exploding it looks like something out of a videogame. It’s scary that Disney’s answer to bad special effects is just to get a computer to make back special effects, perhaps this is the wake-up call audiences need to stop supporting such heinous business practices?
For what it’s worth, Secret Invasion is fine. There are bits that work, bits that don’t, bits that show promise, and bits that you wonder why they were ever conceived in the first place. The performances are solid, but the writing can be wobbly. The action is well shot, but the special effects are ropey to say the least. For every good there is an equal bad, and I will say that it never does anything so awful that it ruins the experience, but likewise, other than perhaps Colman there’s nothing that stands out as particularly impressive. It’s fine, you can do worse, but you can very easily do better. A shame for a show that had such a good premise.