Starring: Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh
Genres: Action, Adventure
Watch on: Amazon Prime
Based on Robert Kirkman’s comic series of the same name, Invincible follows Mark Grayson, the teenage son of Omni-Man, the planet’s most powerful superhero.
Let me start off by saying how much I enjoyed this show from start to finish. The first episode of this show literally had my jaw dropped.
I knew nothing of the source material or the show but had seen the name floating around for a bit. So I checked it out – and watched it all in a day. I tend to not binge but in this case, I couldn’t help it. This show has such a fantastic pilot, there was no way I gonna stop the next episode from continuing.
First off, the cast. I love when screen actors really bring it when voicing a character and don’t just use their own voice and are bland about it. Yeun is such an amazing actor and is perfectly cast as the titular character (also he’s great in Tuca and Bertie). The rest are also fantastic, literally everyone is on point, with actors such as Kevin Michael Richardson, Walton Goggins, Zachary Quinto and Jason Mantzoukas in particular grew on me and made me actually laugh out loud, not just exhale through my nose.
I enjoyed the animation style and the title sequence and how bloody it gets from episode to episode. The fight scenes were excellently choreographed and let me warn you, this show is violent. Like seriously. It’s bloody and gory so if that’s not for you, then you’re going to have to skip through quite a bit. But if possible, don’t let that deter you from watching! That’s not all the show is and it actually does serve the story.
You see how in Marvel movies, there’s so much destruction and loss? I don’t know, sometimes it still feels as if the stakes aren’t that high – even though buildings get smashed and cars go flying, I know for the most part that civilians will be okay. Tony Stark has money to spare so the buildings will be fine too. But in Invincible, I was genuinely fearful for the characters – and that includes the superheroes. There’s loss, there’s consequences, there’s fear.
As a big fan of adult animation, Invincible is a welcome addition. A lot of people avoid watching animation because they associate it with children or something but it’s truly one of my favourite mediums to watch. Used properly, it can take a complex story and tell it in a way that live-action simply can’t.
The show takes something already so ingrained in our society – superhero movies – and still manages to somehow be unique. Bring on the next seasons boy.
The Grace Film. 