Secret Invasion (2023)

Secret Invasion

• I was mildly excited for this when it first came out, but now that I’ve finally seen it, I’m very disappointed, but not surprised. Based on reviews, what I just watched was about what I expected. I thought to myself, “C’mon, it can’t be that bad.” But it mostly was. The biggest highlight was how gritty it felt. I loved the action, especially the scenes that relied on artillery. It provides a more grounded tone, which is different from a lot of MCU entries. But, the gritty feeling is also what drags the show down. Visually and story-wise, it was very bland and not colorful at all. There was a bunch of dialogue that prevented any kind of fast pace that the show desperately needed. Even though it was six episodes, it felt longer. There were so many scenes where I straight up lost interest and even stopped paying attention. It became a show that I watched in the background while doing other things. That’s very rare for the MCU. It’s also a shame because it’s such a stacked cast, yet there were no memorable characters. Besides Nick Fury and fake Rhodey, everyone else is just a random person who doesn’t feel like they have any significance. I enjoyed Olivia Coleman, but she was the only truly strong performance. The VFX were also not great, especially towards the end of the show. They weren’t as bad as some things, but still very poor at times. Overall, this show wasn’t well written, it’s pretty forgettable, and just drabby. I’d only recommend it if you’re doing an MCU marathon, and even then, you don’t really need to pay attention.