Netflix Iron Fist
Here we go again...Once again I will preface this by saying Netflix is a great medium for lesser super heroes in the Marvel Universe (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage). But for this to work well, the dynamic of the character or the story has to be compelling. Daredevil worked for a number of reasons...he's a popular lesser hero, he has a rich story line filled with memorable characters, his powers and fight make for good cinema (That stair fight seen was awesome). Jessica Jones was cool (I'll admit I didn't know much about her except that her and Cage get married eventually). She was raw and rough, they never really explained her powers which added to the mystique, she was damaged which always plays well, and well, she was attractive which doesn't hurt...and the story was pretty decent. Luke Cage was a stretch, character wasn't all that compelling and his powers were pretty basic. Once you see bullets bounce off someone twice, it gets boring real quick. He suffers from being a one trick pony without a rich story...I appreciated them making an African American super hero series but it was dull. Now enter Iron Fist and I'll tell you straight up that I've only seen 6 episodes and I can already see the writing on the wall. He's a lesser known super hero who studied martial arts for 15 years in another dimension. From that alone, I would expect to see some of the best choreographed fight scenes, period. The entire premise of the character is martial arts...right?
Instead, you get these fact moving cut scenes that attempt to mask a bad fight scene a la Matt Damon in the Bourne series. When you change camera angles in the middle to the action, it's just a blur of punches and kicks which might make you nauseous and doesn't convey a well choreographed fight. Directors do this for one of two reasons, One, the guy or girl cast as the lead can't actually fight or, Two, they have a bad choreographer. I personally think it's one but who knows. They don't have the luxury of Daredevil who wears a mask which allows for more competent fighter stand ins. The other issue I have with the show is its use of the character. Iron Fist has many abilities but you wouldn't know it from the show. It's all about his glowing fist which he uses pretty sparingly if you ask me. This guy has a 5 minute fight that should have been a 30 sec. fight if he just uses the super fist. The show concentrates way to much on the company and less on the fighter, you can skip episodes 2 and 3 and you won't miss a beat.
Look, I'm a fan of most things super hero related but so far this one is kind of a dud. Maybe because it's coming after already established stuff so I was expecting more. Maybe because if you sell a martial artist series, I may want to see some good martial art. Maybe the story just isn't that interesting, it's Daredevil lite. I think it will do well overall because their are so many nerds out there who will take whatever you give them...but I wanted more.
Instead, you get these fact moving cut scenes that attempt to mask a bad fight scene a la Matt Damon in the Bourne series. When you change camera angles in the middle to the action, it's just a blur of punches and kicks which might make you nauseous and doesn't convey a well choreographed fight. Directors do this for one of two reasons, One, the guy or girl cast as the lead can't actually fight or, Two, they have a bad choreographer. I personally think it's one but who knows. They don't have the luxury of Daredevil who wears a mask which allows for more competent fighter stand ins. The other issue I have with the show is its use of the character. Iron Fist has many abilities but you wouldn't know it from the show. It's all about his glowing fist which he uses pretty sparingly if you ask me. This guy has a 5 minute fight that should have been a 30 sec. fight if he just uses the super fist. The show concentrates way to much on the company and less on the fighter, you can skip episodes 2 and 3 and you won't miss a beat.
Look, I'm a fan of most things super hero related but so far this one is kind of a dud. Maybe because it's coming after already established stuff so I was expecting more. Maybe because if you sell a martial artist series, I may want to see some good martial art. Maybe the story just isn't that interesting, it's Daredevil lite. I think it will do well overall because their are so many nerds out there who will take whatever you give them...but I wanted more.
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