Marvel's Inhumans Premiere: 8 Ups And 3 Downs From 'The First Chapter'

Several months ago, it was announced that the Marvel Cinematic Universe's planned film adaptation of Inhumans had officially been cancelled. And, in lieu of a movie, the Inhumans would instead get their own television series on ABC, joining the likes of Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (on which the Inhumans were established as part of the MCU.)

Although, as it turns out, Attilan's royal family would get their time on the silver screen yet. The double-length premiere episode, The First Chapter, has been given a special release exclusively in IMAX theaters one month ahead of the show's television debut.

Upon this release, however, a good amount of critics either dismissed or outright panned the premiere, which is genuinely baffling. Sure, Inhumans is one of those things you sort of have to "get" and it may not exactly appeal to everyone, but if you approach it with an open mind, you'll find that, all things considered, Marvel Television really has something prodigious on their hands here.

Yes, Inhumans certainly does have its faults, which we'll discuss in a moment, but they are still outnumbered by the positives and The First Chapter is definitely worth your time if you're on the fence.

That said, let's start things off with some of the downs you should be prepared for going in.

While the main characters in Inhumans were cast rather thoughtfully, the same cannot be said for some of the secondary, minor, or background characters. Plenty of them are fine, mind you, but plenty of others are not.

For instance, from an acting standpoint, the opening scene feels rather sloppy. The entire exchange between Triton and the young Inhuman he's trying to save amounts to just expository rambling, and the two actors are unable to pull this dialogue off in a way that sounds even remotely natural.

There's also the man who watches Black Bolt and Lockjaw teleport in front of his car who is clearly supposed to be shocked, but the wooden delivery on the part of the actor just makes the character seem vaguely perturbed at best.

Finally, many of the background extras, both in Attilan and in Hawaii, are incredibly unconvincing,. Some are trying too hard and attracting too much attention to themselves, whereas others just seem disinterested.