'Jupiter's Legacy' Review
TVMA
Runtime: 28-48+ minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Production Companies: Di Bonaventura Pictures, DeKnight Productions, Millarworld Productions
Network: Netflix
Distributor: Netflix
Developed by: Steven S. DeKnight
Cast: Josh Duhamel, Ben Daniels, Leslie Bibb, Andrew Horton, Elena Kampouris, Mike Wade, Matt Lanter
Release Date: May 7 2021
After nearly a century of keeping mankind safe, the world's first generation of superheroes must look to their children to continue the legacy. But tensions rise as the young superheroes, hungry to prove their worth, struggle to live up to their parents' legendary public reputations — and exacting personal standards.
Jesus Christ, one adult superhero series ends and another one is just around the corner. The cycle never ends! You gotta get that TV-MA audience because this ain’t your grandpappy’s superhero show no mo. Invincible finished just last week, I don’t care about a new mature comic book adaptation. Animated or live-action, my quota has been filled, and––whoa wait, this is based on a Mark Millar property? Okay, sign me up! When you hear the name Mark friggin’ Millar, one of the best comic book writers in the business, your ears are bound to perk up in curiosity.
If there’s anything I appreciate about Jupiter’s Legacy it’s the moments of tension that are elevated naturally. The series is generally––and I use that word loosely––about the current-day landscape and evolution of superhuman society; supervillains are out for blood and the heroes drop their beat-them-to-a-pulp-then-throw-them-in-prison policy to play on their level. The show is at its most interesting when it discusses current-day politics and the blurred lines that come with being a hero. There are genuine moments of tension that made me go, “Okay, that was cool.” There are some cool fight sequences with decent VFX that caught my attention as well.
Sadly, after the first Kingsman film (which was… when? 2015?) every Mark Millar adaptation has been so damn underwhelming in quality, Jupiter’s Legacy included.
Oh, to be that sad bastard that debuts their adult superhero series right after Invincible. Jesus, um… where do I begin? Jupiter's Legacy is a mess. It’s a really dull and convoluted mess, plain and simple. When one starts a new superhero show, they like to be introduced to the world and its central characters. This is a show about a superhero family… oh wait, it’s not that. It’s a mishmash of three or four separate plotlines, all of which lack a clear focus, mushed into one hodgepodge mess of a series with no vision or genuine excitement.
The narrative flow and structure of each episode lack rhythm. It didn’t know which story to center on and couldn’t decide how to get the viewer situated with the superhero world it's set in. At first, it’s about the Superman-like figure The Utopian/Sheldon Sampson and his relationship with his estranged super-kids, Brandon (Andrew Horton) and Chloe (Elena Kampouris). One is still living under the careful watch of his dad when you know he should be doing his own thing, but he wants to live up to his name. The other wants to do her own thing and sees her powers as a burden. Then, the show turns to Hutch (Ian Quinlan), a dude with a teleportation rod, and his ragtag team of Gen-Z criminals. After that, it turns into a straight-up period piece, focusing on the 1950s as if it were Mad Men to show how Sheldon got his powers. Each episode goes back and forth between the past and the present, yet they contain such little substance. For being eight episodes long, this first season tries to cram so much story, playing with different characters, perspectives, and time periods in such a small time frame. To hell with pacing, each episode feels like a damn chore.
Jupiter’s Legacy fails at everything we’ve seen other superhero series on Amazon Prime do exceptionally well. The viewer never really gets any time to settle into the world, for it’s not necessarily established. You are just thrown into the scene like a flightless bird as chaos and action ensue. We’ve seen so many stories about superhero kids not living up to their super parents’ expectations dating all the way back to Sky High. You sympathize with those kids because you get to see how heroic their parents are and the pressure that comes with it. In Jupiter’s Legacy, you simply abhor Sheldon, though the show pushes for him to have a more central backstory than give his kids any real agency. From the opening scene, he projects his ideas about powers and laws onto his kids and you can tell that it fucked them up. I saw myself heavily sympathizing with the kids because Sheldon is an asshole. He PROJECTS his ideologies SO FUCKING MUCH that it’s annoying. He talks shit about his kids behind his back, he looks down on them if they break his personal rule even if his own life depends on it, and he’s just so damn dull. It doesn’t help that his flashbacks to a newspaper outlet depict him as an even bigger douchebag. I love Josh Duhamel. He's fun, but he feels so miscast here. Oddly enough his performance is better during the backstory scenes than the present-day scenes.
For a series about the world changing, you never get to feel acquainted with the world itself. After shows like The Boys and Invincible, which were able to bring style, flair, and fun to the table, Jupiter’s Legacy is the most derivative of the TV-MA superhero adaptation series. While some of the action set pieces are cool, they needed people who know how to shoot action scenes and make them fun because the framing is all over the damn place and most of the shots move too quickly. The novelty of having superheroes curse, have sex, and partake in over-the-top grotesque violence is wearing off quickly. The Boys achieved success by being satirical and providing good commentary on a variation of topics and Invincible has charming characters and edge-of-your-seat episodic storytelling throughout. Jupiter’s Legacy fails to create an identity for itself. The tone is far too serious for its own good while the acting performances range in quality. It comes off like an uncensored DC series made for the CW. Even then, I’d be mentioning Doom Patrol and that’s still a better time than this show.
I have established a new rule. If you ain’t got me by five episodes, I’ll have to bail because I am very adamant about how my time is spent. Granted, I appreciate the runtimes for each episode, but it wasn’t enough to fully grab my attention. After five episodes, Jupiter’s Legacy is easily one of the biggest disappointments of the new year.
