How spoilers work - title the ep you're watching and spoil the contents. I know it's different format from what we usually do with Netflix centric threads like this posters have found this suitable since this isn't airing every week like a typical tv show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9OKL5no-S0
Iron Fist has taken off to a rocky start, here are the basics to what the series has to offer. The descriptions are copied shamelessly from wikipedia.
Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Finn Jones)
A billionaire Buddhist monk and martial arts expert proficient in kung-fu, with the ability to call upon the power of the Iron Fist. Jones described the character as "someone struggling to find his identity" explaining, "He's a superhero with a real heart but has spiritual elements as well. I think ... there's this [contradiction] of on one hand he's from a very wealthy family, he's a billionaire, on the other hand he's been in this world of K’un-Lun for a long time where he's learned kung fu and Buddhist philosophy." Jones, an orphan like Rand, was able to understand "that need for something more... that loneliness that Danny feels," given Rand lost his parents at the age of ten and for the last 15 years has been living under harsh conditions in a monastery. Jones continued, "Danny gets really stressed and really pissed off sometimes, and I understand that. I think it's the alienation aspect, but also that optimism. I understand Danny's optimism and where that comes from." Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb noted that Rand is younger than Marvel's other Defenders, and that he "has a certain kind of optimism and hope about him that brings a certain thing to" the team. In preparation for the role, Jones studied kung fu, wushu and tai chi, along with weight training, Buddhist philosophy and meditation. In response to the character being criticized as a white savior, showrunner Scott Buck said that he had approached the character without knowing of the racial issues surrounding him and his comic history, and that Rand is "trying to save himself, if anything," a sentiment Jones agreed with.
This is the same Scott Buck who did this to Dexter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjO-mIpsL4M
And he's the show runner for Inhumans. Dammit, Marvel.
Colleen Wing AKA that cool female Rebel pilot from
The Force Awakens (Jessica Henwick)
An ally of Rand who runs her own martial arts dojo in New York City. Henwick felt the most defining word for Wing was "alone", saying, "She doesn't want to be anyone's love interest and open herself up in that way." Henwick also tried "to pull out that sort of very dry humor that [Wing] has, and that no bullshit New Yorker demeanor" from the comics version in her portrayal.
Joy Meachum AKA Is that Laurel from Arrow?/Jessica Stoup
The daughter of Harold and childhood acquaintance of Rand, whose work building up Rand Enterprises with her brother Ward is threatened to be undone with Rand's return. Stroup said that Joy "absolutely loves" Rand, and his return to New York is "like this rebirth of what she once was, and she gets to ask these questions about herself because he’s posing them to her." Stroup said that Joy would initially be unsure whether Rand is who he says he is.
Ward Meachum AKA Corporate Douchebag #26258/Tom Pelphrey
The son of Harold and childhood acquaintance of Rand, whose work building up Rand Enterprises with his sister Joy is threatened to be undone with Rand's return. Ward is a character from the comics, though Pelphrey noted "we’re not necessarily beholden to representing him [in the series] exactly as he appears in the comic book." Stroup said that Ward would experience some "male angst" on Rand's return, because "Ward would have been the one who picked on [Rand] when he was little so as pure and innocent and great as Iron Fist is, he comes in and he causes some problems" there.
Claire Temple AKA She Knows All The Defenders/ Rosario Dawson
A former nurse who joins Colleen's dojo. Knows Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.
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Will probably binge it with the gf as far as we get on Sunday.
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
I like the music. It does a good job of building up the suspense and action.
I like all the actors playing the Meachums. Even though the dialogue is bleh, the actors do commit to the characters. You do get a good sense of their inner conflict.
Colleen Wing is good, it's a nuanced performance. She's good at getting across the sense that she's trying to be nice while her patience is wearing thin.
I don't know about Finn Jones. The writing for Danny is so bad and the direction doesn't seem too good either. I don't know if he can do better with better writing and direction.
The martial arts is really hit or miss. It's a different style of fighting than Daredevil. It's not as visceral and brutal. It's supposed to be more acrobatic and elegant. And in some instances, it manages to do that, but a lot of other times it's just bad. There are hits that are too slow or look like they barely connect. Into the Badlands was just released on Netflix, and some of the fights in Iron Fist are just embarrassing compared to that show.
But the writing is the worst part of the show and really brings everything else down. Characters just do stupid nonsensical things without any explanation. Danny acts less like a person from a different culture who doesn't understand American society and more like a robot that's just learning to be human.
I also watched the second episode. Slower then I was hoping for but I like that they are moving the story along to a different track now and we're basically getting everyone on board with who is who. This is the kind of secret identity shit they really don't need to drag out.
I don't understand the complaints about people doing stupid or nonsensical things so far.
Best comparison I can make is: starts off better than Arrow or AoS, is more light in tone than DD or JJ, and doesn't appeal to me as naturally as Luke Cage.
At least two characters are eye-rolling evil, but I'll allow it.
I didn't walk into this already angry at the show, so if the first six episodes maintain this level, it will be solidly enjoyable for me. It's late, so I'm not up to the task of going into detail, but I wasn't out off by the first episode.
Unreal Engine 4 Developers Community.
I'm working on a cute little video game! Here's a link for you.
I can see why some people would be disappointed with the combat scenes so far. They're not Daredevil levels of brutal and exhausting to watch, and they're not Luke Cage levels of super badass yet. What they are doing very effectively, for me at least, though, is conveying the sense that we're watching a supernatural kung fu badass operating at like 15% taking down armed dudes relatively easily. Finn himself doesn't seem like he has a ton of physicality, and they've gone to the Capoera well more than I'd like, but it seems fine so far.
I'm also enjoying the characterization on Danny so far. It's a mix of attributes from the comics that never really coexisted, a blending of periods of his growth in a lot of ways.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Yeah, I wasn't exactly blown away, either.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
None of the opening theme songs are all that good imo, but this one was by far the worst. The visuals of the opening sequence are pretty uninspired too.
They're trying to do this Robin Williams-in-Fisher King thing with Danny, but ain't nobody Robin Williams but Robin Williams, especially no Finn Jones.
In the con column, Ward is vile and hard to look at. I think the 3 other shows already had some direction after 2 episodes, this seems aimless so far. I'm already over the plane crash. Colleen training ninjas in public seems like something a crazy person would do.
Lots of the dialogue isn't memorable, and while there are hints of good charters in there many don't land right. The exceptions being Ward Meachum, who's fun to see eating scenery like a 80's corporate villain and is so damn evil you wonder why his supposedly morally ok sister is ok with him kicking puppies with her right there. Yet she never makes a statement to shut him down, just nods along and moves on like nothing happened - in contrast to her younger self who absolutely knew what a horrible monster he was. Colleen Wing is a rock star, steals every scene she's in. She only has a couple scenes in the show with Danny yet she effortlessly takes control like she's the lead instead. I'd watch a Colleen centric show in a heartbeat just for the pilot. Strangely enough I liked Danny, and Finn's performance became to grow on me but as of now he's still got a long way to go before he feels like he should have got this role.
The duds have been Joy Beachum, who truly is Laurel from Arrow. She's so bland and normal she feels like she's from a soap opera or a drama than a show like this with her super-villain bro. The actress is ok, maybe she'd be doing better with material that wasn't so predictable and trite. There are others, like the re-occuring security guards and other people but they don't register a big presence. Which, again, is fine for a CW show - not a Marvel/Netflix joint.
The first scene of the show when Danny returns to New York with literally nothing (which raises a lot of questions about how he got to America in the first place) is so boring. The scene reads like something from a comedy from the 80's in the beginning, it's just that silly. I really don't think they should have been the show with this, IMO they should have done something like showing the plane crash.
Nothing really happens in this episode. Danny reconnects with people, stalking, wandering around, breaking into friends houses, hypnotizing guard dogs with magic (?) but nothing clicks. The plot only kicks in later in the episode, when Danny's bothered his former fiends at Rand so much that they send security to kill him. Though I did like the scene where Danny talks to Colleen in his dojo. This is amateur hour compared to pilots and bad episodes in the other Marvel Netflix series, there's absolutely no contest.
Then there's the twist near the end where Ward calls his mysterious backer when Danny pisses him off too much (why wait so long?), ominously. Then we literally see hi take an elevator, walk up steps etc we see everything this takes minutes until he finally arrives at the backer - which is dead father. Said Father is a Norman Osborn/Lionel Luthor knockoff who is more interesting than Ward already. He's smart, ruthless, the steps ahead of his son who he's training or something yet rather than having a discussion like two self respecting super-villains they blabber on for minutes about nothing and it's not that engaging conversation. Exposition, plot set up blah blah except I'm only slightly intrigued by what's going on. If this was Dallas or Suits I'd be less critical, not for Iron Fist.
The opening thing is blah, but honestly I skip it after the first episode so who cares. The fighting is very fluid, which makes sense to me as DD was trained to be an assassin, his fighting style is built towards killing your target while IF was trained to be more defensive, so it's just made to take them out without causing a ton of harm.
My complaint is
The complaints about the fights are the ones that baffle me so far. I think they are really cool they just are a very different style from DD. They are very fast and flowing and he's mostly just trying to quickly incapacitate people who have no chance against him who he generally isn't really trying to hurt. There's a real sense of how in control he is in a physical fight. He hasn't had a real challenge yet.
Re: the spoiler
It's not so much about the style, as you're right it suits the character it's just that it is pitiful stuff compared to early DD. He doesn't need a real challenge to do impressive fight scene, DD S 1 spoilers
I think that's intentional.
Matt also wants to hurt people, it's the reason he suited up in the first place. Danny is really careful to only do so when absolutely necessary, and then only enough to end the fight conclusively.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Danny needn't have to want to hurt people to show him abilities higher than what the pilot showed, merely give him a single opponent where he has to work for a win. From the pilot he acts more like an average action hero who knows a bit of kung fu, not a supernatural powerhouse holding back. The best example I saw in the pilot of his abilities was jumping over the car, and that didn't mesh with what was shown from his fight scenes.
Luke Cage had a problem with antagonists who weren't a physical problem, too, (except when he manhandled them it was impressive and you knew he was practically a walking WMD) and it's disappointing this trend continued in Iron Fist. Hopefully this improved later on.
And I disagree completely.
It's a difference in what they're trying to show for the character. No threat has yet emerged that has required Danny to power up past maybe 20% of his fighting skill. I'm sure it'll come. Right now, they're doing an excellent job of showing characterization for Danny while establishing that he's something another order or so up in terms of fighting ability.
Edit:
I mean, shit. In the scene you're talking about he did
The idea that he's not more impressive than Season 1 Daredevil is a construct of your imagination.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Edit: the fights are really well done too, much more skill based than shown in any of the other shows.
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They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Yeah. And the cuts/angles show that off a lot more than anything but maybe early S1 Daredevil. It also keeps them from cutting to prevent something from looking awkward, but I can definitely appreciate the craftsmanship of it. They feel like Jackie Chan fights, albeit without his unbelievable levels of skill.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Not spoiler but the conversation is spoiled so...
I haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet, but I'm hoping for more technical fights.
DD fights like a crazy person, he's all in on wild swings and crazy moves
Luke fights like it's in the street, and he doesn't...care? He's very slow and deliberate but not emotional
Jessica fights like her life depends on it, there's a certain sort of frenetic energy and desperation.
I want IF to fight like John Wick, it's all sharp and technical, every action with just enough force, applied in just the right place. Make it look like out of all of them he has the most technical training. Do that and I'm on board.
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
You won't be disappointed.
Edit: The fighting is quite as violent as DD, kinda on part with the DCTV Arrow fights.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
I really liked that about the first John Wick. The shootout in his house was amazing, because he never moved or shot more than he absolutely had to. It was all very precise, technical and practiced. It gave so much characterization right away. Which I'm hoping they can do with Danny.
I'm almost out of office hours, so I can go home and watch an episode or two
or four
or all of them
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
You take that back about daredevil's opening
:P
Also, these Episode titles are amazing.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
I also like that there's more layering to the characters, Ep.1 just painted them in "the evil guys" colors, but they seem at least a bit more complex...
Also, Colleen
i personally do not think that they do this. It's very generic tv show fighting, and it's not shot very well.
I'll admit it's grown on me over time. Probably my favourite of the songs.
I think Luke Cage's visuals are the most interesting because it's just such a neat idea.
Probably my favourite thing so far from the first 2 episodes is in Ep 1 after he jumps over the wall. It's literally like a second long fight but it's so smooth and cool looking. Just like disarms a guy, turn, kick to the face in one smooth motion.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Well ok, only half way through the first episode but everything up till now has been mediocre.
Danny just beat che-spiderman up, wondering if he's going to be a recurring henchman.