After WandaVision, expectations are running pretty high for any follow-up Marvel Disney+ series. WandaVision never intended to premiere first, but COVID-19 wrecked the release schedule, forcing it out of the gate before other titles were ready. It remains to be seen what impact that will have on subsequent series. WandaVision was a creative, unique, and wholly unexpected diversion from the typical Marvel property. Given that, it rode a wave of buzz for weeks, dishing out fragments of detail over its 9-week run. But did it set unrealistic expectations that each and every Marvel-based series would reinvent the genre each time?
So, we finally get a look at The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which steadfastly follows in the footsteps of thriller-themed Marvel movies before it. If you loved the Captain America series, Falcon is a very strong follow up that succeeds because it feels custom made for the big screen but cut down into bite-sized increments for television.
The real star of Falcon isn’t Anthony Mackie or Sebastian Stan. Both actors are great in their roles, but the series excels because of the vision and precise direction of seasoned television director (and Emmy nominee) Kari Skogland (The Handmaid’s Tale). She and cinematographer P.J. Dillon create a cinematic experience boasting brilliant visuals, eye-popping action sequences, and a deep sense of personal drama. That broadening of the Falcon (Mackie) and Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) characters is a welcome addition to the Marvel canon. Historically, they’ve been sidelined as supporting characters. They’ve always been interesting, but we never really learned enough about them.
Here, they are the stars, and Skogland and team are equally compelled by drama as they are with action. That helps round out this new series and provide more thematic meat than the traditional Marvel properties. Similarly to WandaVision, this pair struggles to deal with the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame and “the big snap.” That drama materializes in the internal (Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes coming to terms with his villainous past) and the mundane (Falcon’s Sam Wilson struggles to fund a family business with no income for his missing five years).
The pilot orients us in this world and helps us understand the stakes of what’s to come. We only have a hint of the bigger baddie ahead, and I’m ok with that. As long as Skogland and team continue to invest in a home-based cinematic look and feel for the series, then I’m incredibly compelled by what I’m seeing. Will it emerge as the better of the two Marvel series we’ve seen so far? It will be difficult to compare as they’re completely different properties designed to express the best characteristics of their main characters. But like WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier isn’t afraid to revel in what it is: brilliantly constructed genre entertainment that allows audiences to reveal in great fun and compelling characters.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier debuts today on Disney+.
