Monday, March 20, 2017

REVIEW: MARVEL'S IRON FIST SEASON 1

Iron Fist has emerged on Netflix as one of Marvel's latest Comic to Series venture. It has been well anticipated as well as a bit controversial on whether the series would live up to the other series. Many viewers insisted that Iron Fist main character Daniel (Danny) Rand be updated to be represented as a Asian or Asian American descent considering he is a martial arts specialist. And as One who has mastered all martial arts as well as the Iron Fist, you would think it is the way to go. In this live action series of Iron fist, Danny Rand is played by Finn Jones. Jones at first look appears to be a somewhat fitting choice for the character if we are sticking to the 1970s version character.


Personally, Jones acting is a bit rough in the sense its a bit unbelievable at times. The acting is just that, you can tell he is acting. The martial arts scenes aren't as fluid, they are some what slow. This could be due to choreography but again doesn't look/feel authentic. It is always possible that this will improve over the course of the development of the show but it can't said that holding out hope on this one will help.


The first few episodes are slow moving giving glimpses into what happen to the Rand's on their flight and how Danny came back. Iron fist starts out with Danny Returning from K'un-L'un. He immediately goes to his families company to find the Meachum's in charge. Danny interjects himself into the company, things go awry of course because Danny choices to do some good that ultimate leaves the company losing money, not to the liking of his board. He and the Meachums eventually lose their stake in the company. Early on, the introduction of some of the other characters into the series helps the storyline progress to hold your attention. He meets Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) who is running her Dojo in New York. (Colleen by the way has a interesting back story which is lightly touched on.) Colleen helps Danny out he eventually becomes in turn her love interest. She is actually an integral part of the story for this particular retelling of Iron Fist. She is more or less an operative not by choice but unwitting compliance assisting Iron Fist sworn enemies. Not surprisingly our favorite Marvel nurse Claire Temple (played by Rosario Dawson) assist Danny and Colleen on a few missions while fighting alongside the duo. With the introduction Claire, we are bond to see our other favorites such as Misty, Luke and Matt. However that remains to be seen. (I won't be recounting the entire show as it can be watched).


The show doesn't grab your attention right away, there is a lot of dialog which seems to be unnecessary at best and cloudy. Jones' version of Rand also leaves you looking for that fluidity and seamless martial arts display from the main character. When performing some of the fighting scenes, again, the martial arts choreography leaves you searching for more. This version of Danny Rand is lacking in knowledge. Danny studying in K'un L'un would mean he has more knowledge than the average person studying in one martial art. The issue is, he literally knows several if not all martial arts created but doesn't convince you of it in this first season. Jones Rand is outshined by many other factors as well. Supporting characters bring nuances otherwise not afforded to the show otherwise. Eventually this may be corrected by better writing and maybe some further martial arts training for Jones. And here's hoping.

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