“Secret Invasion,” which /Film’s Josh Spiegel reviewed here, makes no bones about cribbing from the unassailable touchstones of espionage/political thrillers past. In fact, when talking to /Film, director Ali Selim went as far as to say that, when it came to figuring out what influences to look to when creating the style and visuals for the series, “‘Emulated’ is not the right word. ‘Thievery’ is the right word.” But it’s not always just the most obvious and direct one-to-one comparisons, either. Selim also drops some unexpected choices, as well, comparing Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) left on his own to deal with the threat of the Skrulls to the prototypical lone cowboy figure:
“And I think that takes us into a world of the classic American gunslinger walking down Main Street all alone to face the bad guy and face his own fears, and that took us into classic Westerns like ‘The Searchers’ and even Clint Eastwood’s ‘Unforgiven.'”
Those who closely observe the series premiere will also notice how much the series is indebted to a wealth of other sources, as well. The camerawork, particularly during action scenes, sure are reminiscent of the shaky-cam mayhem of the Matt Damon-starring “Bourne” movies. Of course, FX’s “The Americans” set a high, high bar for spy stories that Marvel would be smart to look to. And, at one point, Olivia Colman’s MI6 agent Sonya Falsworth even references “The Circus,” a term used to describe British intelligence in several classic John le Carré novels such as “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”
In short, there was no lack of reference material for those behind “Secret Invasion” to steal in brazen acts of “thievery” to bring it to the next level. New episodes drop on Disney+ every Wednesday.