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

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A still from the new Apple TV+ series Chief of War.

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.

A still from the Apple TV+ series Chief of War.

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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