Iron Fist Review
Jul. 3rd, 2017 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatEh, procrastinating. Decided to get a MacBook Air, but...I don't want to take a 45 minute ride into the city with my current laptop, in 90 degree heat, and wander about a store hunting someone to help me. I hate shopping for things. And I have three days of vacation. Thinking of going in around 10 AM tomorrow morning and doing it. Be less crowded.
Binge watched The Iron Fist on Sunday, and as a result have done a complete 180-turn around since my last review. The short non-spoilery review? I enjoyed it. A lot. It held my attention throughout, all the characters were compelling, it was more noir/action/mystery, than comic-bookish fantasy. The casting didn't bother me that much. And over time, the lead, portrayed by Finn, actually grew on me. He emotes well with his eyes. I did not see it as a board room drama, and I disagree with the critical assessment of the series. Not for the first time, I'm thinking the problem with television critics is they watch too many television shows.
The series felt more like the graphic novels that Frank Miller and Alan Moore wrote in the 1980s, then the bright colored comic books of earlier decades. Or another way of looking at it? Shared more in common with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series, than Arrow. Although that's an oversimplification. I found it to be layered, with layered and complex villains and heroes, not to mention themes and plot (far more complex than the DC tv shows and Marvel film verse). It said some interesting things about violence, corporations, and machiavellian politics. I actually prefer the Marvel TV shows on netflix to the movies, and the Marvel/DC series on broadcast television. I like the darker take on the verse, and the examination of how there's a fine line between being a superhero and a vigilante.
What I especially liked about Iron Fist is that it comments on how something, in this case "the iron fist legend" can be interpreted in various ways. And is often interpreted in the manner most likely to benefit the interpreter. It also looks at violence, and machiavellian politics from various angles.
Say what you will about the netflix Marvel Vigilant Hero Series, but they definitely have complicated villains. I actually liked the villains in The Iron Fist the best, since their super-power was mind games. Also, there were misleads. You'd have one villain pop up, only to be defeated by a seemingly helpful ally, who would turn out to be, oops, a worse villain.
Danny Rand, the hero, has no idea who to trust and has been completely played. And I no longer believe the character was miscast. The writing requires a rather privilege white boy, similar to Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne, who loses everything and is trained over time by a group of martial artists to become a weapon. He's the outsider, privileged, wealthy, and often the insider in his own bubble world, but when everything is taken from him -- he's thrust into the world of the demonized other. And suddenly up is down and down it up. This is a common enough trope in the noir comic world.
And here, it's dealt with rather well.
In the end, interestingly enough, Danny's worst enemy is not the demonized other, The Hand, but his father's best friend, stalwart, white, privileged Harold Meachum. Who has been torturing his poor son Ward for decades. And playing his kids against each other and Danny.
Each villain in the series has a different agenda. The only villain whose agenda remains unknown is Chow, who is a hold-over from Daredevil, and like Clair, the vigilante nurse portrayed by Rosaria Dawson, has been in more than one of the series. It's unclear what Madam Chow's agenda is, or why she's transporting heroine. Or what she is exactly. She manipulates the characters with information, often twisted truths playing on their emotions. Fueling anger, self-doubt, among other things.
Bakutoda, Colleen Wing's sensei (mentor, teacher, father figure), is the second villain. Who on the surface appears to be kind and giving. He runs what amounts to a camp for disadvantaged kids. They train, and at the end are provided with jobs in various areas of society. All good, right? Also, he's discovered corporations not governments rule the world, so what better way to mold the world into the version he desires than to take over a corporation? He will use the "Iron Fist" as he hatchet man or enforcer. And change the world for the good.
Bakutoda is the self-righteous just man. He still kills those who betray him. For him, the ends justify the means. He wants a better world, so what if there is a little collateral damage along the way?
Harold Meachum -- as Ward warns Danny on more than one occasion, only cares about himself. Of the villains, he's the most monsterous, and the least redeemable. Portrayed with manipulative aplomb by David Wenham, he pulls the strings of those around him. He's the male equivalent of Madam Chow. And since taking the "gift" of immortal life from the Hand, each time he dies he comes back stronger, and more sociopathic. That's the price of immortality, each time you die, part of your soul remains behind.
He does a rather decent job of manipulating his daughter Joy. Ward sees through him, and tries to escape on more than one occasion. Harold believes that everything he does is for his family, his legacy, he resents the fact that his best friend got to brand their company with his name and has the legacy. Harold is eaten alive with jealousy and greed. Harold wants the Iron Fist to destroy the Hand, then once this is accomplished, conspires to do away with Danny, himself.
Then there is Danny's boyhood friend, Dousus, who comes from Qui-wang to bring Danny back home to guard the way. Dousus is also jealous. He say the Iron Fist as his birth right and feels, perhaps rightly so, that Danny stole it from him. Danny, a rich privileged white kid, came into his world, befriended him and was raised and aided by his family...and in return he steals their legend and leaves them vulnerable. He tracks Danny down, helps him fight the Hand, but with the caveat that Danny come back with him.
When Danny refuses, they fight. He yields, but remains bitter, slinking off into the dark. To him the Iron Fist is a guardian who protects his village, his people, the Way.
I don't think this storyline would have worked on quite as many levels if Danny had been Asian. Because it addresses some murky moral issues, including the idea of cultural misappropriation. Danny took a cultural item from them, has no understanding of what it is, or what it meant to the people he took it from. There's a heavy theme in this series about cultural misappropriation. And Danny's responsibility to an art form that he is in many ways considered an interloper. Is Danny using it responsibly? And how should it be viewed?
Each faction he runs across, sees it differently. Most as a weapon. Except for Clair and Colleen Wing who tell him it can be used for healing and light.
Another plus side of this series, as well as the others that I've seen to date, is the female characters are kick-ass. Colleen Wing in a subplot is doing cage fighting and is disturbed by her bloodlust. At one point her sensei tells her, she's no more than a teacher of children (as if this is a bad thing) and not a warrior (as if that is a good thing).
Clair questions what the sensei states, and tells both Colleen and Danny that they are both royally fucked up and need some serious counseling. Regardless of the situation, their natural, automatic response to resolve it with violence. Instead of putting someone in jail, they decide to kill them.
Clair is a nice antidote to various characters in the series, a character who puts a high value on life. She's also kick-ass, with no special abilities.
Then there is Joy, the tough as nails corporate lawyer, who is manipulated by her father and Ward at various points, and can no longer determine the truth. From her perspective, everything was find prior to Danny Rand's arrival -- mainly because she was kept in the dark and had no clue what was happening. Another theme in the series -- about how the truth sets you free, but not always in a happy way.
Dousus at the end works on Joy's anger, and plays her. The series is setting up Dousus and Joy as antagonists in the future, while at the same time repositioning Ward as an ally and friend of Danny's. They flip the antagonists at the end.
It's a rather tightly plotted series, with well conceived villains and heroes. The women in it are all strong, and tough minded. Some slow pacing to start, but picks up rather quickly in the second to third episode.
Binge watched The Iron Fist on Sunday, and as a result have done a complete 180-turn around since my last review. The short non-spoilery review? I enjoyed it. A lot. It held my attention throughout, all the characters were compelling, it was more noir/action/mystery, than comic-bookish fantasy. The casting didn't bother me that much. And over time, the lead, portrayed by Finn, actually grew on me. He emotes well with his eyes. I did not see it as a board room drama, and I disagree with the critical assessment of the series. Not for the first time, I'm thinking the problem with television critics is they watch too many television shows.
The series felt more like the graphic novels that Frank Miller and Alan Moore wrote in the 1980s, then the bright colored comic books of earlier decades. Or another way of looking at it? Shared more in common with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series, than Arrow. Although that's an oversimplification. I found it to be layered, with layered and complex villains and heroes, not to mention themes and plot (far more complex than the DC tv shows and Marvel film verse). It said some interesting things about violence, corporations, and machiavellian politics. I actually prefer the Marvel TV shows on netflix to the movies, and the Marvel/DC series on broadcast television. I like the darker take on the verse, and the examination of how there's a fine line between being a superhero and a vigilante.
What I especially liked about Iron Fist is that it comments on how something, in this case "the iron fist legend" can be interpreted in various ways. And is often interpreted in the manner most likely to benefit the interpreter. It also looks at violence, and machiavellian politics from various angles.
Say what you will about the netflix Marvel Vigilant Hero Series, but they definitely have complicated villains. I actually liked the villains in The Iron Fist the best, since their super-power was mind games. Also, there were misleads. You'd have one villain pop up, only to be defeated by a seemingly helpful ally, who would turn out to be, oops, a worse villain.
Danny Rand, the hero, has no idea who to trust and has been completely played. And I no longer believe the character was miscast. The writing requires a rather privilege white boy, similar to Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne, who loses everything and is trained over time by a group of martial artists to become a weapon. He's the outsider, privileged, wealthy, and often the insider in his own bubble world, but when everything is taken from him -- he's thrust into the world of the demonized other. And suddenly up is down and down it up. This is a common enough trope in the noir comic world.
And here, it's dealt with rather well.
In the end, interestingly enough, Danny's worst enemy is not the demonized other, The Hand, but his father's best friend, stalwart, white, privileged Harold Meachum. Who has been torturing his poor son Ward for decades. And playing his kids against each other and Danny.
Each villain in the series has a different agenda. The only villain whose agenda remains unknown is Chow, who is a hold-over from Daredevil, and like Clair, the vigilante nurse portrayed by Rosaria Dawson, has been in more than one of the series. It's unclear what Madam Chow's agenda is, or why she's transporting heroine. Or what she is exactly. She manipulates the characters with information, often twisted truths playing on their emotions. Fueling anger, self-doubt, among other things.
Bakutoda, Colleen Wing's sensei (mentor, teacher, father figure), is the second villain. Who on the surface appears to be kind and giving. He runs what amounts to a camp for disadvantaged kids. They train, and at the end are provided with jobs in various areas of society. All good, right? Also, he's discovered corporations not governments rule the world, so what better way to mold the world into the version he desires than to take over a corporation? He will use the "Iron Fist" as he hatchet man or enforcer. And change the world for the good.
Bakutoda is the self-righteous just man. He still kills those who betray him. For him, the ends justify the means. He wants a better world, so what if there is a little collateral damage along the way?
Harold Meachum -- as Ward warns Danny on more than one occasion, only cares about himself. Of the villains, he's the most monsterous, and the least redeemable. Portrayed with manipulative aplomb by David Wenham, he pulls the strings of those around him. He's the male equivalent of Madam Chow. And since taking the "gift" of immortal life from the Hand, each time he dies he comes back stronger, and more sociopathic. That's the price of immortality, each time you die, part of your soul remains behind.
He does a rather decent job of manipulating his daughter Joy. Ward sees through him, and tries to escape on more than one occasion. Harold believes that everything he does is for his family, his legacy, he resents the fact that his best friend got to brand their company with his name and has the legacy. Harold is eaten alive with jealousy and greed. Harold wants the Iron Fist to destroy the Hand, then once this is accomplished, conspires to do away with Danny, himself.
Then there is Danny's boyhood friend, Dousus, who comes from Qui-wang to bring Danny back home to guard the way. Dousus is also jealous. He say the Iron Fist as his birth right and feels, perhaps rightly so, that Danny stole it from him. Danny, a rich privileged white kid, came into his world, befriended him and was raised and aided by his family...and in return he steals their legend and leaves them vulnerable. He tracks Danny down, helps him fight the Hand, but with the caveat that Danny come back with him.
When Danny refuses, they fight. He yields, but remains bitter, slinking off into the dark. To him the Iron Fist is a guardian who protects his village, his people, the Way.
I don't think this storyline would have worked on quite as many levels if Danny had been Asian. Because it addresses some murky moral issues, including the idea of cultural misappropriation. Danny took a cultural item from them, has no understanding of what it is, or what it meant to the people he took it from. There's a heavy theme in this series about cultural misappropriation. And Danny's responsibility to an art form that he is in many ways considered an interloper. Is Danny using it responsibly? And how should it be viewed?
Each faction he runs across, sees it differently. Most as a weapon. Except for Clair and Colleen Wing who tell him it can be used for healing and light.
Another plus side of this series, as well as the others that I've seen to date, is the female characters are kick-ass. Colleen Wing in a subplot is doing cage fighting and is disturbed by her bloodlust. At one point her sensei tells her, she's no more than a teacher of children (as if this is a bad thing) and not a warrior (as if that is a good thing).
Clair questions what the sensei states, and tells both Colleen and Danny that they are both royally fucked up and need some serious counseling. Regardless of the situation, their natural, automatic response to resolve it with violence. Instead of putting someone in jail, they decide to kill them.
Clair is a nice antidote to various characters in the series, a character who puts a high value on life. She's also kick-ass, with no special abilities.
Then there is Joy, the tough as nails corporate lawyer, who is manipulated by her father and Ward at various points, and can no longer determine the truth. From her perspective, everything was find prior to Danny Rand's arrival -- mainly because she was kept in the dark and had no clue what was happening. Another theme in the series -- about how the truth sets you free, but not always in a happy way.
Dousus at the end works on Joy's anger, and plays her. The series is setting up Dousus and Joy as antagonists in the future, while at the same time repositioning Ward as an ally and friend of Danny's. They flip the antagonists at the end.
It's a rather tightly plotted series, with well conceived villains and heroes. The women in it are all strong, and tough minded. Some slow pacing to start, but picks up rather quickly in the second to third episode.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-03 06:21 pm (UTC)But thanks to you I'm binge watching Sense8, so who knows?
no subject
Date: 2017-07-03 06:59 pm (UTC)Yeah, well, I'm learning to ignore popular opinion and/or critics. We've never been mixy things. Also learning not pay much attention to reviews...because if I did, I wouldn't watch have the things that I have.
I did not read the reviews of Sense8 prior to watching it, and decided to avoid the reviews prior to watching Iron Fist. Did read a few after first two episodes...but stopped. Something about the series appealed to me. I think a lot of the people who disliked it -- wanted something specific from it that it didn't deliver. A lot of people came from Luke Cage. (The actor playing Luke Cage, I find to be a bit stiff...so haven't seen it yet.) Also there was a lot of controversy on the casting -- that I think may have been overblown. Similar controversy on Doctor Strange. Often coming from people who haven't done anything outside of critique television series to actually aid minorities or women in the marketplace or system. And feel guilty about it. Hence the raging on the internet.
I think people like things for different reasons. And are terribly judgmental about it. ;-) I mean, a lot of critics loved Daredevil for the villain, I actually disliked the villain, thought he was over-the-top and rather cliche, but loved the lead character, and heroes in that series.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-03 08:31 pm (UTC)And see, I wasn't a big fan of Kingpin either. But I did like Daredevil overall, better than I liked Luke Cage. But I liked JJ best of the 3.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-03 09:34 pm (UTC)Oh, I agree on JJ. I liked it in some respects far better than the other two. Daredevil has a tendency to slow down in the middle. The critics went in the exact opposite direction. The way I'd rank them, keeping in mind I have not seen Luke Cage yet:
1. JJ
2. Daredevil
3. Iron Fist. (Iron Fist is very similar to Daredevil, but develops The Hand more and makes the Hand less of a black and white villain. Actually Iron Fist's villains are bit more complex and layered than Daredevil's and his friends, associates also more layered in some respects.)
My tastes are so insanely eclectic, that I tend to try most things to see if I'll like them. Lately, I've been realizing that my tolerance for extreme graphic violence isn't what it used to be. It bothers me now. There's just certain things that turn me off.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-03 10:30 pm (UTC)Yeah, we all have stuff we just don't want to see. I'm still ok with graphic violence. Also graphic sex. :)
no subject
Date: 2017-07-03 11:34 pm (UTC)Graphic violence...it depends. I'm not sure I can do American Gods, and I had to bow out after S3 of Walking Dead. Too grim. Also Deadwood was a bit too much for me.
However, I appear to have no difficulty with the Marvel Vigilante series or Game of Thrones. Nor did I have that much difficulty with The 100, although that may be changing.
It depends on how gorey it is...and the emphasis on torture. Although again, I had no problem with GoT, and that's pretty graphic. Or even True Blood for that matter.
I think I need to have a strong female protagonist...and to some degree a strong male protagonist or an interesting one. But the female protagonist is definitely required. I lose interest in television series that do not have one.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-04 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-04 03:17 am (UTC)LOL! Not surprising. The male characters are archetypes or obvious character tropes. Making me wonder about the Wachowskis. The women are more interesting. I do like the male characters, a lot, but they aren't as interesting and innovative as the female ones. The female characters on the other hand are excellent and not cliche at all. ( I think Wachowski's are more comfortable writing female than male characters for some reason.)
Oh I've tried the first two episodes of Luke Cage -- it's better cast than Iron Fist for some reason. Better talent. Also better credits and production value.
But the story feels like a weak version of The Wire or various other black crime dramas from Hustle and Flow to Empire. Good writing. Cliche ridden plot. Iron Fist? not as well cast, more interesting villains, not as well written, much better plot.
I sort of want to mash the writers together somehow.
Luke Cage was boring me until Misty Knight popped up - then I got interested. Also, they took from the A list for the two villains, similar to Daredevil. Except I like the villains here better, and Marshala Ali and Alfre Woodward are...great choices.
Am however glad the Defenders will focus more on The Hand. Because the Hand is more interesting than organized crime lords. To date, Jessica Jones and Daredevil S2 had the most interesting villains. With Iron Fist a close third.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-04 03:37 am (UTC)I'm definitely looking forward to The Defenders.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-04 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-04 04:32 pm (UTC)Yeah, The Wire was much better.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-04 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-04 08:05 pm (UTC)