'Iron Fist' Review (Season 1)
02:17
Netflix's final Defender has arrived. And part of me wishes he didn't. Marvel's Netflix show's have had a good track record up until now, 'Daredevil,' 'Jessica Jones' and 'Luke Cage' have all be fantastic shows with plenty to offer. Interesting characters, well told stories and against what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has previously given us, perfect villains. 'Iron Fist' however, is a flat out wasted potential.
The show follows Danny Rand, AKA the Iron Fist (Finn Jones) who, after surviving a plane crash in the Himalayas as a child and losing his parents, he returns to New York fifteen years later to restore his name in the world, and fight evil as the legendary Iron Fist. And that's about as interesting as it gets unfortunately.
Now I don't completely dislike this show. There are parts to it I quite like - but overall it fails to deliver anything as unique or absorbing as the other shows, and its a damn shame. It's premise is good at least but fails to live up to anything after this. We don't get to see how Danny becomes the Iron Fist. We only hear about it. So cross the origin story away from what you might expect. We get to see how Danny adapts to a new world but his story, and fight against the Hand (as previously seen in 'Daredevil') is so uninspired and boring. We've seen it before and it really is plain and dull.
The more interesting side to this show involves the other characters, the Meachum's, Ward (Tom Pelphrey) Joy (Jessica Stroup) and their father Harold (David Wenham) are the more exciting characters to get behind but even they're quickly tarnished. I did like Ward's arc in particular, and is probably a character I'd pull out as one of the only good things about the show. Now this doesn't mean to say I like I don't like Danny or Jones' portrayal, his performance is good and such but he just doesn't interest me as the other characters did from the previous shows. He's just kind of... meh. Other characters such as Coleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) are pretty cool, for a short time anyway. Rosario Dawson annoyingly shows up again as Claire Temple, along with Madame Gao returning from 'Daredevil.' And that's it really. My favourite character was Ward, up until about episode nine when I completely lost interest, same with Harold in the same episode. What I really feel is wrong with this show is how the characters are built up in some aspect in an interesting way and then something either small or big happens that just ruins them for silly reasons. It's hard to get attached knowing that their intentions of characters will just become stale.
The Netflix series' always seem to have plenty of action to save it when needed if it seems to go down an unsteady route. It may help 'Iron Fist' if the action was actually good. The problem is that it's way too fast paced so you really can't grasp it when it actually does happen, and really has nothing on the fighting in 'Daredevil' for instance. So yeah, it hardly happens. There's not much action in it at all and when there is it's just generic, and annoying. Because it just doesn't impress, it's just like a couple of kids fighting... that's really not good for a martial arts based superhero. Having said that, the finale has one cool fight scene, and the penultimate episode aswell. Shame there isn't more.
Not to mention the episodes are way too long and drawn out, when they don't need to be - annoying and pointless filler is added in at times which is just too much and hard to keep watching, especially with all the other factors in place. This time could be used to go into more of Rand's origin as the Iron Fist, but instead we get poorly shot flashbacks (such as the dreadfully acted and therefore hilarious to watch crash scene) with awful transitions. It's pretty cringey. Even the first episode feels like there should be something before it, watching the first episode feels like it should be in the middle of the show, because it hands too much on a plate to you and it just isn't fun to watch or intriguing.
The finale is just as disappointing as the rest of the season, and I hope they don't make a second season unless it's vastly improved. Rand may work well within the upcoming 'Defenders,' but I won't get my hopes up. Overall, while there are some interesting components, its not enough to bring this show to scratch. Sadly, 'Iron Fist' feels more like a gentle tap then a punch it was bigged up to pack.
The Good
+ Ward's character arc
+ Some fight scenes
+ Danny and Coleen's relationship
The Bad
- Poor fight scenes
- Lackluster lead character
- Character's change too much with little development
- Wasted potential for better stories
- Returning characters and elements from previous shows are boring
5/10
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