LOS ANGELES - Proving “Moon Knight” wasn’t a fluke as Marvel-sized disappointments go, “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” is big, bright, colorful, and also too goofy for its own good. Trying to bend the mold is fine in theory, but the mix of sitcom-style tropes and gamma-irradiated powers yields a series that’s too weak to smash much of anything. Ironically, the most buzzed-about element in advance of the premiere, how the computer-generated title character looks is the least of the show’s worries. For the most part those scenes are just fine, if perhaps a little reminiscent of “Avatar” in the way the Hulks tower over ordinary folk. Instead, the show bogs down in the it’s-not-easy-being-green comedy and emphasis on quirkiness, feeling episodic in the extreme, after the obligatory origin story is out of the way. While there’s nothing wrong with screwball office comedy, based on the four episodes previewed, that genre hardly plays to Marvel’s strengths. For those unfamiliar with the character, the premiere dutifully sets up Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters as the cousin of Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who accidentally comingles her blood with his, investing her with extraordinary strength and size (6’7”, in her case, so a little more down to Earth).
Unfortunately, that same episode also establishes that Jessica will occasionally break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience, a tired-enough device that proves especially awkward in this context, as she adjusts to the vagaries of switching back and forth between her superpowered and ordinary selves.
“There is no going back to what you were before,” the Hulk tells her, although part of She-Hulk’s DNA has been that she gradually recognizes certain beneficial aspects of her larger-than-life persona.
“She-Hulk” thus offers what amounts to a tabloid-esque, TMZ-informed view of the superhero world, with Jessica, the reluctant newcomer, serving as a de facto guide. If the idea has promise, the execution falls short despite the occasionally chuckle.
“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” premieres today (Aug 18) on Disney+.
Unfortunately, that same episode also establishes that Jessica will occasionally break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience, a tired-enough device that proves especially awkward in this context, as she adjusts to the vagaries of switching back and forth between her superpowered and ordinary selves.
“There is no going back to what you were before,” the Hulk tells her, although part of She-Hulk’s DNA has been that she gradually recognizes certain beneficial aspects of her larger-than-life persona.
“She-Hulk” thus offers what amounts to a tabloid-esque, TMZ-informed view of the superhero world, with Jessica, the reluctant newcomer, serving as a de facto guide. If the idea has promise, the execution falls short despite the occasionally chuckle.
“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” premieres today (Aug 18) on Disney+.