Thomas Harris reports from an IMAX preview and Q&A for Marvel’s Inhumans…
If IMAX CEO Greg Foster is to be believed, the upcoming Inhumans series will change the way we watch television. The first series to be shot with IMAX cameras, it’s to be broadcasted – or at least the first two episodes – across cinemas and IMAX screens around the globe, only for the further episodes to be viewed on your couch.
All this bodes rather well. It’s a landmark event, a one off, the first in what Foster hopes will be a regular occurrence. I had the pleasure of attending a preview of early, largely unfinished footage of Inhumans at the BFI IMAX with an introduction and Q & A with director and producer Roel Reiné.
There was certain trepadation when the first trailer dropped. The footage looked flat, the costumes largely ridiculous, the CGI cheap, and little seems to have changed. Although we were shown four scenes, of which all were disjointed and unconnected as a result of the final product still being unfinished, it seems to have more in common with SyFy than Marvel.
The first sequence finds an as yet unknown assailant pursued through the Hawaiin jungle by a heavily armed force. As she is about to be ambushed, Triton (Mike Moh) appears, an Inhuman with green skin and gills, so ridiculous looking, it begs the question as to whether they popped down to the local toy shop and bought the cheapest green face paint. He explains that she too is an Inhuman, and he can bring her to their home on the dark side of the moon “Attilan.”
Although the IMAX cameras did enable a scope unavailable on lesser lenses, the script is hysterically cack-handed, with actors falling over lines even the great Thespians would struggle with.
The second sequence showed the aftermath. Black Bolt (Anson Mount) attempts to defend his decision to send Triton, who is now presumed dead, down to Earth. His wife Medusa (Serinda Swan) sits by his side, while younger brother Maximus (Iwan Rheon), Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor) and right hand man Karnak (Ken Leung) all question his decision. Again, where impressively shot, it’s let down by a script ludicrously flimsy. Rheon’s accent floats from broadly Irish to cockney to what may as well be Italian American. Only Mount comes off well, his lack of charisma playing into Black Bolt’s inability to speak. Quick note, Reiné name dropped Wong Kar Wei as his main inspiration for this sequence. It inspired laughter.
The third sequence, a stand off between Maximus and Medusa builds up to an impressive sequence showing off Medusa’s manic hair. Maximus’ attempts to seduce fail, and Medusa fights back, threatening to bring word of his betrayal to Bolt. Of course, independent from context, it means rather little, and Swan – costumed terribly – and Rheon chew the scenery with aplomb.
If Junkie XL and Gary Clark Jr.’s cover of Come Together in the trailer for Justice League induced cold sweats, just you wait for what is little more than a nu-metal cover of The Doors “Break on Through” placed over a fight montage. We find Ken Leung defending himself from Maximus’ guards in a playful action sequence while Gorgon, now on Earth, fights against a human force with his super powerful legs. The fights themselves are decent, if nothing remarkable, but it’s the ear-scraping Doors cover that makes the entire thing redundant.
The audience was clearly subdued when Reiné came on stage beckoning for questions. He was met with only one, asking of the connection to the wider MCU.
It wasn’t long ago Marvel announced Inhumans as a feature, before quickly removing it from their release schedule, banishing it to television. The five minutes of footage presented inspires little hope.
Marvel’s Inhumans explores the never-before-told epic adventure of the royal family including Black Bolt, the enigmatic, commanding King of the Inhumans, with a voice so powerful that the slightest whisper can destroy a city. After the Royal Family of Inhumans is splintered by a military coup, they barely escape to Hawaii where their surprising interactions with the lush world and humanity around them may prove to not only save them, but Earth itself.
Inhumans will premiere in IMAX theaters on September 1st, with a two-week run for the first two episodes, before the full eight episodes air on ABC from September 29th. Featuring in the cast of the series are Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Iwan Rheon as Maximus, Serinda Swan as Medusa, Ken Leung as Karnak, Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal, Mike Moh as Triton, Sonya Balmores as Auran, Henry Ian Cusick as Dr. Evan Declan and Ellen Woglom and Chad James Buchanan as as-yet-unrevealed characters.
Thomas Harris
Originally published August 2, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
