Iron Fist, a spoof?

Marvel's Iron Fist is the fourth of the Marvel live action show's on Netflix. This is also the one I've been told is often considered the worst of the shows. Well before I watch Marvel's Defenders and thereby rounding up this sort of mini series I had to watch this. A quick note, because of my busy schedule and limited time frame to watch these shows I only ever get to watch around 2-4 episodes of a show, so these are mostly first impressions over reviews. My first impressions of the show, I see why people may not like it, but I do find it oddly enjoyable.

Lets talk the cast first, because they are always slighted when talking about the show. Finn Jones as Danny Rand/Iron Fist is serviceable. His performance is rather dry, and his attempt at trying to seem like a zen but out of this world monk comes off as a weird hipster. This isn't helped by: his appearance, being homeless, usage of an I-pod, not wearing shoes, and his beard. He really is the stereotypical hipster, which if that's what he was aiming for, good job, but I didn't really care for him. All of the Meachums are getting lumped together as their acting is on the same level. Save for Jessica Stroup as Joy, they all have this sort of attempting to be distant and uncertain, insidious genius. They come across as either robotic or like cardboard. I can't decide which is the better metaphor here. Joy is supposed to be the good guy of the Meachums and rather quickly comes to his support. She's capable of emoting some emotions well, and the scenes she's allowed to do them are some of the best ones in the show. Jessica Henwick is Colleen Wing, a martial arts instructor. She is supposed to be the, I don't know actually. If I had to take a guess she's either a secret assassin that turns traitor, or the rival anti hero with a dark past. Her acting is stiff at some points. If I had to compare it to anything it would be a slightly better than average child actor. I've never heard of any of these actors before, so I'm going out on a limb and saying that most of these faults are down to inexperience. This doesn't wipe away the flaws they have in the show, but I don't want to say they're bad actors.

What I do enjoy about this show, and why so many people seem to dislike it, is how different it is from the rest of the Marvel's series. We're not in Hell's Kitchen at this point, and the show is far more light-hearted than its siblings. It carries a certain amount of a blend of the old martial arts movies and the super hero genre. It's the sound that made me enjoy it. The way it blended with the fights, which are far simpler and less choreographed than the rest the series, gave it a B-list action flick. I found this oddly charming in the puppy just pissed on itself sense. It's stupid and should have been done better, but that's what made me enjoy the show. Even the back story is oddly inserted that it works. Trained by mystical warrior monks is the back story of so many cheesy martial arts stories that I could only be charmed by nostalgia. The scenes have a slight self awareness of just how dumb it is, and that's when the show is at its best. I do not like the drama that goes on in the show. It's too serious and doesn't have this slight self awareness of how dumb it is. These are also the most stilted scenes in the show.

To give my full thoughts on the show. It's not all that good, but it doesn't have to be good for me to enjoy it. I honestly enjoyed just how underwhelming it was. It took me back to when I didn't heavily over analyze shows and just enjoyed the fight scenes. TLDR the shows trash, I'm trash, and I just learned what nostalgia is.

This post was very tonally confused. A lot like the show I was discussing.