Why did 'Secret Invasion' suck (by ScreenCrush)
Why did 'Secret Invasion' suck (by ScreenCrush)
Main points:
- the premise of the show came out of nowhere, Scrulls were set up as the good guys in Captain Marvel
- the small rooms and few characters reduced the perceived gravity of the situation
- Giah's dilemma between her father and Graviks revolution was skipped over
- there was no 'secret' to the show, the viewers were
omnipotentomniscient; the plot was rushed and everything that could have been an exciting reveal has been wasted - we learn nothing about the president, his actions make no sense
IMO the Skrulls introduction was pretty much ruined from the get-go in Capt. Marvel. We had what could've been the perfect introduction for a Secret Invasion sub-plot that could've ran through most of Phase 4, it actually started off ok: Skrull shapeshifters are running amok through the US Govt. You don't know who you can trust, Skrulls could be anyone. Then they went and "resolved" the issue and turned Skrulls into good guys for the sake of "shattering expectations".
What they should have done was just not resolved that thread at all. Maybe they get some higher-up Skrull and take them out, but, with his dying breath... "This is not over... the Invasion... has only begun..." They needed to leave that menacing tone of the Skrulls intact after that movie. We've had Skrull cameos throughout Phase 4, Ben Mendelsohn has been showing up all over the place, but the tone was always these friendly offeat cameos, "Oh look, it's the shapeshifting alien talking about boring things, how funny, he's just like us!" Like he was in some sort of buddy cop show or something. NO. They should've kept the threat alive, slowly revealed other people being taken over or being revealed as Skrulls, kept that part about Secret Invasion alive where you didn't know who was who.
It would've been odd to reveal that sandwiched in between Infinity War and Endgame, but Capt. Marvel was always going to be a weird movie anyways, especially since it had almost nothing to do with Infinity War anyways. At least this way they could've introduced the next threat to follow the Infinity Saga and maybe given Phase 4 some sort of direction.
Secret Invasion should've been the culmination of a story that had already been ongoing, this plotline shouldn't have been introduced during Secret Invasion and basically having to go back on the previous direction of making Skrulls the "reformed good guys".
12the viewers were omnipotent
*omniscient. Omnipotent means to be able of doing anything, omniscient means knowing everything.
8right!
2
I feel like MI: Dead Reckoning part 1 actually did what Secret Invasion wanted to do: Set up an enemy that uses your own networks and routines against you such that you can no longer trust your previously reliable means of functioning and have to develop entirely new ways of doing old things
7I didn't see it yet, but now that you mention it: do I have to watch all previous parts of MI to understand this new one? I only saw the first one (with them breaking into the CIA HQ at Langley) and the one where Tom Cruise climbed outside Burj Khalifa
3Oh definitely no! This one stands on its own. MI has never tried to make an overarching plot universe that spans multiple movies. They're all pretty much standalone.
The only one that even comes close is Fallout, which doesn't "require" prior viewing to understand, but is more impactful, if you've previously seen Rogue Nation where the villain first appeared.
4
Cool. Skimming this video just saved me hours!
6This show is terrible, from start to end.
The plot makes absolutely no sense, the villain is lame, Clarke is despicable, not a single character is likable, and the Russian shit is cringe AF.
The whole thing is at least as bad as Morbius and Venom 2 combined.
2Did anybody reading this actually enjoy watching? Or at least think it was entertaining enough to make it through the whole series? Not loaded questions, I'm legitimately curious. I like most of the Marvel stuff, but it's quite obv that most things produced post Thanos is kinda meh.
I know reviews aren't everything, but this one has been panned so much that it might always be at the bottom of my to-watch list. Any fans?
2The acting is phenomenal. Sam Jackson, Don Cheadle, Ben Mendelson, Olivia Coleman, Kingsly Benedair, are all excellent.
The story is shite. All the great acting in the world can't overcome that.
8I previously discouraged others from watching it. But it's still Marvel, it's not unwatchable. Try it, but be mentally preapred to not engage in the story whatsoever and keep low expectations of the production. Again, it's not like you will hate it, probably. You will just not enjoy it too much.
5It's not like you will hate it, probably. You will just not enjoy it too much.
That pretty much nails how I felt after watching the whole series! Very much akin to reading a subpar run of issues in an otherwise good comic series.
1
It's full of potential so I did watch to see if they would do anything with it. But in the end it was mostly disappointing. Such a short series, they manage to squeeze in filler eps/story!
Having some beloved character's story end for this show, is a waste. Clearly they don't know the potential of Skrull, invasion, and even what made Nick Fury great. Hope this writer never work Marvel again.
It's not great, just ok. Not bottom of Marvel TV bad (Inhumans, Iron Fist). But it is like... The Eternals, of the MCU. See it once, never want to revisit, and hope dumb events in the show get redacted/ignored...
4The overall story was a disappointment but there were a few really good scenes between Don Cheadle and Sam Jackson, and I thought the episode involving the submarine launch was entertaining.
4I watched the whole thing. I enjoyed it up until the last episode. Then I hated it. It's not the first time, but it really feels like they jumped the shark. The writing behind that episode was so bad it felt like a home movie.
The directors attitude towards the fans doesn't help either. Basically said he doesn't care what Marvel fans think.
4I watched the whole thing and... it's just not good. After each episode I was just going "Well... Maybe? That could lead to something interesting." but it doesn't. There are a few "shocking" moments in the show and each time it either goes nowhere or it doesn't make sense.
3I watched it, it's not necessarily bad. The first episode was promising, but there was no satisfying payoff to the show, which was disappointing.
2
IMO the Skrulls introduction was pretty much ruined from the get-go in Capt. Marvel. We had what could've been the perfect introduction for a Secret Invasion sub-plot that could've ran through most of Phase 4. It actually started off ok: Skrull shapeshifters are running amok through the US Govt. You don't know who you can trust, anyone could be a Skrull. Then they went and "resolved" the issue and turned Skrulls into good guys for the sake of "shattering expectations". The whole finding them a homeworld thing was the stupidest idea that they basically just ignored except just to bring it back up to somehow blame Nick Fury for (the guy who doesn't have a spaceship and can't fly around the universe at will). They defanged what could have been a great villain group immediately after they were introduced, the villains have always been Marvels weak point.
What they should have done was just not resolved the Skrull thread at all in Capt. Marvel. Everything else largely plays out the same. Maybe they get some higher-up Skrull and take them out, but, with his dying breath... "This is not over... the Invasion... has only begun..." They needed to leave that menacing tone of the Skrulls intact after that movie. We've had Skrull cameos throughout Phase 4, Ben Mendelsohn has been showing up all over the place, but the tone was always these friendly offeat cameos, "Oh look, it's the shapeshifting alien talking about boring things, how funny, he's just like us!" Like he was in some sort of buddy cop show or something. NO. They should've kept the threat alive, slowly revealed other people being taken over or being revealed as Skrulls, kept that part about Secret Invasion alive where you didn't know who was who. The audience should've been questioning the motives of every character and had theories flying all over the place about every character. The Skrulls could've taken the place of Loki as the sort of behind-the-scenes agitator that keeps on causing more chaos.
It would've been odd to reveal the start of Secret Invasion sandwiched in between Infinity War and Endgame, but Capt. Marvel was always going to be a weird movie anyways, especially since it had almost nothing to do with Infinity War. At least this way they could've introduced the next threat to follow the Infinity Saga and maybe given Phase 4 some sort of direction.
1I agree with all of those points.
1