Chief of War review: Breathtakingly beautiful, Jason Momoa's Apple show is like a political alliance between Avatar and Black Panther

Indian Express

21 hours ago

It takes great writing discipline to make a show like Chief of War. Nearly everybody who watches it on Apple will be entering a world that they're entirely unfamiliar with. And yet, they must surrender to its intimate yet epic narrative. Set in the late 18th century, the nine-episode drama tells the story of the unification of the Hawaiian islands, from the perspective of the Polynesian community. Riskier is the creative decision to set it almost exclusively in the native language. Perhaps the folks behind it — Chief of War is co-created by Jason Momoa and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett — were empowered by the success of similar grand-scale productions such as FX's Japanese-language drama Shōgun and Apple's own Korean-language show Pachinko.
While it focuses on the campaign of Kamehameha the Great, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, it unfolds from the perspective of a warrior named Ka'iana. This is the character played by Momoa himself. A warrior of noble descent, Ka'iana deserted his king's side and went off to live with his brothers in a different corner of the community. At the time, the Hawaiian islands were ruled under different warring monarchies, with the threat of white invaders on the horizon. Ka'iana was aware of this threat when he accidentally found himself on one of their boats, headed for the mainland. Like Thor stranded in the middle of New Mexico, Ka'iana discovers the ways of the West on this voyage, during which he becomes a little too familiar with the moral failings of white men.
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Presumed dead by his family, Ka'iana learns English and concocts a plan to have arms and ammunition smuggled to his district. These weapons will be useful in the civil war that would inevitably follow the passing of the ageing Chief Kahekili, played by Maori legend Temeura Morrison. We witness Kahekili's cruelty in an early episode, as he wreaks havoc on those who oppose him. Over the course of the next few chapters, while Ka'iana is having his own adventures abroad, we are introduced to a host of supporting players. Ka'ahumanu is like Daenerys Targaryen, married off at a young age to Kamehameha in a political alliance. Cliff Curtis delivers a particularly unhinged performance as a Roman Roy-type, overlooked for the big job because of his unpredictability.
In one scene, he vows vengeance by punching himself repeatedly in the face, plucking out a tooth and waving it around before a crowd. Later, egged on by his overeager mother, he stands at the edge of a volcano and allows the skin on his back to be singed off by the toxic fumes. Kamehameha, on the other hand, is a rather mild-mannered fellow. Played by Kaina Makua, a real-life farmer with no previous acting experience, he assumes the role of the reluctant hero. Chief of War seems to be suggesting that there is space still in politics for relatively uncorrupted souls.
However, our conduit into this world is the far edgier Ka'iana. Having already earned a notoriety for abandoning his previous post, Ka'iana is described as the 'fist' to Kamehameha's 'head' in the battle against Kahekili. But over the course of the show, he proves himself to be a rather able tactician as well. Momoa cuts a striking figure on screen, even if you were to watch Chief of War on your Apple device. Plus, the streamer seems to have spared no expense on the production — this is one of the most staggeringly shot shows you're likely to see this year. Barring a few scenes that are visibly filmed against green-screens, the rest of it appears to have been produced on location.
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A passion project for Momoa — he said in an interview with GQ that he waited for Minecraft 'to save cinema' before he could get a project like this off the ground — Chief of War reportedly employed key members of the Hawaiian community to ensure that every detail is as accurate as it can possibly be. The costumes, the sets, the dialect that Momoa compared to Dothraki from Game of Thrones; everything is painstakingly put together. But binding all these elements together is the writing. Momoa and Sibbett co-authored every episode, but whoever came up with the winning note to repeatedly address characters by their names deserves a raise. It's an elegant trick to familiarise the audience with a large cast, without stranding them at sea.
The cultural specificity of Chief of War is a feature, not a flaw. It enhances the show's thematic universality. Here is a story about identity and individuality, about loyalty, love and legacy. In theory, the show can be enjoyed by anybody who liked James Cameron's Avatar, or Ryan Coogler's Black Panther. It's epic and exotic; daring yet dignified. Chief of War is yet another example of Apple's ambitious quest to replicate the golden era of HBO. And to think that Prime Video was wasting its time and money on something like Citadel.
Chief of War
Creators – Jason Momoa, Thomas Pa'a Sibbett
Cast – Jason Momoa, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison, Luciane Buchanan, Kaina Makua
Rating – 4.5/5
Rohan Naahar is an assistant editor at Indian Express online. He covers pop-culture across formats and mediums. He is a 'Rotten Tomatoes-approved' critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild of India. He previously worked with the Hindustan Times, where he wrote hundreds of film and television reviews, produced videos, and interviewed the biggest names in Indian and international cinema. At the Express, he writes a column titled Post Credits Scene, and has hosted a podcast called Movie Police.
You can find him on X at @RohanNaahar, and write to him at [e-mail]. He is also on LinkedIn and Instagram. ... Read More