niklasknezevic

So, let me be clear. By this point, you should have seen Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist. I don't want to include any plot- related information, since that is a discovery you should do for yourself. But keep in mind, that those three shows already happened. If you haven't seen all of them, better catch up!

Now, there we go. After watching the first episode, I was baffled. The exposition was very unspecific, and I liked it. Over the course of the season, information gets drawn to the viewer part by part, leaving space for interpretation. Of course, the storytelling is not groundbreaking, as Iron Fist is part of a bigger plan and kinda fulfilling a purpose, but the first season of Daredevil showed us, that this circumstance could have been better as well. Nonetheless, I enjoyed watching the story unfold.

Let's discuss the actors quickly. Finn Jones, in my opinion, added a nice touch to Danny Rand. And all this hatred against the perceived whitewashing: I like it when adaptations stick to the source material. Sure, he could be a little bit more buffed, and the fight scenes could use a little bit less editing. But that's less of a problem emerging from Jones' portrayal, but rather a problem of time management and planning. You can't form a martial arts pro in two months. And if shooting the series was as strict as BTS information suggest, there wasn't enough room for improvement. So, do not expect Daredevil-like levels of fight choreography and consequently benefitting camera work, but it is enjoyable still. And I really liked the performances from Jessica Henwick, David Wenham and Jessica Stroup. Marvel just has to figure out, what purpose Claire Temple (portrayed by the brilliant Rosario Dawson) serves. Seeing her participating in some of the fights was... interesting. Well, I can't wait to see all of the Defenders come together later this year. I definitely wasn't disappointed by Iron Fist, and you should make up your mind for yourself.

Well. If you have seen a few movies and are now going to see this film, you will definitely can see it's predictability. And if you are familiar with the internet clips platforms, you will recognize some of the faces (at least, I did for some). So, how does this match up? As you might expect, decent, at best. Those stereotypical views and exaggerations aren't the first and won't be the last attempt at reducing complex topics and boil them down to basic emotions. Thing is, it is pretty funny to see those categories you can clearly define in the real world, concerning YouTube and similar social media platforms, and see the effort to translate them to the movie screen. But it is almost a little bit frightening, since you might think the Internet and the people living in it, growing up with it could prosper in this direction. When it is all about cats, funny clips you forget in an hour and a little cleavage to satisfy the inner boy, people forget the struggle of multidimensional conflicts, deep threats, big love you can see in those real movies, the "classics". And this movie has it's moments, e.g. at the presentation of the guy behind the cat. Behind this American humor and this documentary-style imaging their is some process of the information delivered. And the casting was pretty good, I.e. Amanda Cerny who delivers exactly how it is expected with the right amount of oversimplification. But it doesn't break through and those moments get flushed away by pretty standard mainstream movie procedure. But you don't expect it from this film, and it doesn't expect it from itself either. So I guess it delivers what they wanted without any attempt at risking something, or moving into a probably more interesting direction.

I must say, I was sold after the first episode. With an amazing intro, very strong realistic feeling and some very nice shots, the first season of Marvel's Daredevil looked like a strong contender for best new series, in my mind at least. It is thrilling more often than not, has a very serious tone and all the people blend in nicely with the story. And the charismatic crazy enemy, wow!

Now that the second season is out, we have to see if it still lives up to the hype, and for me, it still has to show, but it definitely can. I had kinda the same feeling after watching True Detective: I did not find the 2nd season explicitly bad, but after such a strong first one, there are big steps to follow. Huge steps indeed.

So why the 9 star rating? Because the first season was amazing, and I am sure there is a huge potential still inside. I guess the second season had to be worse, but still worth a shot!