THE DEFENDERS season 1 - Sometimes more isn't more
The Defenders is a Marvel-Netflix miniseries created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez and is the culmination of seasons 1 and 2 of Daredevil, season 1 of Jessica Jones, season 1 of Luke Cage, and season 1 of Iron Fist. The season follows the titular characters of the four series--played by Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, and Finn Jones, respectively--as they stumble into each others' worlds and reluctantly team up in order to fight a mysterious organization that threatens to destroy New York: the Hand.
It may feel unusual to think about now in 2017, but once upon a time the concept of characters from different movies or shows coming together was unthinkable. It was a rule that there was an invisible barrier separating different movies and shows in their own "reality", and nobody ever thought that different characters meeting would be possible--which is why even very small cameos like the Disney Channel That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana event was such an epic thing for us as kids.
Now, in a post-Avengers world, it's commonplace. It's the expected standard. The MCU movies have long thrived in having so many stars come together in one movie that watching an actual stand-alone Marvel movie like Doctor Strange feels strange (pun not intended). This is why fans of Marvel's Netflix shows know that eventually our three favorite street-level heroes (and that other guy) would have to come together. But that's essentially where the problem lies.
When the first seasons of Daredevil and Jessica Jones debuted to immense applause in 2015, not that many people knew that there were plans for a Netflix team-up series. But as the rest of the Netflix series were revealed, knowledge of the inevitable Defenders team-up became more and more like free time before homework--doing the things you want to do before the thing you have to do. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist didn't necessarily have to team up at all, and it's quite possible that the writers didn't even want them to. But with the expected standard placed on superheroes today, it's not what you want to do that matters, but what you can do. And because you can, you have to.
And so what does that leave The Defenders? Ultimately, it's a collaboration between four characters and four stories that does them (enough) justice, but without any of the heart.
[Warning: The following contains some minor spoilers for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.]
The Story
The Avengers was a fantastic team-up movie because it was a movie about a handful of established superheroes teaming up to fight against a common threat. The story wasn't about any one of them, but was about the team itself. Sadly, this isn't the case with The Defenders, and ultimately it comes off much more like Daredevil season 2.5 and Iron Fist season 1.5.
In Daredevil's case, much of the dramatic tension that is left at the end of season 2 is resolved in this season while simultaneously paving the way for season 3 (hopefully next year!). In Iron Fist's case, much of Danny and Colleen's individual character arcs from the first season are brought to a close, setting up the foundation for season 2 (hopefully never!). Pretty soon, Danny even becomes the most important character in the team, which is really disappointing.
This means Jessica and Luke have really no purpose in the story other than being there just to be there, due largely to the fact that neither of them are actually superheroes. Jessica Jones was never a superhero show, but rather a crime drama that happened to have superpowered characters. Similarly, Luke Cage was more of a neo-blaxploitation drama that centered not on the image of a hero saving the day, but rather of a bullet-proof black man in a dark hoodie in the crime-ridden streets of Harlem. These characters are inherently anti-superhero, and so they really didn't work out that well.
They don't even get any development as characters either. Jessica recovers from the ending of her first season and sets up shop as a private investigator again. Luke finishes his time in prison and reunites with Claire. And... really that's about it, to the point that they end up feeling like side characters when they're supposed to be the main stars.
This leads me to probably my biggest point on why this series will not be memorable--it lacks heart. Because of the huge cast and the short run time, the story has to be greatly diluted in order to accommodate everyone, and in the process the themes that made the story and characters great are lost. Daredevil's themes of moral righteousness and deconstruction of superheroism are mostly absent; Jessica Jones' neo-noir aesthetics and detective skills are heavily toned down; Luke Cage's race and class consciousness gets reduced to a single line where he schools Danny on white privilege. In fact, The Defenders' mystic ninja setting most closely feels like Iron Fist, which REALLY isn't a good thing.
The Characters
The Avengers was a fantastic team-up movie because it was a movie about a handful of established superheroes teaming up to fight against a common threat. The story wasn't about any one of them, but was about the team itself. Sadly, this isn't the case with The Defenders, and ultimately it comes off much more like Daredevil season 2.5 and Iron Fist season 1.5.
In Daredevil's case, much of the dramatic tension that is left at the end of season 2 is resolved in this season while simultaneously paving the way for season 3 (hopefully next year!). In Iron Fist's case, much of Danny and Colleen's individual character arcs from the first season are brought to a close, setting up the foundation for season 2 (hopefully never!). Pretty soon, Danny even becomes the most important character in the team, which is really disappointing.
This means Jessica and Luke have really no purpose in the story other than being there just to be there, due largely to the fact that neither of them are actually superheroes. Jessica Jones was never a superhero show, but rather a crime drama that happened to have superpowered characters. Similarly, Luke Cage was more of a neo-blaxploitation drama that centered not on the image of a hero saving the day, but rather of a bullet-proof black man in a dark hoodie in the crime-ridden streets of Harlem. These characters are inherently anti-superhero, and so they really didn't work out that well.
They don't even get any development as characters either. Jessica recovers from the ending of her first season and sets up shop as a private investigator again. Luke finishes his time in prison and reunites with Claire. And... really that's about it, to the point that they end up feeling like side characters when they're supposed to be the main stars.
This leads me to probably my biggest point on why this series will not be memorable--it lacks heart. Because of the huge cast and the short run time, the story has to be greatly diluted in order to accommodate everyone, and in the process the themes that made the story and characters great are lost. Daredevil's themes of moral righteousness and deconstruction of superheroism are mostly absent; Jessica Jones' neo-noir aesthetics and detective skills are heavily toned down; Luke Cage's race and class consciousness gets reduced to a single line where he schools Danny on white privilege. In fact, The Defenders' mystic ninja setting most closely feels like Iron Fist, which REALLY isn't a good thing.
The Characters
Charlie Cox reprises his role as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, a blind Catholic lawyer who had retired from his crime-fighting vigilante days for several months now but continues to struggle with his desires to help people and to live a normal life. Of all the main characters on the show, Murdock is the most sympathetic. Especially for fans of his own show, we know why he can't stand crime and personally feels responsible for saving people whenever he can, but we also understand why he feels like he needs to stay away from that life because of what it costed him. In this show, Murdock comes across not only as the best character, but also the best fighter. While it's always fun to see Luke Cage punch a bunch of guys and send them flying, there's just something wonderful about seeing a costumed hero using martial arts to fight his way through.
Mike Colter reprises his role as Luke Cage, an ex-convict who was experimented on and given super strength and impenetrable skin. Like Jessica, Luke doesn't have much to go on in the show and doesn't really seem to have many stakes in the plot as much as the others. His involvement in the team feels pretty contrived (he just happened to bump into Danny while tailing a kid he happened to know). And he doesn't say "Sweet Christmas". Not even once.
Finn Jones reprises his role as Danny Rand/Iron Fist/loser. Of all the flaws in this season, he's probably the biggest one. It's no secret that Iron Fist season 1 was the MCU's first flop, with critics and viewers criticizing the show's boring and even annoying characters and lackluster plot. Unfortunately, much of that has come back to haunt us. Danny Rand, while not as terribly annoying as he was in his debut, still acts very whiny and childish. While his character definitely would have benefited from being rewritten as more lighthearted and, I don't know, happy. Instead, it seems as if every other line was about him complaining about his dead parents or the fact that he's the Iron Fist and he's destined to defeat the Hand and blah, blah, blah. The show would've been better if he wasn't there.
Several other secondary characters also make either cameos or act as supporting characters in The Defenders. Rosario Dawson returns as the lovely Claire Temple, but has a surprisingly small role. We all thought that since Claire was the only character to bridge all four series, she'd be instrumental to uniting the Defenders in the first place. Turns out, she's actually not that important. Colleen Wing and Misty Knight both return from Iron Fist and Luke Cage, respectively, and both have bigger roles while being surprisingly annoying despite how good they were in their shows. Other small cameos include Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Jeri Hogarth, Malcolm Ducasse, and Trish Walker, who don't really do that much but do well to add some frosting to the cake.
Sigourney Weaver marks her appearance as the season's primary antagonist and the leader of the Hand--Alexandra. The Marvel-Netflix shows have received much praise for having truly interesting, compelling, and highly memorable villains with the likes of Wilson Fisk, Frank Castle, and Kilgrave. While Alexandra never comes close to the likes of these great villains, she isn't as bad as the cartoonish bad guys of Iron Fist. Rather, she's about the same as any of the MCU movies' villains: uninteresting. She had a lot of potential, sure, but falls quite short from what she could have been. She's not intimidating, nor is she scary, nor does she even seem to pose much of a threat. She's just... there, and for the leader of a massively powerful criminal organization that's posed a threat since Daredevil first debuted, it's a bit of a disappointment.
Other leaders of the Hand include Madame Gao (funnily enough, the more we find out about her as the multiple series go along, the less interesting she becomes), Murakami (master of Nobu from Daredevil who never seems as strong as Nobu was), Bakuto (boring, nobody wanted to see him again), and Sowande (typical forgettable villain). Like Alexandra, none of them ever seem to live up to the menacing and powerful threat that everyone keeps saying they are.
Cinematography and Choreography
The first few episodes as well as the last episode had the main characters separated for most of the time, and to emphasize this point, their scenes were color graded with the character's individual color. For instance, scenes with Matt Murdock would have red lighting; Jessica's scenes would be tinted blue, etc. This is perfectly fine, and artistically works well, but the first three episodes in particular really insisted on beating us over the head with it, to the point that the whole scene would be flooded in green or yellow or red. At that point, it's just distracting, and I really didn't appreciate it.
The fight scenes in The Defenders mostly are not that special either. While there are some good moments here and there, I've come to realize that the only one who is actually interesting to watch fight is Daredevil. Jessica and Luke are not trained fighters, so they mostly just punch people, and while Iron Fist should be a really skilled fighter, he doesn't really seem to know how to fight that well. Most of the fight scenes are also fought in dark places, so most of the time I couldn't even tell what was going on.
Final Verdict
Do I dislike The Defenders? No. I honestly think it's pretty good overall. They do a good enough job of uniting the team and keeping the characters faithful to themselves while also making the show accessible enough that you don't really have to watch any of the shows before you watch this one. Unfortunately, some aspects of the show are rather lacking and doesn't allow the show to be at all memorable. But perhaps the most disappointing thing is that the show seems to have forgotten its gritty, realistic, and compelling roots, and I'm actually glad the show is over so we can leave behind the mystic ninjas and go back to crime lords and psychologically insane criminals.
Grade: C+
Finn Jones reprises his role as Danny Rand/Iron Fist/
Several other secondary characters also make either cameos or act as supporting characters in The Defenders. Rosario Dawson returns as the lovely Claire Temple, but has a surprisingly small role. We all thought that since Claire was the only character to bridge all four series, she'd be instrumental to uniting the Defenders in the first place. Turns out, she's actually not that important. Colleen Wing and Misty Knight both return from Iron Fist and Luke Cage, respectively, and both have bigger roles while being surprisingly annoying despite how good they were in their shows. Other small cameos include Foggy Nelson, Karen Page, Jeri Hogarth, Malcolm Ducasse, and Trish Walker, who don't really do that much but do well to add some frosting to the cake.
Sigourney Weaver marks her appearance as the season's primary antagonist and the leader of the Hand--Alexandra. The Marvel-Netflix shows have received much praise for having truly interesting, compelling, and highly memorable villains with the likes of Wilson Fisk, Frank Castle, and Kilgrave. While Alexandra never comes close to the likes of these great villains, she isn't as bad as the cartoonish bad guys of Iron Fist. Rather, she's about the same as any of the MCU movies' villains: uninteresting. She had a lot of potential, sure, but falls quite short from what she could have been. She's not intimidating, nor is she scary, nor does she even seem to pose much of a threat. She's just... there, and for the leader of a massively powerful criminal organization that's posed a threat since Daredevil first debuted, it's a bit of a disappointment.
Other leaders of the Hand include Madame Gao (funnily enough, the more we find out about her as the multiple series go along, the less interesting she becomes), Murakami (master of Nobu from Daredevil who never seems as strong as Nobu was), Bakuto (boring, nobody wanted to see him again), and Sowande (typical forgettable villain). Like Alexandra, none of them ever seem to live up to the menacing and powerful threat that everyone keeps saying they are.
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| Not gonna lie, this was pretty badass |
Cinematography and Choreography
The first few episodes as well as the last episode had the main characters separated for most of the time, and to emphasize this point, their scenes were color graded with the character's individual color. For instance, scenes with Matt Murdock would have red lighting; Jessica's scenes would be tinted blue, etc. This is perfectly fine, and artistically works well, but the first three episodes in particular really insisted on beating us over the head with it, to the point that the whole scene would be flooded in green or yellow or red. At that point, it's just distracting, and I really didn't appreciate it.
The fight scenes in The Defenders mostly are not that special either. While there are some good moments here and there, I've come to realize that the only one who is actually interesting to watch fight is Daredevil. Jessica and Luke are not trained fighters, so they mostly just punch people, and while Iron Fist should be a really skilled fighter, he doesn't really seem to know how to fight that well. Most of the fight scenes are also fought in dark places, so most of the time I couldn't even tell what was going on.
Final Verdict
Do I dislike The Defenders? No. I honestly think it's pretty good overall. They do a good enough job of uniting the team and keeping the characters faithful to themselves while also making the show accessible enough that you don't really have to watch any of the shows before you watch this one. Unfortunately, some aspects of the show are rather lacking and doesn't allow the show to be at all memorable. But perhaps the most disappointing thing is that the show seems to have forgotten its gritty, realistic, and compelling roots, and I'm actually glad the show is over so we can leave behind the mystic ninjas and go back to crime lords and psychologically insane criminals.
Grade: C+
Pretty much agree with everything, except I feel like Finn Jones did a lot better in Defenders than in Iron Fist, in terms of fight choreography and acting. But really, I don't think it was his fault that he was given shitty material to work with in Iron Fist. Danny Rand is just a poorly written character, though I feel that he's supposed to be really lost and confused and still pretty much a child mentally. Overall, I do definitely feel like the creators could've presented the individual features and qualities of the heroes better. Although Daredevil is definitely my favorite out of the four, it felt wrong that Matt Murdock's character arc stood out through the whole season as the most "juicy" to me, while the others just kinda paled in comparison. Keep it up man, I really like reading your reviews :)
ReplyDeleteHahah thanks man! Oh I think he did a much better job in here than he did in his own show. Just the fact that half his scenes weren't boring bureaucratic business bs contributed a lot to that. But I don't think his acting can be considered good yet. Even if you have a terrible script, you can still make the best out of it through things like facial expression, physical acting, and tone of voice. Charlie Cox is the best at this and you can always tell what emotion his character is feeling based on the tone of his voice or his facial expression. The one who should have the most trouble is Krysten Ritter because her character is by definition nearly unemotional, but she does present subtle changes that show how Jessica is feeling on the inside. But Finn Jones always has the same angry look all the time, the same dark and edgy whisper when he speaks. Him talking to Madame Gao vs talking to Luke Cage sounds and looks exactly the same.
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