Review: ‘Secret Headquarters’ is a Marvel-lite movie not without charm

Some concepts are so easy they find yourself being movie titles, resembling Secret Headquarters, which hits Paramount Plus on August 12.

Primarily based on an unique screenplay by Christopher L. Yost (Cowboy Bebop), Secret Headquarters has author/administrators Josh Koenigsberg (Excessive Constancy) and Ariel Schulman (Undertaking Energy) on the helm. Owen Wilson headlines as Jack Kincaid, who will get launched alongside spouse Lily (Jessie Mueller) and son Charlie (Louie Chaplin Mosse) in a concise flashback sequence that includes aerial pursuits, injured Air Drive pilots, and alien craft, culminating in Jack being entrusted with a limiteless energy.  

From the outset, that is pure wish-fulfillment with smatterings of household dysfunction, as 10 years on a teenage Charlie (Walker Scobell) is now cut up between mother and father. Together with his father completely waylaid by work commitments and a birthday looming, Secret Headquarters makes gentle work of laying stable narrative foundations.

The principle teenage principals embody Maya (Momona Tamada), Lizzie (Abby James Witherspoon), Berger (Keith L. Williams) and his brother Huge Mac (Kezii Curtis), every of whom convey their very own contribution to the group dynamic, making certain the quartet stays participating all through.

Having been dropped off to spend a while with Jack for his birthday, the movie shortly will get Wilson offscreen to give attention to Charlie and his pals as an alternative. In the end, Secret Headquarters is a star car for Scobell, who held his personal reverse Ryan Reynolds just lately in The Adam Undertaking. That being mentioned, though the movie may owe a big debt to Robert Rodriguez and his Spy Children franchise, it has extra to supply than some savvy nods to style staples.

From the second that Charlie discovers Jack has an underground operations room beneath his cabin, we enterprise into mid-level Marvel territory, even when the complexity may not be there for an easy comparability. Though the affable Wilson is barely onscreen for a big chunk of the operating time, he does sufficient to promote the premise by harboring an alien artifact from prying eyes, having been chosen by off-world interlopers early on.

Solely arms producer Ansel Argon (Michael Peña) presents any actual sense of risk. Together with his ragtag band of paid mercenaries attempting to trace down the “supply,” Secret Headquarters was by no means going to supply audiences something taxing. The deepest underlying message it tries to convey is certainly one of optimism, the place all people has an opportunity to be heroic, if not superhuman.

Nevertheless, the place issues actually involves life is thru its teenage solid, who’re handed some respectable dialogue and fairly rounded character progressions. In fact, they may not be probably the most unique arcs conceivable, however this younger grownup ensemble pulls it off with buckets of appeal to spare.

Standouts above and past Scobell embody Tamada’s Maya, who proves equally resourceful in a cliched but fun-filled finale. Witherspoon’s Lizzie additionally makes an attempt to match her up to date, however comes unstuck being hampered by the function of teenage sufferer to her would-be assailant, a truth which undermines her contribution, and at instances means the movie suffers from one too many cliches.

Amongst the grownup solid (apart from Wilson and Peña), solely Jesse Williams actually makes an impression as turncoat Air Drive pilot Captain Sean Irons. Though he could also be acquainted to some from his prolonged time on Gray’s Anatomy, in Secret Headquarters, his affect is small however essential as he has an ethical epiphany, which requires his character to step up, take duty, and develop as an individual in a while.

Past that, and a few fairly spectacular visible results, Secret Headquarters appears like Marvel-lite with splashes of dysfunctional drama thrown in. On the face of it, that’s no unhealthy factor, as a result of this Paramount Plus unique by no means drags, and will get by on appeal and a few good story selections. With the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer concerned, audiences can anticipate greater than slightly polish to this piece of leisure, which matches a way in the direction of establishing the brand new streaming service.    

With unique options together with Honor Society and tv reveals resembling Mayor of Kingstown, Paramount Plus will quickly emerge from its fledgling stage and turn into a power to be reckoned with. Secret Headquarters represents an vital step on that journey, because it ought to attraction to a large viewers of subscribers on the lookout for one thing new.