‘Iron Fist’ Went Everywhere and Nowhere at the Same Time
The dust has settled on critiques of Iron Fist, Marvel’s latest venture into Netflix series. This 13-episode show based on the comic book character of the same name is ambitious at best, but overly tedious at worst and flat out mediocre. Gotham writers Julian Cardillo and Brandon Gale breakdown the show and its characters, storytelling, and action.
Storytelling
Brandon: Ah, Iron Fist’s cardinal sin. So far, the standard for Marvel TV show storytelling has been set by Daredevil season one and Jessica Jones. I loved Luke Cage but it’s competing with the best. Iron Fist falls leagues behind every other series. Its storytelling failure rests in its inability to weave multiple plot lines together effectively. The fight at the end is barely connected to the fight at the beginning. The stories become intertwined in a way that damages the integrity of all of them.
On top of that is the show’s failure to tell the individual stories in an effective manner. Danny Rand’s mission to avenge his parents feels like an afterthought to everything else that’s happening. His quest to fight the Hand largely ignores the organization’s illegal activities is more about blood lust than justice. Colleen Wing’s involvement with the Hand and her “Come to Jesus” moment are shoehorned into the end of the show without adequate attention. Madame Gao’s story line disappears into the background for the sake of expediency. Iron Fist forces these many stories that could be told in a long and complicated fashion together into a single season of 13 episodes, destroying the power that each of them could have had if they were given proper development.
Julian: Is Madame Gao the most underrated character in this series? I think so. I totally agree with Brandon that she fades into the background. And given that this is Marvel’s last Netflix show before everyone teams up in The Defenders — in which The Hand are a principal foe — wouldn’t it have made sense to give Gao and the Hand more substance in Iron Fist?
In any case, we also never get to K’un-Lun. We never see Danny get his powers. Danny doesn’t grow and his motives don’t change. The audience gets to sit back and know the questions Danny should be asking himself but doesn’t. And that’s painful.
I’ll also add that way too much time was spent with Danny in a mental hospital. Verifying his true identity should never have taken that long and it cost the show precious time that could have been used enhancing the story. Overall, there were not only too many needles to thread, and not enough of an effort to explain why Danny Rand came home to New York and how he fits in with the other Defenders.
Character Development
Brandon: Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely characters that intrigued me in Iron Fist, but the whole series suffers because Danny Rand is, well, insufferable. Danny is a caricature of the naïve wunderkind concept: a young one who has emerged from his cocoon to discover that people in the world aren’t all nice. The entire season is weakened when, on numerous occasions, he appears to come to terms with this reality before falling back into shock. While a talented warrior, Danny is depressingly boring.
Though many of the remaining characters lack definitive traits and well-designed story arcs, there is one relationship which stands out in the show: Ward and Harold Meacham. Ward, initially portrayed as an elitist little shit, is shown to be a much more complex character, dominated by his father’s control. Despite a somewhat unconvincing battle with drug addiction, the character slowly but surely becomes more relatable. Harold, his domineering father, is cartoonishly evil and unhinged at times. In the dynamic with his son, however, they showcase one of the more interesting relationships in the show.
Claire Temple returns again in Iron Fist. She’s training and becoming a force to be reckoned with, indicating that her role in the upcoming Defenders series is solidified as a major character.
Colleen Wing, the katana-wielding love interest of Danny, is much easier to swallow as a character and martial arts master than Danny. Her years of training can be seen in her fighting and her overall attitude toward combat. But if she’s involved with the Hand, was it just chance that she ran into Danny in the park? That never got answered. This part of her story felt forced at the end to give the character added complexity, which she didn’t really need.
Julian: Danny is depressingly boring, Brandon says. How sad, but true. Danny hasn’t been living on Earth for 15 years. HOW IS HE NOT SHOCKED by developments in tech, politics, and culture that have taken place in his absence? SMH.
Beyond that, they never truly addressed why Danny thought it was a good idea to leave K’un Lun. Why now?
I’ll agree that Ward was interesting character, oftentimes relatable. His sister, on the other hand seems like a passenger in this entire production. I’ll admit, I’m excited to see what she’s like in season two, but aside from being the first Meacham to realize she’s looking at the real Danny Rand, she didn’t offer up too much. Harold was boring — he’s no Kingpin or Purple Man and had nowhere near the internal strife as Black Mariah or Diamondback. I mean, his super power is that he can’t die and guess what: he dies.
On the flipside, I’ll say I appreciated Colleen Wing because the very little character development that Danny did do came from her. That said, her back-story was weak. Claire Temple was solid. My only complaint is that she now seems overly competent at combat — that seems at odds, slightly, with the idea she feels inferior to the company she keeps in Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones.
Action
Brandon: I’ll admit that Iron Fist comes in with a disadvantage on this one. Daredevil set the standard for action in Marvel TV series. The fight sequences for Daredevil are reminiscent of Old Boy’s long takes and Watchmen’s brutality. Meanwhile, Iron Fist, a show about Kung Fu, is automatically up against the best fight sequences from every martial arts movie from the last 20 years. If you have a story about Kung Fu warriors who for some cross-cultural reason wield katanas, fight sequence are the one thing you are not allowed to skimp on.
Iron Fist does a good job at portraying the warriors as adept fighters. That being said, a show about martial artists fighting should not come behind Daredevil and Luke Cage in action. Not only does the series not have the choreography and impressive takes of groundbreaking fight sequences, it feels like it’s overtly lacking them. Do not emphasize the importance of fighting technique intricacies and mindset and not show us next level fight scenes. That’s blueballing on the highest level.
Julian: Hands down the best fight scene in this series was Danny vs. the Drunk Master.
That was fun, wild to keep up with, and different. The rest of the fight scenes left much to be desired. When Danny first walks into the Rand building in episode one and takes out a bunch of guards, it looks OVERLY choreographed — As if the actors had literally just learned the fight sequence. No fight scene in this series is as bad as the first one, but most left a lot to be desired.
I agree with Brandon that Daredevil set the bar. But Luke Cage’s fight scenes have a certain benefit to them: the fact that Luke Cage has unbreakable skin, which is to say they hindered the level of intensity you’d expect in a fight scene.
Bottom line: Iron Fist’s fight scenes are nothing special. Are they the worst things ever?
No.
But I have a hard time believing Danny Rand is a master of Fung Fu.
