Jupiter's Legacy (2021) Series Review

The big news came out that Netflix has cancelled Jupiter's Legacy but I powered on and watched the first and only season of the show and here is my review for it. The premise of the show sees a group of Superheroes attempt to protect the world while navigating the new and changing ideologies of the 21st century. While flashbacks document the origins of these heroes and how they discovered their powers. 

Main Character

Josh Duhamel plays The Utopian and does a good job in his role. He is basically the Superman of this universe and he sells it well, he has a code of morals that you can tell he believes in so strongly that it defines the way he believes that things should be done as a superhero. Then in the flashback scenes he also manages to portray this crazy and unhinged character who is one step ahead of everybody else and sees the opportunity for the characters. But the issue is that his character, like pretty much everybody else gets bogged down by family drama and it just is dull to watch and leads the character down a more cliché and uninspiring way which hurts the strong performance Duhamel is trying to give. 

Supporting Characters  

There is some decent cast members here, Ben Daniels plays Brainwave, the brother of Duhamel and he is really good. He just comes across as a very cool and powerful character in the present day and that contrasts well with his character in the flashback scenes that comes across very differently. Leslie Bibb plays Duhamel's wife Lady Liberty and they are good together and she does a decent job in her role. Her character in the flashbacks isn't as interesting but she manages to give a good enough account of herself. It is a bit strange seeing Matt Lanter in live action because I am so used to him being the voice of Anakin Skywalker in The Clone Wars but he is good. He is mostly in the flashback story but he plays the rich snob pretty well and his relationship with the other characters is one of the more interesting aspects of the show. But there are plenty of issues with the cast and they are with the younger performers, Andrew Horton and Elena Kampouris play the children of Duhamel and Bibb's characters and they are so annoying, Horton is the generic hero trying to emulate his father without any real characterisation for himself. and Kampouris as Chloe is that character that is the rebel and doesn't care about anybody but it is forced and feels really detached from the rest of the show. There are so many characters introduced that it becomes really hard to care about some of them and makes you wonder where they have gone when they don't appear for a few episodes. 

Story 

The story deals with some interesting social and political issues with the 21st century and how superheroes would affect this. The argument between how the heroes should act with the villains works and does provided some real complex issues with the team. The origins of the older characters is quite interesting to watch as well but the issue is that it is way too long. It feels like the flashback storyline takes up so much time that we don't actually see that much of the team doing superhero stuff which is a real let down. Also there seems to be a lack of direction with the overall plot, with many different smaller stories not really coming together to make a coherent and fulfilling story. 

Script

The script is okay, with a few decent comedic scenes and some decent drama that reflects interesting ideas and morality. But there is nothing that stands out at all and it just feels very paint by numbers in terms of the way it tells the story and how the characters act. 

Style 

The show has some decent action scenes and you can tell there was a big budget behind this show and it does provide some impressive looking moments with some appropriate violence. But the pacing of the show is off, with storylines that don't matter and characters disappearing for whole episodes in order for them to tell this really drawn out origin story for the older heroes. Plus, this might be a personal thing but I thought there was way too much slow-mo used which made the fights feel a bit hollow and less impressive despite the high stakes on show. 

Overall

Overall, Jupiter's Legacy is an average show. I think this show had a lot of potential but it also felt like this was all set up for a second season that we will never get to see. For me watch The Boys on Amazon instead as this show falls way short and isn't going to be remembered by most. 

Rating - 5/10