Marvel Live Action

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, just finished the season. Wow, now that was a mess. I'll stand by my comments saying that there were aspects of the show that I genuinely enjoyed in-between, but overall it was marred by really bad writing.

I have to say, though, the biggest overall issue that I had with this show was a serious lack of any character to feel any sympathy for or relate to. Particularly Danny himself had absolutely no character arc whatsoever. His stupidity and naivety in the beginning of the series could be justified by him slowly maturing from his child-like mentality over the course of the season, but he learns absolutely nothing by the end, and completely justifies all of the negative things that people say about him over the course of the series. When the last thing that Clair, an ally to him and the other Defenders, says to him that he's pretty fucked up and needs psychological help, and the line is actually completely justified in an unironic way, then you know that the writers has tremendously screwed up at trying to convey their hero as an actual hero. Matt, Jessica, and Luke all have their personal flaws and inner demons, and none of them are perfect, but that strengthens the relatability of these characters as they are constantly trying to do the right thing, and over time learn ways to improve themselves. Essentially, you see the hero within each of them emerging over time. In comparison, Danny is just an ignorant ass-hole from the beginning to the end. He's just flat-out unlikable with few, if any, redeeming qualities.

The thing is, all of the Marvel Netflix shows have writing and pacing issues. However it's compelling characters that pulled us through those. Iron Fist has no main lead that I really care about, making it much harder to ignore the writing flaws like I could for the other shows, and making my entertainment value that I got out of the show come from unintentionally funny villains and absurdly atrocious dialogue at times.

For what it's worth, the character is still getting a second chance with the Defenders, which has a different showrunner, so I genuinely hope that it works out with better overall material to present us with, but at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel just writes the character out after The Defenders.

[Dr. Insomniac]

What is this tweet talking about? One of the reasons why those first two episodes of Iron Fist were such a bore was because they didn't have enough ninjas for me. This jackass thinks he's too good to watch goofy ninja fights?

[Avaitor]

I still wouldn't really call it a good show, and Danny's still a bad character, but I do think that the series works a little better when it revolves around him, Colleen, and Claire. The latter two are actual characters with some sense of logic (still sticking around Danny aside), and they have their moments.

But I can't stand Joy and especially Ward. The latter's drug subplot is hilariously terrible.

[Avaitor]

I finished this last night, and I can say that unlike AOS, the ingredients for a good show are there. While Danny and the Meachums are broken characters with weak actors, there's something in each of them that, with some fine-tweaking, could be made into better characters. A better show runner would definitely help.

But as is, this isn't a good show. I can see if you like the show if you like to play contrarian for some reason, but on its own, yikes.

And if you're skipping the show, check this out.

[Dr. Insomniac]

On good Marvel show news, we finally have a confirmation that Legion's dad is Charles. And that the Shadow King is after them.

[gunswordfist]

Just started episode 9.

Spoiler

NO FUCKING WAY!! THERE IS NO REASONABLE REASON THAT HE HAS HIS FINGERS BACK! I call bullshit.

[close]

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Actually, severed fingers can be reattached if the operation is performed within a limited amount of time after they were cut off. The process is called replantation, and it has been around for quite a while.

[gunswordfist]

Spoiler

I'm not even sure where to start and I'm sure I'll forgot some thing I've been wanting to say. I will say that I don't think this show is bad even though I thought about giving up watching it a time or two. It was kind of fascinating to me for some reason. Anyway, I do like Finn Jones as Iron Fist, he just didn't have the best writing to work with. Also, I was going to say that Joy was less likable than her brother, who I kind of like, but the ending makes that go without saying. Also, what were the writers thinking by making her a villain? Her brother killed her father..again and she already knew he couldn't be trusted. Yet him dying...again, put her over the edge to set up a plan to kill her friend. I hope she dies a few episodes in during Season 2, if that season even ever happens. I also thought how they put Colleen in Danny's life was badly done (him bugging her to let him do lessons) and Claire because spouting lines she should have said, like when she comforted him on the plane while Wing did nothing. And how Claire showed up out of nowhere being trained by Colleen was forced. Of course I like her and I like Wing so this doesn't really matter. I thought it was dull that they made Harold the main villain. They gave him way too much screentime. I really liked Madame Gao. Too bad lowrent villains got in the way of her shining. Also, Danny is kind of a dumbass and so is Wing. They got so easily manipulated by Gao that it is not even funny. They literally were getting headaches from what she was saying and ended up doing some things she wanted them to do. I don't mind a villain that's smarter than the heroes but not when the heroes just look stupid a lot of the time.
Also, how about that RZA episode? The one with The Thunderer narrating and Danny fighting The Hand in that tournament. Easily the best part of the show. I wish the series was just Danny running around beating up The Hand. That would have been better than him whining about his parents. Also, they need to get RZA to do much more episodes. I am happy to see that he is a good director.

[close]

[gunswordfist]

Actually, severed fingers can be reattached if the operation is performed within a limited amount of time after they were cut off. The process is called replantation, and it has been around for quite a while.

Spoiler

So Harold performed surgery on himself while dead in a river?

[close]

[gunswordfist]

Jessica Jones was interesting, even if they did the "Jessica captures Kilgrave only for him to get away because of reasons" plot one too many times. And her neighbor Robin was the worst. Any scene she was in made an episode feel like hours. I didn't hate any of Luke Cage's cast, but I do agree that Diamondback was a poor successor for Cottonmouth. We get this cruel criminal overlord who also has a code and moral values that puts him at odds with his position in the game, and he gets replaced by Luke's comically evil half-brother who's secretly responsible for everything bad in his life?

Honestly, it is safe to say that Robin is the worst thing out of any of the Marvel Netflix series.

Watched the first two episodes, and it was just this 2-hour interval where I alternated between getting ridiculously bored or laughing my ass off. Like the scene where Joy found out who Danny was because she gave him an envelope of M&Ms. Or how Danny decided the best way to prove he wasn't crazy was telling a doctor how he went to another dimension through China and was taught under warrior monks. The cast also had this weird lack of disbelief suspension, given they're living in the Marvel cinematic universe. Everyone's so skeptical about Danny being back even though it should be far from the weirdest event to occur in their lives, but I suppose Danny's bright idea to break into Joy's house and lock her dog up didn't help his case at all. Except maybe Colleen, none of the cast really grabbed onto me in terms of personality or charisma, but the worst of all was Ward. Ward just reminds me of a Disney Channel sitcom antagonist, to the point where he even pauses his dialogue on occasion as if a laugh track were supposed to play. He was just such a cunt in those two episodes. Not as bad as Robin, but I don't imagine watching more of the show if it means he's still a main presence throughout. Bringing up Dexter again, he was like Quinn. And nobody should ever possibly think of making a character like Quinn again.

Oh yeah!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Actually, severed fingers can be reattached if the operation is performed within a limited amount of time after they were cut off. The process is called replantation, and it has been around for quite a while.

Spoiler

So Harold performed surgery on himself while dead in a river?

[close]

I thought that he got his fingers reattached before he got killed off for the first time. In all honesty though I can't remember the specific details of what happened at what specific time. All your post mentioned was that you didn't believe it was possible for his fingers to be reattached and I was only pointing out that such a thing does exist in real life, without regard to how it happens in the context of the show, which quite frankly I don't care enough about to recall the specifics of those details.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Here's a review saying that Iron Fist champions the contradictions of capitalism, fights against the "rejectamenta of modern society", and is mere one chapter in the "fascist opera of our time" that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Watched the third episode of Iron Fist, and I'm still confused by Finn Jones being cast as Danny. Marvel could have cast an actor who was Asian to win easy progressive points, an actor who looked exactly like Danny Rand in the comics to appeal to the fans, or someone who was skilled at martial arts so at least he would be entertaining to watch. They did none of the above, resulting in a choice that appeals to nobody. Finn isn't particularly good at making Danny seem like an interesting character. If anything, I feel bad for Joy because she's between an asshat of a brother and a crazy childhood friend.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be fair, the bad action scenes have more to do with the rushed production schedule of this show, with Finn Jones having well under an hour to rehearse his choreography before they began shooting. Charlie Cox also didn't know any martial arts going into Daredevil, but they had the appropriate amount of time to work on choreography and shooting the action scenes. The scheduling of Iron Fist's production was handled incredibly poorly, though, mostly due to all of the delays that it faced in production.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I can understand if there was too little time to rehearse, but there are Japanese children's shows that have less time than Iron Fist does in shooting fight scenes, and they somehow do it better. In the third episode, there was a fight that had thirty camera cuts in ten seconds, like a sequence from Taken 3. If you have that little time for choreography, it would've been better to hire an actor who already knew martial arts so he could naturally slip into the scene rather than require extra hours for training and rehearsing. You probably could have hired Steven Seagal of all people, and he would've done a more fluid fight scene.