Amph Marvel's The Defenders

The inconsistency in the hero abilites is rather maddening. Iron Fist can't move Cage at all when he hits him in their first fight, but by the end Cage is reacted to hits from Hand goons. I'm confused on Jessica's powers, I think she's superstrong but it rarely shows. Her punches and kicks are the same as Daredevil - possibly even less effective. And Danny's Iron Fist comes and goes whenever it feels like it. Is it calm and focus or anger that unlocks it? Because he gets it doing both, sometimes one will work and the other won't, and at other times neither will work. I wouldn't say Finn Jones is bad, it's just that they've written his character and are directing him to be a certain way. And that way makes him unlikeable.

 

How's Sigourney Weaver's character? I'm expecting her to be the highlight of this series.

 

Halfway through episode 6. Shut up Iron Fist. Forever.

 

Sounds like you're at that scene where the writing takes an absolute nose-dive.

She's fine. The set up for her character is good, and there's great mystery about who she is. But later, they drop the ball with her.There's a moment where I had a flashback to Aliens, and it's so obvious I am almost believe they did it deliberately.

 

That ending though... :/

 

Halfway through it.

Not overly impressed so far

 

It's a bit of a waste really. Big shame.

 

Spoilers for the last episode

Spoiler

at least now we know about the 5 different parts of the hand. Too bad we never saw all 5 of them together. As good as Sigourney was, I figured she wouldn't be the final "bad" because she didn't have any personal ties to any member of the good guys. Well, except for Stick. Ironically both killed in the same episode and by the same person. Really, she was there more for Elektra's story. And of course it ended Matt vs Elektra. The personal story. Not convinced that Gao and the Japanese guy are truly dead. And we still don't what Black Sky really is

 

It was just alright. Hate almost everything involving Elektra in both The Defenders and Daredevil Season 2, and hate how they keep pumping her up as The Black Sky but never freaking explain the concept or show her do anything important at all.

And I actually like Finn Jones, especially after this show.

Not bad, but I'm glad Marvel is taking their time with further solo seasons instead of churning everything out this quickly. I'm sure Punisher will knock it out of the park though.

Also, did anyone else notice the climax of the series (Star Wars related)

Spoiler

Is pretty much everything that went down in Xizor's Palace in Shadows of the Empire, up to Dash's fake death?

 

I was glad that some story points that seemed weirdly handled or completely dropped in Daredevil S2 were touched on again. Some elements of what was happening with the Hand on Daredevil make a lot more sense/have more context now. Matt's character arc was great and moved forward believably for him I thought. Overall the show was quite fun but certainly not flawless. I didn't really mind that it took a few episodes to get everyone together, but still some odd pacing there.

I'll echo some of the earlier posts in that Luke and Jessica's power levels seem really inconsistent, especially towards the end. Taking hits from elite members of the Hand is one thing, but suddenly Luke is actually affected by every Hand goon. What the heck? And Jessica should be taking a lot of hits with that serious lack of finesse style she has, and yet suddenly the Hand gets nerfed when they fight her and she's rarely on the receiving end of anything. I still enjoyed the fight scenes a lot but that got a bit messed up at times.

Iron Fist is still a boring and even annoying at times character sadly. So much for The Defenders being the show that fixes him. I was happy Colleen was involved as much as she was though.

Sigourney Weaver did a great job, even though

Spoiler

Alexandra ends up actually not doing a whole lot...and was also killed too early

. The character interactions and dynamics were really funny to watch, and as always JJ is hilarious. I'd say this season was way better than Iron Fist, and it didn't go off a cliff like Luke Cage, but it wasn't as good as Daredevil or Jessica Jones either.

 

Just finished first episode. I'm not sure what it is, but the more this universe expands with its episodes and seasons, the worse that the editing during the fight choreography seems to be. The pre-sequence combat was almost in Batman Begins territory. Meanwhile, those who dislike Rand will likely continue to dislike him. Otherwise, it's going quite well. The ending to this episode could have done with an Ecto One being dragged into the ground.

 

She was great. This was her story arch.

I hope this redeems her for people that didn't like the Elektra film.

 

Just watched the first two episodes and I liked them. I like the build up and wonder what's gonna happen next. The most boring parts so far are Iron Fist's moments. His story and his character, I just don't care, and they seem to be the most important, which makes it weird.

 

I'm with a star war on this. I don't remember what happened in 8 hours that justified 8 hours. A lot was cramming - Trish didn't need to be there, the NYPD were just being obstructionist for the **** of it given we've had the Avengers movie events etc etc.

The one moment I did love was

Spoiler

Matt trying to reassure the group of his gratitude they were helping him go down in the massive hole after Danny. "I'm not huggin' you" - it was just so well played. Daredevil's earnestness versus the cynicism of the two most cynical group members. It was a really wonderful moment by the three talented actors that make up the Defenders.

 

I know he's meant to be child-like, but... he's just an arse of a child. It's that simple. I can't tell though if the fault is Finn Jones, the writers, the direction, or a tsunami of awful that blends them together.

 

this is what i wrote on facebook. i just don't feel like writing it again or paraphrasing myself.

i just binge watched a terrible show. it's called marvel's "the defenders" and it's about these four one dimensional characters who have to awkwardly team up to save new york. first there's daredevil. he's riddled with doubt. then there's jessica jones. she drinks a lot and tries to act like she doesn't care, but deep down she has a heart of gold. third, we have luke cage. he just wants to help harlem. and last we have iron fist. he's... the immortal iron fist. actually this character has zero dimensions, which is kind of remarkable really. they also have some friends who are all helpful ladies who just want to do the right thing. i think all of their names are claire. together these guys spend 8 hours alternately chasing ninjas or running from ninjas. it's pretty much exactly as bad as it sounds, but i still watched the whole thing and oddly kind of enjoyed it. maybe because one thing it does do well is capture the feel of its source material, comic books that i enjoyed as a kid. so ymmv.

 

I don't quite get how they screwed this one up. It was all acceptable until episode 6.

Spoiler

I heard lots of complaints about how long it takes them to assemble. But in truth, when they assemble, it feels more natural because of how it happens so for me, that exposition that we had to sit through was acceptable: We see Jess sleuthing, Luke getting involved with the community, Danny pursuing his mission and Matt getting pulled back in despite trying to escape. Unlike the Avengers who had Nick Fury to pull them all in for a global disaster, the Defenders really don't have a reason to be together. Claire puts Danny and Luke together when she realizes they are on the same side but she has no idea about Jess or Matt's role- and Daredevil was essentially retired at that point so she would have no reason to involve him. So that works for me. I'm also ok with Luke getting out of prison in minutes. When Luke Cage ended, Bobby had already possessed the evidence to clear Luke's name. So really it was just a matter of paperwork at that point. We didn't need to spend time with Luke in jail. His return works as a way to get him involved again. Matt's role works as well. It's Jess that is a bit harder- she is clearly still suffering from the effects of Kilgrave, but aside from Trish's comments, we don't see much there so... As to Danny, let's be honest: the writers have done a disservice to Finn Jones and to the character. I can't fault the actor when the writing for the character is just bad.

Alexandra was an enigmatic and intriguing villain. An actress of Sigourney Weaver's quality instantly elevated the material she was working with and captivated the viewer. What we got about her was also very interesting. And of the hand villains we've seen so far, her motivations were the most compelling.
Which is why I can't believe they were so unbelievably stupid as to kill the character off- SHE WAS ALREADY DYING! I'd have found it more interesting if Elektra had killed the newest finger of the hand to keep Alexandra, Gao and Bakuto in line.

The motivation for the hand was all over the place and the biggest failure of this entire venture is that the writers clearly never knew and never could figure out a decent motivation for the hand. Perhaps then, they should have turned to other villains: One in particular of course. Wilson Fisk. This could have been a series where he assumed his seat as Kingpin of crime. Alexandra could still have been a part of it along with the Hand. They could have even worked in Black Mariah and Shades if so desired as the groups war for control over New York and expand out of their progressive territories. Alexandra then being bumped off by Fisk would probably have worked better than it being done by Elektra (and yes they still could have worked the whole black sky thing in even with a more "city war" focus). Instead, the whole thing comes down to dragon bones to live forever. I could not be any more disappointed. Especially with all the K'un Lun setup. Either show us the place or stop talking about it. That lack of show don't tell is exactly what killed making the hand interesting. ALL of that said however, this still could have been salvaged if not for the idiotic decision to kill Alexandra in episode 6. Because damn if Sigourney couldn't make even this mess interesting to watch. The wasted potential there is infuriating.

The leads were all pretty strong: Charlie Cox kept things grounded as Matt dealt with trying to leave this life behind and then having to deal with the woman he loved being used as a weapon and then assuming the burden of leadership he had shirked so many times. Mike Colter kept the team honest with Luke's moral compass shone through. His fights were also well done (except for some of the hand seeming to knock him around a bit in the end where Danny was basically flailing in his fight). Finn Jones did what he could with the material and tried to deliver a more mature take on Danny when able. He too was given a great disservice in episode 6 when his character suddenly reverted to Iron Fist Episode 3 levels of angst and recklessness. Up to that point his journey was decent and the character seemed to be embracing his role more. Instead they took that and made him too stupid to listen to basic logic. But it was Krysten Ritter who stole the show as Jessica. Jessica definitely functioned as a surrogate for the viewer given Claire as now seen it all. Her solutions to problems were always the most direct and interesting as well as her sharp wit and impressive detective skills. Jessica Jones is by far the most intriguing of the characters because of how realistic she is. She doesn't put on a suit. She doesn't look for danger. She tries not to run heedlessly towards it. But like Luke, she's a good person who can't ignore injustice.

Farewell to Scott Glenn's awesome Stick. Though his death was well telegraphed in this series (seriously, after getting tortured and their hand cut off, did anyone really expect him to survive?), his rigid logic and no nonsense attitude added nicely to the dynamic of this unexpected team. His simple solution to everything (kill it) was also amusing to watch.

Elodie Yung I feel was great. But, too much time was spent acting like a mindless killer before she started to get her memory back. And at that point, she played the character too insane (think R'as Al Ghul after a dip in the lazurus pit). The idea of her killing Alexandra and Stick to break free of her "parents" was good in theory. I just feel the execution- particularly Alexandra- didn't work for me.

As to the supporting characters- it was good seeing them. But some definitely felt tacked on- Karen and Foggy especially. If Foggy's entire role was just getting Luke out and then disappearing, that would have worked. Karen same thing with just her getting coffee and then leaving. And Trish-they spent too much time on her focus with the quake only for it to go literally nowhere. Her bosses are never taken down or stopped. She just keeps working. Claire and Colleen add to the plot and Misty at least was setting things up and functioned as an ally when it came to trouble with the law. The others though, should have joined Jerri Hoggarth and Matt's priest as a cameo when needed and then get out. Sitting in a waiting room adding nothing.

Overall, the chemistry was good, the setup was good. The villain killed the whole show and for the most part, the supporting cast was glorified cameos.

 

tbf, daredevil has two dimensions. He is riddled with doubt AND wracked with guilt.

Please be fair to the man without fear.

 

Well, the same guy who directed Iron Fist directed Inhumans and from what I've read the reviews aren't too kind there.

But I'm going to blame the writing because this weakness was evident in several shows now. Simply put: they never had a fleshed out plan for the Hand. The motivation changed series to series and this one tried to make it some big plan and the plan was quite frankly stupid and underwhelming.

 

I don't really care that the plot is just that the immortal bad guys are out of magic petroleum and need more. The villains were the most interesting part of the series character wise, but they were handled poorly for being heralded as such a powerful threat. At least now everything doesn't have to be ninjas.

What I really care about is that an action show has such terrible action. I can forgive good action content for having simple or straightforward plots. Many great action movies are just that: The Raid, Die Hard, Fury Road. And it's almost inexcusable when the Netflix MCU began with incredible action in Daredevil season 1. I have to wonder what has happened. Is it budgetary? Did they spend all of the money on Sigourney Weaver?