Iron Fist

Fifteen years after he was presumed dead in a plane crash, Danny Rand (Finn Jones), the son of a wealthy industrialist, returned to New York City. He finds his father’s company in the hands of childhood friends Ward (Tom Pelphrey) and Joy (Jessica Stroup) Meachum, who don’t believe that Danny is who he says he is. Homeless, Danny falls in with martial arts instructor Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick). Danny has significant martial arts skills of his own, having been saved from the plane crash and raised by the warrior-monks of K’un-Lun. He eventually became their protector, the immortal Iron Fist, but he abandoned his post to seek answers and avenge his parents. Unfortunately, K’un-Lun isn’t done with him yet: the monks want him back, and their sworn enemy, The Hand, is not only in New York but is using Rand Enterprises as a front.

Given both its early negative reviews and the acclaim (rightfully) garnered by Marvel’s other Netflix series, I expected Iron Fist to be a victim of Godfather III Syndrome: a perfectly decent work is undeservingly loathed for failing to reach the lofty heights of its predecessors. And while it is safe to say that debuting after Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage didn’t do Iron Fist any favors, the show is still quite flawed – though hardly unwatchably so – in its own right.

A large part of the problem comes from showrunner Scott Buck’s lack of a unique vision. Whereas Jessica Jones and Luke Cage managed to be topical and Daredevil got by on its visceral aesthetics and dark ambiance, Iron Fist simply fails to stand out. At times, it plays like Marvel’s take on DC’s Arrow with Danny, the Meachums, and The Hand standing in for Oliver Queen, the Merlyns, and The League of Assassins, respectively. There is tension and duplicity built into that, but aside from more mystical shadings (though not to the extent of Doctor Strange), not much originality.

Much of a stink was raised about the casting of Finn Jones as a (white in the source material) martial artist, and while that is something of a dated trope (paging the ghost of David Carradine), casting an Asian-American in the role would invite its own set (stereotyping much?) of concerns. Besides, the casting as a whole is eyebrow-raising, with Japanese-named sensei Bakuto portrayed by Puerto Rican Ramon Rodriguez and Korean-American and Indian-British actors playing father and son. Back to Jones for a moment: there is still something off-putting about his work here. Danny comes across as both nice-guy affable and incredibly disrespectful of personal boundaries, as both dedicated to the principle justice and selflishly in pursuit of personal goals, as both angsty and zen. Complex characterization is generally a positive, but Rand is all over the map. Add to that David Wenham’s B-grade Norman Osbourne impersonation as faux-sincere corporate cutthroat Harold Meachum, and neither protagonist or antagonist is particularly magnetic.

Fortunately, the same cannot be said for all of the roles. Henwick gives Colleen both a hard edge and a guardedness that thankfully elevate her character well beyond “token love interest.” The Marvel Netflix universe’s favorite nurse/friend to all superheroes (a situation that is humorously lampshaded in this show), Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), pops up here as well as one of Colleen’s students. She provides a welcome voice of reason in contrast to the zaniness around her.

Just as the acting is wildly uneven, so too are the action and pacing. Early episodes are slow with too much time spent on Danny trying to establish his provenance. The fight sequences in these earlier episodes are also unimpressive, especially compared to Daredevil’s now-infamous stairway battles. However, the pace does eventually pick up as Danny’s backstory is fleshed out, Colleen and Ward undergo character development, and The Hand’s menace increases. The fight sequences eventually get better too. Unfortunately, the action-laden final episode is marred by some laughably clichéd dialogue.

Aesthetically, the Iron Fist ability is depicted without looking too goofy: Danny’s fist glows when he harnesses his chi. It easily could have turned out worse. While the score and soundtrack here can’t compare to that of Luke Cage, composer Trevor Morris puts in respectable work. Still, the absence of Motorhead’s “Iron Fist” is sorely felt.

Given what Marvel has been able to do with lesser-known and less respected characters, Iron Fist’s status as a B-list hero is no excuse for a subpar product. Functionally, Iron Fist works as a conduit to The Defenders, and one can only hope that Danny, freed from Buck’s influence, will be more compelling in an ensemble. Viewed solely on its own terms, Iron Fist offers flashes of entertainment and exhilaration as well as some intriguing supporting characters but also a whole lot of uninspired mediocrity.

6.75/10