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Feb 15, 2019 · The Umbrella Academy is quick, quirky, and light, although there are real stakes and consequences that play out over the course of the season. Number 5, for example, is being hunted down by a ...
- Allison Keene
The series is based on a collection of comics and graphic novels created and written by My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way. ... Netflix Seasons 1-4. Watch The Umbrella Academy with a ...
- (238)
- Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda
- TV-14
- 4
- Who needs Marvel?
- The Umbrella Academy Gallery
- Verdict
By Laura Prudom
Updated: Apr 21, 2020 6:23 am
Posted: Feb 16, 2019 6:00 pm
This is a spoiler-free review of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, which is now streaming globally on Netflix. Check out our video review above, and for more superhero shenanigans, read our review of DC Universe's Doom Patrol.
Move over, Marvel - Netflix has a new superhero franchise, and if anything, it's even more twisted, bloody, and unpredictable than the street-level adventures of The Defenders.
Despite Netflix's decision to jettison many of its Marvel properties, it's somewhat unfair to compare The Umbrella Academy to the likes of Daredevil and Iron Fist - aside from their comic book origins, the shows are attempting to do very different things; The Umbrella Academy focuses on a dysfunctional family of heroes, who are drawn together by an eccentric and emotionally distant billionaire and tasked with saving the world from annihilation (with a healthy dose of time travel, dancing, and a talking chimpanzee thrown in).
But the true revelation of the show is Aidan Gallagher as Number Five, a crotchety time-traveler who has lived into old age after getting stuck in the future but is now trapped in his teenage form, and has witnessed the impending apocalypse firsthand. Five's return (and his warning about the end of the world) is the catalyst for much of the story, and Gallagher strikes the perfect balance of worldly and world-weary without ever seeming precocious. After a couple of episodes, you'll be convinced that the 15-year-old really is a grumpy old man in a kid's body, and his snark - especially in combination with Sheehan's gleeful lunacy - is the highlight of the series.
While the show is a fairly faithful, if simplified, adaptation of Way and Gabriel Bá's comics (with a few pivotal deviations), the interplay between the siblings is more compelling than the mystery at its core, which can sometimes feel like an afterthought compared to the family drama. You'll likely have more fun trying to figure out the various rifts, rivalries, and connections that have forged and fractured this team than you will attempting to decipher all the clues that are leading towards the apocalypse. Diego (David Castañeda), aka Number 2, is a prickly loner who has spent his life trying to step out from Luther's shadow, but the deep wounds he carries from a lifetime of playing second fiddle make for a surprisingly poignant character arc. Likewise, Emmy Raver-Lampman's Allison (Number 3) is the only member of the family who seems to be trying to learn from her past mistakes, and her connections with both Luther and Vanya give the season much of its heart.
The show is also stylish as hell; the action scenes - of which there are plenty - are filmed with a kinetic, visually inventive flair, utilizing slo-mo, split-screen, and constantly-moving cameras to create an impressive sense of momentum without ever feeling messy or confusing. Netflix and Universal Cable Productions, the studio behind the show, definitely haven't skimped on the scale - many of the effects are cinematic in scope, especially Weta's gorgeous work on Pogo, Sir Reginald's chimpanzee assistant, who looks like he wandered right off the set of War for the Planet of the Apes.
Tonally, Umbrella Academy isn't quite as meta as the likes of Deadpool or Doom Patrol, but its wicked sense of humor is in full effect throughout, giving it a playful and sometimes deliciously sick attitude, with a smattering of gory visual gags.
The season does lose momentum around the midway point, however - a flaw that tends to trip up most Netflix dramas - and it occasionally feels as if the show is spinning a few too many plates, especially in the storyline involving Number Five and the two time-traveling assassins on his tail, Hazel (Mindhunter's Cameron Britton, once again stealing every scene he's in) and Cha-Cha (a badass Mary J. Blige). Other supporting characters, such as a hapless cop, Detective Patch (Ashley Madekwe), and Vanya's love interest, Leonard (John Magaro), feel a little half-baked, designed more to move the plot forward than as organic parts of the narrative.
Still, when The Umbrella Academy hits its stride, it's one of the most confident comic book shows in years, with a swagger that most freshman shows can only dream of. When the team finally comes together for the good of the universe, it's an exhilarating ride.
The Umbrella Academy should comfortably fill the void that Netflix's Marvel cancellations have left in our viewing schedules. (Okay, we're still not over Daredevil, but the other two, at least.) Showrunner Steve Blackman has created a hilariously twisted, subversively stylish, and surprisingly poignant new superhero series that serves as both a wit...
The Umbrella Academy: Created by Steve Blackman, Jeremy Slater. With Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman. A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must reunite to continue to protect the world.
- (281K)
- 2019-02-15
- Action, Adventure, Comedy
- 60
Feb 15, 2019 · The eponymous Umbrella Academy is a sort of X-Men for natural-born super-freaks. Thirty years before the story begins, the world is rocked by the birth of 43 babies to women apparently falling ...
- 1 min
The Picture. Netflix presents The Umbrella Academy in 4k Ultra HD resolution with HDR10 or Dolby Vision depending on the output device. For this review the series was viewed on a Samsung 4k/HDR10 ...
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Stream The Umbrella Academy — Season 1 on Netflix. Watchlist. On one day in 1989, 43 infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before ...
