it didn't make me say "holy shit I need to watch this" but I sincerely chuckled at a few of the jokes and didn't mind it being on
I knew it was coming out because I'd seen the trailers pop up on my feed, but I didn't watch them so I wasn't aware it was out so soon. And since it was on Prime and not Disney+, I figured hey, why not?
Overall, I rather enjoyed it, which surprised me seeing as how I've had basically zero interest in capeshit and Sony's track record has been...let's be generous and call it "spotty." Obviously I watched it in black-and-white; apparently it was originally only going to be released that way, but Nic Cage himself advocated for a color version to be produced as well so as not to turn away the youth, with the hope that they might also check out the black-and-white version too. I can't compare the two, but black-and-white just feels the way to go, and it looked rather good, lot of fun cinematography and visuals.
But I liked that it both took the concept seriously enough to not feel embarrassed about it, while simultaneously knowing when to add levity, restraint that has been sorely lacking in anything Marvel-related for a while. Also a more mature story than I was expecting, but I guess if you're going the noir route, that's what you'd want. The hardboiled detective, the femme fatale, gangsters, betrayal, violence, drinking, smoking, all that good stuff. I got a lot of BioShock feelings out of it too, especially when related to the whole superpower thing.
All the performances are good, but Nic Cage definitely carries the show in a good way. You get the full range of Cage: grounded and serious to goofy and ridiculous, not to mention some good physical comedy and silly impressions (which make sense in context). His character is struggling with past demons that made him give up being a costumed hero, and a lot of the show is him wrestling with that decision and finding a way out of the hole he's in as he finds himself mixed up in a much bigger story.
All in all, a pretty entertaining time, and I'd say it's worth a watch. I dunno if they're planning on doing any more after this, but I definitely wouldn't mind another season if they do. And believe me, I'm still kind of shocked to admit that.
