BurtonReviews Iron Fist: Bump it Bro
(Image sourced from http://www.ibtimes.co.in/iron-fist-trailer-five-things-you-learn-about-finn-jones-new-netflix-marvel-show-video-715263)
With success,
after success, after success; it seemed that Marvel could do no wrong and so fans
rejoiced in a never ending fountain fresh tomatoes and nerdgasms. That was
until the early reviews of Marvel’s 4th Netflix show, Iron Fist,
were released to the internets and the early reports weren’t looking good at
all, with sites across the web heralding the fast approach of Marvel’s first
flat out failure. So, has Marvel’s hot streak of victories been distinguished? Or
are critics abit too blood thirsty for the seemingly invincible Marvel’s
downfall? Only 13 hours of nonstop binging will tell, lucky for you lot, that
is exactly what I did. Oh my butt’s sore.
(Video sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCSPda7xQ3s)
The story of
Iron Fist follows the return of the once thought dead Danny Rand (Finn Jones,
Game of Thrones). After a plane that was carrying the young Danny Rand and his billionaire
parents crashed in the Himalayas 15 years ago, the family were presumed dead. And
while that was true of the parents, Danny was lucky enough to be saved by some dimension
hopping monks and for the last 15 years has been trained in the arts of super
powered kick arsery to become: the Iron Fist. But wanting to return to his old
life, Danny has now come back to the streets of New York to not only get back
his company Rand Enterprises, but to also proclaim to all the baddies of the
big apple that “guys, I know Kung Fu”.
From the synopsis
the show sounds like a pretty straight forward, Kung Fu action led, super hero
show, ala DareDevil, the hugely successful first Netflix and Marvel outing. That
is until you hit the words “dimension hopping monks”. It is here that Iron Fist
both differentiates itself from the devil of Hell’s Kitchen, but it is also
where the show tears itself apart.
Mainly the
shows 13 episodes are populated by two very different plot lines that create
this strange conflict and friction in how the show wants to feel. On one hand the
show is a soap opera set in the billionaire filled office of Rand Enterprises. On
the other the show is a about the mystical chosen one, the Iron Fist, lighting
up his magical hands and punching the snot out of a cult of highly skilled and
deadly ninjas. And it is this sense of conflict of the show not committing
fully to what it wants to be, billionaire soap opera, or Kung Fu movie, that
stops the show from fully exceeding at either and really clicking into its own
groove of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU.
(Image sourced from http://screencrush.com/iron-fist-netflix-prequel-comic/)
Neither plot
line is awful, but neither is given the space it needs to spread its wings and become
fully embraced by the show. While the billionaire soap opera is surprisingly interesting
and well written, for the vast majority of its time on screen Danny hardly
interacts with it, making it not only feel completely disconnected from what is
happening elsewhere, but also completely irrelevant for the majority of the 13
episodes.
Meanwhile
the Kung Fu movie this show is trying to be also suffers from sharing screen
time with another plot. The plotline
does lay great groundwork for the future Marvel team-up series coming to
Netflix later this year, the Defenders, but its main issue is how it awkwardly skirts
around Danny’s mystical origins with the dimension hopping monks. The show
hardly, if ever, delves into his time in the mythical land of the Monks, K’un L’un,
and because of this the fantastical elements of Iron Fist are not only left disappointingly
unseen, but I was left feeling disconnected from Danny and his past. So whenever
he would mention how hard it was or the great challenges he had to overcome, the
impact the lines and moments should have had are noticeably lacking and take
away grievously from what could have been yet more iconic Marvel moments to add
to the ever expanding gallery.
And overall
the show didn’t really grab or excite me until the last 3rd of the
show where a genuinely surprising and interesting twist was introduced that
almost literally slapped me awake and forced me to finally be glued to the
screen and delve deep into the unfolding events and questions they were
raising. Up until then the show was
coasting along on, again not bad scripting or storylines, just more run of the
mill action and conflict that we have seen from thousands of properties before
and will again in the future.
(Image sourced as http://www.themarysue.com/iron-fist-reviews/)
Another
aspect of the show that didn’t really ever click for me was Danny, the Iron
Fist, himself. While I loved the childish optimistic skew the character had,
never really being able to develop his emotional skills past the point of the
10 year-old that crashed in the Himalayas, and the fact that this child would
then transform into a man in the midst of a fight, there was just something
about Finn Jones’ performance that didn’t feel right to me. Whether it was his
weirdly forced American whisper accent, or his at times overacting, there was
something unscalable between me and the character that sadly never allowed me
to form the connection that I was able to do with the all-around stand-up guy Luke
Cage.
But while I had
some issues with Finn Jones’ performance, the rest of the cast fit pretty well
into their roles, but there were a couple of stand outs, one I won’t mention
because of spoilers, but the other I am free to gush about. And that was Tom Pelphrey
as Ward Meachum, the childhood friend of Danny’s now turned Billionaire head of
Rand Enterprises. This Norman Osborn Jr. type character not only had possibly
the best arch of the whole season, where his character visibly twisted and
changed but ultimately grew as a character by the end of the show, but the way Pelphrey
brought him to life made Ward a character that I was always excited to see come
back on screen and when he was there I couldn’t wait to see where this tortured
businessman would end up next.
Another cast
member that did, as usual, stellar work on the Marvel Netflix show was the reoccurring
Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple. Bringing her usual and very welcomed brand of
grounded sass and medical reality check to the heroes of these shows, and
acting as the connective tissue between the interconnected streets of Netflix’s
Marvel tinged New York, Claire was also the source of the majority of the best,
and most fan satisfying, references to the past events of Hell’s Kitchen and
Brooklyn. But it is also her role as the connecting force between the
characters that brings in an infuriating problem that I just couldn’t shake
throughout the show.
(Image sourced from http://www.blastr.com/2017-3-8/marvel-iron-fist-review)
Now I’m
usually the first guy to defend the Marvel movies whenever someone says “why
didn’t [insert Avengers] show up and help”. And hey, in Captain America Winter
Solider, Cap didn’t know who to trust, alright. In Thor the Dark World, Thor didn’t
have enough time/this was way out of anyone else’s wheel house. And okay, in
Ironman 3 at least one Avenger should’ve showed up when Tony Stark was thought
to be dead and the president was kidnapped. But, as with Ironman 3, in the case
of this show, it just didn’t make sense that nobody else would show up,
especially DareDevil. The threat was so big and so connected to DareDevil’s
past struggles, and Claire is so close to the blind lawyer of Hell’s Kitchen
that it would have been a perfect time to have him swing on in and show the
mythical warrior how to really take down a hallway of badguys. But hey, I guess
they want to keep that for the Defenders, still doesn’t excuse the fact that it
didn’t make any sense at all that Claire couldn’t have atleast thrown old DD a
DM to see if he was busy or not.
Speaking of
the threat of this show, there were a couple of issues here too. Much like the
missing explanation for Danny’s past that would have allowed for a stronger
connection to the show and bigger impact for some key moments, too was one of
the “bad guys” of the show really not explained at all. I say “bad guys” in
quotes because really, up until 10 minutes before their final showdown, I didn’t
really get why they were so bad. In-fact they seemed kinda great and doing way
more for the city than Iron Fist, so when the characters kept screaming in
anguish over how awful this person was, I was just left scratching my head and
waiting for the other shoe to drop on their misdeeds. A shoe I’m still waiting
for.
And while we’re
on the subject of showdowns, with this show clearly being inspired and wanting
to be a good old fashioned Kung Fu action movie, fights are obviously going to
be a big part of Iron Fist’s DNA. And while the first few forays into action that
the show had felt abit too slow and staged, after about the fourth episode, the
leg hurling, super-powered punch throwing action seemed to finally kick into
gear and deliver some really cool and fast paced set pieces that, while never
reach the heights of any of DareDevil’s jaw dropping blood baths, are some neat
showcases of martial arts.
(Image sourced from http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/4/13160492/marvel-iron-fist-release-date-netflix)
So, while
definitely not the stinker it was reported to be, Iron Fist isn’t the Marvel
grand slam that we’re used to. With conflictingly themed plotlines, a main
character that just didn’t quite click and a literal whole dimension of the
show not explored or explained, the show does have its faults, but cool action,
a surprising twist and solid ground work for future Netflix Marvel projects
makes this a worthy watch for any MCU fan.
Iron Fist = 7/10
Why not check out my YouTube channel, BurtonReviews,
where I upload awesome gaming montages put to badass songs or scores every
Sunday. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUfnyezvQsVsDgN3TGRh1Q
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