As a lifelong comic book fan – specifically, a Marvel Comics fan – I love what Marvel has been doing with its movies and TV series. The fact that the world is interconnected, that every movie ties into the next one is a brilliant marketing and storytelling move that wouldn’t work if the stories and characters weren’t of the highest quality. That sort of thing builds anticipation for the years leading up to every Avengers event.

The same has been true for the Marvel series on Netflix that are currently leading into September’s The Defenders; it wouldn’t work if the characters and the shows weren’t top-notch. When the project was announced, people winced. It had the potential for greatness if done properly, but the only Daredevil anyone knew was the terrible early-2000’s movie with Ben Affleck. The first season of Marvel’s Daredevil had a low bar to clear: just don’t suck. It didn’t, by most metrics, and it was incredibly successful. That built confidence for Jessica Jones, a lesser-known property that because of its low profile simply had to not suck. It didn’t. Daredevil came back with another successful season that introduced the best on-screen version of The Punisher to date, and that was followed by a higher profile character: Luke Cage. When that worked out, eyes naturally shifted to Luke Cage’s fellow Hero-for-Hire, Iron Fist.

Marvel’s Iron Fist has been maligned by critics for being the weakest of The Defenders lead-up shows. The lead character is mind-numbingly naïve, the dialogue feels like a badly dubbed Kung-Fu movie, and the villain is a badly mixed combo of Wilson Fisk from Daredevil and Tony Stark from Captain America: Civil War. As the most effects-heavy of the four shows, there are tons of stuff that only barely work visually, and the fight scenes are terrible considering this is a character who is supposed to be a living martial arts weapon. We get the interpersonal drama that is the worst parts of the DC shows on TV right now (The Flash, Arrow, etc.), and essentially a bunch of pieces that aren’t as well put together as the other shows.

But I liked it. I didn’t love it, but I liked it.

Marvel’s Iron Fist’s biggest hurdle is that it’s not Daredevil, Luke Cage, or Jessica Jones. Iron Fist as a character is supposed to be a bigger badass than any of those three from a fighting standpoint, even though he doesn’t have the super powers they do. Yet the fight scenes, which is what everyone is paying for from a character like Iron Fist, weren’t nearly as polished as the other Defenders. Perhaps because of the heavy focus on the martial arts, the fight scenes seemed more like dance-offs than the brutal street fights found in Daredevil or Luke Cage. When you compare Iron Fist to that stuff, it seems to be lacking. On its own merits, however, though not as bloody or bullet-riddled, the fight scenes from Iron Fist are gorgeous to watch from a technical standpoint. Finn Jones isn’t a marital artist by any stretch of the imagination – he’s not built like one, nor does he move like one – but he wasn’t terrible as the immortal weapon in action. Honorable mention also goes to Jessica Hennewick as Colleen Wing, sensei and samurai warrior. She comes off as an incredibly capable fighter.

Iron Fist’s other big issue is in characterization. Finn Jones portrays Danny Rand as a too-naïve-for-New York guy, a man-child who is easily manipulated and seems to not have any common sense. For someone who spent 15 years honing his mind and body to their peak, Danny seems to not follow any particular kind of logic and is driven from quest to quest on the say-so of people who have at some point or another expressed open disdain for him. It stands to reason that weapons shouldn’t think for themselves (and Danny Rand is frequently referred to as a living weapon), but this level naivete is baffling.

It’s not all bad though. Danny is also portrayed as having a form PTSD as a result of a plane crash in the Himalayas. This crash is the event that started him on his (mostly unseen) journey to become the Iron Fist, as he was taken in by monks from the mystical city of K’un L’un. Personally, I would have liked to see more of this training. It would have sold me on the character as a weapon. The PTSD, however, was well handled and believable, as in stressful moments Danny would flash back to the events of the crash.

As a comic junkie, I didn’t find Iron Fist to be terrible. Yes, it’s the weakest of the four Defenders series, and no it’s not even close to great by any means, but it suffers mostly from being okay in a sea of greatness.

#2017 #review #comicbooks #TV #Netflix