HBO presents the premiere of the satirical superhero comedy

One of the positive aspects of comic book movies being the commercially dominant art form of the past twenty years is that the genre has also been the most discussed and criticized. This makes it very difficult for a genre already designed to be all caps to still have any minutiae left to expose or dissect.

The challenges of finding new elements to distinguish in the world of masked heroes – or in the world behind the scenes of cinema, for that matter – are structured in The franchise.

Even though it comes from Succession AND Veep veteran Jon Brown, with Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes among his producers, the comedy series becomes very quickly The comment section on the deadline for any story about Marvel Movies: The TV Show. He has that level of intuition and that level of expanding momentum, complete with so many references to Expiration what you would think ExpirationThe parent company of (also known as THRthe parent company of) was a manufacturer.

It's not. But The franchise comes from HBO, DC Comics' sister company and the company behind many recent press releases trumpeting the success of the new DC Studios-produced drama The Penguin. It will or won't bother you that, under the guise of denigrating “comic book movies” or “contemporary cinema”, the show is probably 90% targeting Marvel. It's less about “biting the hand that feeds him” and more about “biting the hand of the obnoxious neighbor and then playfully licking the hand that feeds him.”

There are too many amazingly talented people involved The franchisefrom both sides of the camera, so as not to be occasionally caustic in entertaining and well-constructed ways, at least for some episodes. By the second half of the season, however, it becomes less and less focused, less and less narratively interesting, and more and more satirically banal.

Himesh Patel plays Daniel Kumar, first assistant director Tecto: Eye of the Storma new film based on the comics from Maximum Studios. All is not well for the baked-out juggernaut, which has nowhere to go but collapse after too many high-profile announcements at Comic-Con. Between supposed superhero fatigue and several failed attempts at symbolic diversity, Maximum needs fresh blood.

Tectoabout a hero with an invisible jackhammer and earthquake-causing gloves, that's unlikely to be the case, despite the presence of ambitious German auteur Eric (Daniel Brühl) behind the camera, up-and-coming protagonist Adam (Billy Magnussen) as the star and theater legend Peter (Richard E. Grant) as… I think he's the bad guy? It's hard to say.

As experts know, the first AD often has the most important job on set. Daniel is forced to deal with Eric's ego, Adam's insecurity, and Peter's growing dislike. When the project loses its producer, the replacement turns out to be Daniel's ex-girlfriend, Anita (Aya Cash). She proves less willing than her predecessor to provide insulation between the production and the furious studio exec Pat (Darren Goldstein), who the entire target audience will recognize as a cross between Kevin Feige and Jeph Loeb, right down to various mannerisms and catchphrases.

Daniel needs help, but none comes in the form of newly arrived Dag (Lolly Adefope). At one point she's described as a third AD, but she seems closer to a production assistant, except for one who keeps interrupting her bosses, complaining about the movie she's working on and trying to fight over an executive producer credit. Her current employment seems nonsensical, especially since no effort is made to explain anything about her beyond the fact that she has a degree in art history or something. “Graduates” in The franchise they are only mentioned when the characters want to illustrate how superior they are to the object they are working on.

Since I have very little interest in the Marvel/DC rivalry, I fully understand why Brown et al Franchising the writers chose to focus on Marvel's travails. DC Studios gave the impression of being adrift during this fruitful period, while Feige in particular publicly and arrogantly embodied Marvel's powerful helm. It's more fun and iconoclastic to make fun of something that gives the false impression of being guided than to wallow in the uncertainty of a brand that exists in a permanent state of reformulating Superman and Batman. At times, however, the avoidance of anything mocking DC-related at the expense of anything mocking Marvel-related actually seems intentional.

There's also very little that this comedy finds funny, regarding its chosen genre or its Hollywood milieu, that you couldn't have mocked on social media 10 years ago – or that hasn't already been a target on shows like The boys, The other two, Reboot, Extra, Episodesas well as too many movies. Like, do you remember the Judd Apatow one? The Bubblea COVID-era franchise that premiered on Netflix in 2022 and has, by collective cultural decree, been completely forgotten? There have been several times to watch The franchise when I thought: “Huh, The Bubble he made essentially the same joke and could have done it better.

It's not that the goals aren't fertile, and it's definitely not that Iannucci, Brown, and the other writers don't know how to rend those goals with profane glee – even if you've watched enough of them The bulk of it Ad Veep AND Successionit's hard to believe that no one has ever called an evil businessman “Scrooge McFuck” before. If you've seen Iannucci more inconsistent Avenue 5 and I felt like the previously reliable obscenity-based dialogue formula was starting to reveal some cracks, that won't change your mind.

When The franchise actually narrows its targets precisely, works decently. An episode starring Katherine Waterston as an Oscar-nominated actress whose token cameo is hilariously fleshed out due to Maximum's “women problem” reminded me of the Globby/Pixar plot in The other twoin a good way. A chapter in which Eric's resistance to product placement nearly sparks a war with China has moments of goofy inspiration.

But the one where everyone gets caught up in another Martin Scorsese comment about superhero movies killing cinema is downright tepid. And another one where everyone is intimidated by Christopher Nolan's possible arrival on set makes no sense at all, especially when Nolan is treated solely as a powerful but artistic director and not as a man who directed and/or produced a LOT of films for DC . Several jokes about overworked VFX artists are almost surprisingly tone-deaf and unfunny.

As Tecto same, perhaps The franchise it would fit together better if he had a firmer directing hand. But Mendes leaves the reins of the film after a pilot made visually notable only by some ambitious backstage tracking shots, which none of the subsequent directors attempt to replicate. On the other hand, repetition is not necessarily ideal. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross compose the premiere's soundtrack with what appear to be outtakes from them Challengers the score, and subsequent installments find a different composer who imitates them by imitating themselves.

The series quickly becomes a vague assemblage of sarcasm, in part because none of the characters or their interpersonal relationships are clearly defined. Of course, everyone Veep AND Succession it felt a bit the same, but in each situation you knew where the characters stood against each other and what drama or comedy you could get out of each pairing.

Here, variations mostly come in the form of how much a character shouts (no one shouts better than Goldstein) and whether or not he's embarrassed about making a superhero movie (no one is more embarrassed than Dag, which limits what the generally delightful Adefope must play). This doesn't go very far.

Patel and especially Cash swear well, but they are characters who have a long history together and yet have no dynamic. The show tries once or twice to suggest that there might still be romantic tension between the two, but no one here actually has feelings.

In fact, Magnussen's Adam is filled with one form of insecurity per episode, and as a result, his was the character I liked the most at the end of eight half-hours – at least that way you're allowed to “pleasure” ” any of the characters in the projects produced by Iannucci. Magnussen and Grant get a good workout throughout, with frequent interjections from Brühl, whose off-kilter readings reliably made me laugh.

I'm sure there will be a large audience that will happily flock to this series. It's chock-full of “Hey, I got that reference!” and “I've been on a set, so I'm familiar!” punchlines, and like I said, they're funny at times. Especially at the end, however, The franchise it's nothing more than a superficial mockery of things some people like and others are tired of.