Marvel’s Iron Fist is a 2017 martial arts superhero action web television series created by Scott Buck, starring Finn Jones, Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Jessica Stroup, Ramon Rodriguez, Sacha Dhawan, Rosario Dawson, and David Wenham.  The series follows Danny Rand / Iron Fist, a martial arts expert with the ability to call upon the power of the Iron Fist.

Positives:

• Good characters
• Interesting story
• Good performances
• Great performance by Jessica Henwick
• Great performance by Rosario Dawson
• Great performance by Carrie-Anne Moss

Negatives:

• Poor performance by Finn Jones
• Poor storytelling
• Poor dialogue
• Poor editing
• Lackluster fight sequences

Plot:  The main storyline is Rand trying to get his life back in order having been away for nearly fifteen years.  However, his goals are challenged when he learns that The Hand has plans for him. The story does come off a bit too much like a mixture of Batman and Green Arrow but not as interesting nor engaging lacking any of the excitement or depth.  There are some pretty interesting twists concerning the company Rand and its ties to The Hand but a majority of the plot points aren’t interesting, original, and/or easily predictable.  Despite an interesting origin story the story just drags and drags with little to no momentum.  Even the climax was lackluster. (3 out of 5)

Characters: There are some likable characters, but there are some annoying characters. Danny Rand (Jones) is a likable character but he does come off as a bit of a dumbass.  He does things that make little to no sense or are obviously a bad idea when trying to prove himself often putting the lives of others in harms way. Despite this he’s a sympathetic character who’s trying to recover his life after the tragic of nearly loosing it. Having stated this, the character freaking sucks.  There’s nothing throughout this entire series that suggest that Danny Rand should be Iron Fist.  Joy (Stroup) is one of those characters that was honestly a bit of a love/hate.  There are moments where she is a douchebag but then all of a sudden changes her mind.  Ward (Pelphrey) is douchebag but feels more grounded as his motivation is quite understandable due to his father’s controlling actions.  Harold (Wenham) has got to be the most obvious bad guy if there ever was one.  Sure at times he does come off as a loving father but it’s obvious he’s using everyone (including his children) for his own ends.  And when it came out he was responsible for Rand’s family’s murder, it wasn’t really a big shock.  He even seemed to be an unnecessary character. Bakuto (Rodriguez) could’ve easily assimilated the role, especially because he was pretty much controlling everything. Colleen Wing (Henwick) is another great character.  She initially comes off as a struggling owner of a martial arts dojo but her ties to The Hand definitely give her depth.  Especially when it comes in conflict with her interest in Rand.  Her and Rand’s “romance” is crap and is completely forced.  Davos (Dhawan) is more likable than Rand and definitely deserves the Iron Fist power.  I even sympathized with his character more.  It’s kind of like when someone wins an award for something they don’t really take seriously but you do and you’ve worked really hard for it.  It’s really frustrating. (3 out of 5)

Cast:  Good performances by the cast which includes Finn Jones, Jessica Henwick, Tom Pelphrey, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Stroup, Ramón Rodríguez, Sacha Dhawan, Rosario Dawson, and David Wenham.  Finn Jones stars as Danny Rand / Iron Fist, a martial arts expert with the ability to call upon the power of the Iron Fist. Jones is alright as Danny but his performance isn’t really memorable.  In fact, the guy sucks.  There hardly any scenes where Jones hits the mark and for the few that exist they are few and far between. Carrie-Anne Moss is great as Jeri Hogarth, Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing, and Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple.  Tom Pelphrey and Jessica Stroup have good chemistry together. (4 out of 5)

Visuals: The Iron Fist chi attack looks pretty good and has this internal resonating look rather than an expelled energy.  It would’ve looked tons better had there been some energy output rather than only the glowing look.  The fighting looks cool and Wing’s do look impactful, but there is Rand’s who looks lackluster.  The choreography definitely needs to be more impactful because it looks choreographed. There are some decent shots of the city. (3 out of 5)

Score:  The music for the intro is pretty good with a cool dub-step feel that does give the show a great sound. Trevor Morris does a pretty good job with the composition. (4 out of 5)

Writing:  The writing is decent but there are some moments where it could’ve been worked on a little bit better.  One thing that stands out is Danny’s lack of subtlety.  There are moments where a person should take their time to come at a situation and he just blatantly runs into it like an idiot.  How the show addresses the airplane crash, his time in K’un-Lun, and his return to the states.  Even when it comes to how The Hand works and their operations are just poorly written as well as how Rand confronts them. The editing was choppy and the overall story is all over the place. Even the dialogue seems lackluster.  Nobody says anything that is memorable.  (2 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, Marvel’s Iron Fist is the worst of the Marvel Netflix series and deserves its place rightfully so.  The show is just riddled with all kinds of problems.  Jones sucks as Iron Fist, the fights feel lazy, the story is all over the place, the editing could be better, and pacing drags leading to a uninteresting story.  Despite this, the show does feature some good characters, an interesting origin story, and some great performances.  Marvel’s Iron Fist gets 3 out of 5.