Change Your Image
black_Death27
Reviews
Joker (2019)
"Joker" is Laughably, Far Superior to Marvel's Iron Fist
"Joker" is a retelling of the most famous villain in the comic book medium from the unreliable narrator perspective. Joaquin Phoenix is an absolute force of nature in this 2 hour piece that makes Finn Jones as Iron Fist look like an unemployed Soundcloud playlist maker. Bonus in that the laughably overrated, single tone, zero range Jessica Henwick isn't in this movie playing the role of the token Asian heroine.
Despite both pieces of the visual medium being shot in New York City with familiar locations used in both, "Joker" paints their Gotham City as far more of a important set piece in telling it's story than the worthless Marvel's Iron Fist.
Don't waste your time with Marvel's Iron Fist, a haplessly pointless 23 episode exercise of utterly terrible writing decisions destroying an IP.
Instead, watch "Joker" 12 times over to fit the same amount of time investment with a transcendent lead performance and a creative team that actually had the gonads to execute creatively risky decisions.
Los Luchadores (2000)
Better than Marvel's Iron Fist
This children's show previously aired on the now defunct Fox Kids block. It clearly was influenced by the popularity of pro wrestling at that time as well as Sentai/Power Rangers that had been established on this network as one of it's cornerstones.
The acting is quite stiff, with Sarah Carter's Maria having really bad teeth. The pro wrestling action doesn't really fit the popularized rules in that particular era. However, its action is still better executed than Marvel's Iron Fist if only for it's obvious, earnestly poor display rather than packaged under the Marvel brand name and shown on a subscription service that the audience is supposed to take seriously.
Character motivations, while comically shallow, are at least consistent and make sense and fit with the age group of its viewership. That also means it's better written than Marvel's Iron Fist.
Iron Fist (2017)
"The Death of the Iron Fist IP" or "A 70's Comic Origin - Reimagined With Fanfiction Structure"
The Iron Fist IP has become an infamous brand after this show has aired and utterly either reduced or destroyed the value of relevant characters that reside in it's comic book origins.
Notably, Danny Rand, Misty Knight, and Joy Meachum who are still used in the comics. The series has ostracized Danny Rand from the mainstream audience for years to come, and has essentially destroyed the Joy Meachum character to the point where you will likely never see her in a comic again. Misty Knight is simply "just there", although this can be argued that she is a main cast role in the Luke Cage series and thus there are certain contractual issues that would come along that would only allow her a guest role.
The show essentially is a modern re-imagining of Iron Fist's original comic run in the 70's where he arrives in New York as a fish out of water. However, his motivations in the comics are far more coherent. He wants to avenge the deaths of his parents and kill Harold Meachum. The thirst for vengeance fueled him to both survive in Kun'Lun and become the Iron Fist. His motivations in this series for his return are far less coherent, as a sort of mix of wanting to reclaim his New York life while trying to find out what happened to his parents.
However, this narrative shifts to a far more Colleen Wing based perspective. The overall 2 season series is structured like a story you can would find on fanfiction.net where a person's favorite character is placed in the main character role and re-imagined in that universe with that role.
--------------------------------------------------------------
This fan fiction structure is familiar:
Favored character meets original protagonist, said protagonist immediately falls in love with said author favorite.
Preferred author "'ship" (one that never existed in the primary source material) is joined by the hip for the majority of the story where original protagonist is made beholden by favored character where he is no longer his own character.
Author-favored character is then handed the power of the original protagonist at the protagonist's request.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The script is sophomoric for both seasons. Character motivations seem to change scene by scene. This results in a disjointed final product that never really grasps how to present it's title character as an audience draw which doomed the series. Danny Rand is presented, ultimately, as incompetent which killed the show dead and greatly damaged the IP to the point where any reboot will likely change the foundation of his character.