Olivia Colman is already the new pearl of the MCU! The English actress has a blast and bursts the screen in this neo-noir spy-style Marvel that contrasts with the rest of the massive franchise.
In full “super-hero fatigue”, understand the loss of speed of the blockbusters of Marvel and DC in the cinema, the studios are looking for new options to revive the machine and the interest of the fans, somewhat tired. After the (relative) failures of Thor 4 or Ant-Man 3the Marvel Universe is back on earth for a new series that ostensibly wants to break with the rest of the franchise.
Secret Invasion, this is not a story of superheroes with superpowers. It is first of all a story of humans, who try to resist an extraterrestrial conquest. These Skrulls, exiled since their fatal war against the Krees, have been living on our blue planet, in secret, for three decades (see the film Captain Marvel). But if Nick Fury promised to find them a new home, he largely failed. Shocked by the “snap” of Thanos, which made him disappear from existence for 5 years, the former boss of SHIELD dropped the case. And the Skrulls are not happy. Feeling abandoned, they began banding together to form a secret army, whose goal is to take control of places of power around the world. To then start a war that will be fatal to humans… Not easy to stop them, since these Aliens are a race of “shapeshifters”, that is to say creatures capable of changing their appearance and taking the place of n anyone on earth…
Between science fiction fable and geopolitical thriller, Secret Invasion Deftly plays pretense to deliver a spy story with a neo-noir tone and refreshing conspiracy overtones, in an MCU that was seriously starting to bite its tail. That being said, the saga had already touched on the genre, at the time of Captain America 2. Secret Invasion thus obviously eyeing the side of the winter soldieroften considered the best Marvel movie.
Moreover, one cannot say that it revolutionizes anything. Relatively conventional in its plot, without much imagination, this Secret Invasion even turns out to be quite inert in a too gloomy staging and sometimes seems encased in her spy costume, like a surprisingly lukewarm and tired Nick Fury, and a Samuel L. Jackson deprived of “fuck” and underemployed (in the first 2 episodes we saw).
But the series manages at the same time to impose a tone. A “cold war” atmosphere that changes from the usual MCU. Mainly thanks to its casting of supporting roles in solid gold, of undeniable efficiency: if we find the excellent Ben Mendelson as a nice Skrull, the former star of Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke, makes a successful debut in the Marvel Universe. Special mention also to Kingsley Ben-Adir : the former of The OA confirms all the good that we thought of him and makes a formidable, charismatic and disturbing villain. But above all, above all, Olivia Colman pops the screen. The Oscar-winning actress (for The Favorite) bursts into the world of Marvel and steals the show from Nick Fury, the Skrulls, James Rhodes, and everyone else. Funny and elusive in British secret service savvy cowhide, Colman is so perfect it’s hard to see who else could be the next “M” James Bond. She is that little extra thing that allows Secret Invasion to stand out and establish itself as a good Marvel series.
Secret Invasion, in 6 episodes, to see from June 21 on Disney Plus.
