Apple TV+ continues to look like a must-have streaming service this year, with a near-constant run of shows that look worth your attention. Now, it’s building up to one of its biggest yet, in the form of Chief of War, a retelling of the unification and colonisation of Hawaii in the late 1700s.
It stars Jason Momoa as a chief who recognises that the only way the islands will fend off danger from colonisers is if they can unite under one banner and one leader, rather than infighting and costing themselves the chance at long-lasting freedom. We’ve had a teaser before, but this full trailer looks pretty gob-smacking.
The thing that really stands out when you watch it through is the commitment to shooting on location – so many of the shots and scenes that we get to see glimpses of look very obviously real, rather than cobbled together with green-screen or elaborate sets.
Sure, there are obvious moments when things are patched in, like the shot of a fleet of Hawaiian vessels viewed from the shoreline, but when we see Momoa in a jungle, or on the peaks of a mountain, or walking away from a huge burning building, there’s not much of a whiff of CGI, which is hugely refreshing.
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From the looks of things, Momoa’s character will go on quite a journey, too. By the end of the trailer, we see him dressed in the clothes of the colonisers, and even clutching a rifle, which suggests that he might see the opportunity to use his enemies’ tactics against them.
I’ll hold my hands up and admit happily that I know very little of the history of Hawaii, so I’ll be able to watch Chief of War without knowing whatsoever what’ll come down the line for the native inhabitants. It’ll also be interesting to see whether Apple has more than one season planned – it’s already used Momoa for more than one season of See, after all, so he’s clearly willing to commit to streaming projects in the long term.
Or, at least, he’s willing to do so for Apple. Maybe he agrees that it has the best streaming service out there right now.
