The premiere of ABC’s “Marvel’s Inhumans” starts screening in IMAX theaters Friday, and there are two very good reasons not to spend money on it.
First, the theatrical version is a 75-minute cut-down of the first two episodes, which will run 84 minutes in their entirety. For free. On Friday, Sept. 29, on ABC.
Second, from what TV critics have seen, “Inhumans” is awful.
That’s not exactly a review. TV critics have seen an unfinished version of Episode 1, and we’ve been assured it will get better.
That assurance, from ABC execs and head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb, was not exactly believable. It looked to me like the only way to fix “Inhumans” was to scrap that episode and start over.
And, significantly, critics have not been shown anything more before it hits theaters today.
“Marvel’s Inhumans” is the story of a bunch of characters with superpowers — the “royal family” of the Inhumans. The characters include the king, Black Bolt (Anson Mount, “Hell on Wheels”); his brother, Maximus (Iwan Rheon, “Game of Thrones”); Medusa (Serinda Swan); Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor); Crystal (Isabelle Cornish); Karnak (Ken Leung); and Triton (Mike Moh).
The eight-episode series begins with a military coup, sending the principals to Hawaii. And from what we’ve seen, the characters are wooden and so confusing one character’s superpower is completely unclear.
When Loeb referred to “Inhumans” as “Shakespearean,” William Shakespeare must have rolled over in his grave.
When the cast and producers of “Inhumans” appeared recently at the Television Critics Association press tour, the session was … well, tense would be an understatement.
Things tend to get tense when ultra-defensive/uber-condescending Loeb is on a panel. And things became highly uncomfortable when he and showrunner Scott Buck — who ran “Iron Fist,” by far the worst of the Marvel series on Netflix — were asked about problems everyone in the room saw with the pilot.
Everyone but them, apparently.
One critic asked bluntly, “Is this the show that you set out to make?” And Loeb pretended he didn’t understand the question.
“You are making me feel like Ben Affleck right now,” Mount said, referring to Affleck as Batman. But we’d seen an episode of “Inhumans” before forming opinions.
I’ve certainly had my issues with “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” It’s never been as good as I’d hoped, and it has become a show I still watch but complain about a lot and question why I still keep tuning in.
But I wrote that I was “highly entertained” by the pilot back in 2013, adding “I can’t wait to see Episode 2.”
I’d just as soon NEVER see another episode of “Inhumans.”
I will, of course. (It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.) But you don’t have to pay good money to see “Inhumans” at the IMAX theater.
