Today began the first of a ten-part original web series, Angel of Death, on Sony’s Crackle.com site. You can watch it by clicking here or grab the RSS feed here.

The show will broadcast one part each weekday from now until March 13th. And I have to say, based on the first part, you’d be doing yourself a favor to check it out.

I have been anticipating the web-series based on my respect of writer Ed Brubaker’s previous work in comics (Sleeper, Criminal). Ed wrote it, a guy named Paul Etheredge directed it, and it stars Zoe Bell (Lost, Death Proof). In the first episode, which is just over 7 minutes, we meet Zoe’s character, Eve, an assasin. She’s sent to kill someone. Who? It doesn’t matter to Eve. As she explains to the protege that her bosses insist help her, you don’t ask those questions unless you want your name to appear on a similar hit list.

I expected sharp dialog, but didn’t know what to expect out of the performances or direction. Overall, I was pretty impressed. I would call the visual look comic book-noir. It’s a little more action-packed than I was expecting. As a fan of martial arts films, I took note that the fight choreography was by Ron Yuan. Looking into his history on IMDb reveals that I have seen him in Prison Break and Pushing Daisies, without realizing it. Anyway, the fights are brief but effective. It’s a pleasant mix of krav maga and kung fu, and Zoe is more than capable.

The acting is hit and miss. There’s only about 3 characters with lines in this episode. The protege was fine and Zoe was good. Her boss/lover seemed off, but his scene was brief.

Overall, I wasn’t expecting it to have such a glossy, sharp look. That’s just a byproduct of web original series being in their infancy. This may be a decent budget or it may be small, I wouldn’t know. But it looks clean and clear. The sets are perfect for what’s needed and there’s a great visual flair during action beats that separates things into stylized panels. Think of the show 24′s establishing shots and through in a little bit of a music video sensibility. Fortunately, there’s no annoying rapid-fire editing. They let you see what’s happening. Paul Etheredge, I don’t know you, but if the next 9 episodes are this sharp, I’ll remember your name.

As you might have guessed, the hit goes down wrong. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to explain that Eve ends the episode alive but with a knife jammed into her skull. She makes it to the getaway car, but she’s got a damn knife in her head! Oh, and after she’s stabbed, she messes up and kills a teenaged girl. Oops. Yeah, it’s dark but thanks to the noirish sensibilities, you do expect things to go very wrong for Eve. She’s a flawed person down about as low as she can go and I’m very curious to see what happens next.

I give the first part 4 out of 5 Assassins.

photo credit: Kaptain Kobold