TV Show Review: Titans (2018) Episode 3 - Origins

So far, Titans has been an excellent series easily rivaling what Marvel has put out.

Titans is an 11-episode DC Universe series based on the characters appearing in DC Comics. It is rated TV-MA for language, violence, and blood and is appropriate for older teens and up.

The Good

Characters. Brenton Thwaites continues to nail the post-Batman Dick Greyson character. In this episode the others characters are finally starting to be fleshed out and become interesting.

Story. This episode presented the origin of Robin and more of Starfire and Raven's backstories. Their inclusions were very organic and added to the overall story.

Pacing. The pacing was very methodic. It was slow but didn't feel slow. Instead every element of the story was given an appropriate amount of time to breathe and develop.

The Bad

Politics. This episode paints the traditional family in a bad light, which is pure propaganda and socially irresponsible.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

Being able to binge watch all the episodes in one or two sittings.

Overall

Origins, the third episode of Titans (2018) continues to meet my expectations. The cast is perfect, the story had room to breath and develop, and the story continues to unfold at a great pace. I give this show 4.5 out of 5 remotes.

    

TV Show Review: Marvel's Iron Fist

When Netflix first announced they would create a series of original mini-series starring Marvel characters, I was excited for only two of the four characters announced: Daredevil and Iron Fist. I was pretty upset that I had to wait years since Iron Fist was the last one to debut, but I figured it would be worth it. Oh, Netflix, why? Why?

Marvel's Iron Fist is a 13-episode Netflix original series based on the Iron Fist character in Marvel Comics. It is rated TV-MA for a few brief scenes of gore, but otherwise is pretty PG.

The Good

Story. This series actually has a pretty story, it's just badly told. But I was hooked enough to finish this in three days.

Joy and Ward. The brother and sister duo who run Rand are the most interesting characters in the show and actually show a lot of range and go thru a lot of changes. Both the characters and the acting are actually really interesting.

The Bad

Pacing. The biggest problem with this series, and probably the reason so many people are hating on it, is the sloooooooow pacing. The first two episodes could easily have been wrapped up in one episode without losing a single thing.

Fan Film Quality. The second major problem that has most people upset is the low quality. After the masterpiece that is Daredevil, fans expect a similar quality. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were both let downs and not in the same league, and this was another rung down the ladder. The acting was stiff. The dialogue was amateurish and too wordy. The fight scenes were few and poorly executed. The storytelling was weak. The direction was not at a professional level. The cinematography was disappointing. It really felt like a couple of high school buddies went out behind one of their houses and shot this in a weekend.

Weak Source Material. There is a reason Iron Fist is not one of the main character in the Marvel Universe and why he hasn't had a long running series. He just isn't that interesting. There aren't that many good stories to tell with him. He works much better as a minor character in someone else's story.

Cry Baby Protagonist. It really annoyed me how petty and easily angered Iron Fist was. He encountered the smallest obstacle and suddenly he flew into a violent rage. And his confidence swung from ridiculous bravado to a loss of all hope with no degrees in between. Not what I want to see from my heroes.

Power Constantly Shorting Out. One of the really cool things about superheroes that sets them apart from every other genre is their superpowers. I love to see the powers, I love to see what unique and clever ways characters come up with using those powers. I don't like seeing powers on the fritz for the entire 13 hours. Why even bother having them if that's what you're going to do? It didn't add to the story or the character.

No Costume. Iron Fist has one of the few comic book costumes that could be directly translated onto the screen and both look cool and make sense for the character (minus the giant yellow color from the 70s), and yet no attempt was made to show any sort of a costume. And the character had long, curly hair and a beard, two things that he doesn't have in the comic. Something that's made the latest Marvel adaptions so successful is their faithfulness to the comic. This is a huge step backwards by throwing away so much of the comic.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I was so excited for this series. I wish they had a better director who knew how to shoot a movie and pace it. I wish better actors had been hired. I wish the script didn't feel like a first draft. I wish Iron Fist had appeared in costume. I wish the fight scenes looked cool and there were more of them. I wish Iron Fist's power would work for more than ten seconds.

Overall

Overall, Marvel's Iron Fist had a pretty good story, it just wasn't well told. The script, the acting, the fight scenes, and pretty much everything else felt like a first draft and needed a lot more thought and work. I give it 3 out of 5 remotes and recommend it for hardcore comic fans who'll watch anything with their favorite character in it. It's not a waste of time, but it is disappointing.

    

TV Show Review: Marvel's Daredevil Season 2 (Netflix Original Series)

I've been not so patiently waiting for the second season of Daredevil, at times wondering if it would ever come. I was a little nervous--actually A LOT nervous. I mean, how often does a sequel live up to the hype and expectations created by the original? And what about the new characters? I'm not a big punisher fan, and I've seen Elektra done both well and about as far from well as one can get. So how would this new season stack up? Fortunately all my fears were for not and my expectations shattered.

Daredevil is a 2016 Netflix original series from Marvel Studios. It is a 13-episode action drama about a blind lawyer with uncanny abilities and mad fighting skills based on the comic book published by Marvel Comics.

The Good

Returning Characters. I really enjoyed the characters from the first season, and they did nothing to change that opinion. Each one was still very likable, very true to who they were in the first season, and yet we saw growth and expansion in each. I even liked the Kingpin this time. In the first season he was very disappointing, but this season he was much more in line with the comic book version and the deadly schemer worthy of Daredevil.

New Characters. I was nervous how Elektra would be handled and whether Punisher would be compelling. Electra took me a couple of episodes to warm up to, because this is a slightly different spin on her than I've seen in the comics, but it was a good spin that worked in this universe and context. I've only read a few Punisher comics and wasn't a big fan of the character, but I'm a big fan of this version of him and would gladly watch a Punisher series if they decide to create one.

Story. The story could not have been better. Even thought there were actually two stories going on, they flowed from one to the other seamlessly. Both grabbed me by the collar and wouldn't let go until the very end. There was so much going on when the final episode began I worried they would rush it, but they didn't. It happened at just the right pace.

Pacing. The pacing was a lot better in this season. It never moved too fast so every scene had maximum drama and impact, and yet it never seemed to drag which is impressive considering it runs for over 12 hours. I watched the first 6 episodes and it felt like maybe an hour or two had passed, not 6.

Same but Different. This season looked and felt like a continuation of the first season. It didn't look like some reinvention had happened in the intervening months. And yet everything was different and new. Nothing was a rehash or a back remake of the first season, something I've never seem before (yes Star Wars, I'm talking about you). It felt like the same world, but a different corner of that world.

Easter Eggs. For a comic book fan like myself, I always appreciate little nods to the comics and other versions of the characters, and this season supplied them in spades from the pulp-styled poster of the gladiator hanging on the wall that looked awfully similar to a Frank Miller/Dave Mazzucelli cover to several nods and direct swipes from Frank Miller's run.

The Bad

The Red Suit. The red suit still looks stupid. Early in the season Daredevil's suit is damaged by the Punisher, and he is forced to ask the Gladiator to fix it. I was hoping they would use this opportunity to put Matt in the black and red suit from the current comics, but no. Maybe season 3.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

This time around I was completely satisfied with everything. I never found myself wishing they had done anything differently.

Overall

Overall, I loved this series. It had me hooked from the first minute and didn't let me go until the last. I didn't mean to watch all 13 episodes in one day, but I couldn't help myself. The characters, the story, the acting, the action, the tight plot, and the faithfulness to the comics made this a true classic. The Punisher and Elektra both added to the story and gave up great versions of each character. I highly recommend this series and give it a solid 5 out of 5 remotes.

     

TV Show Review: Marvel's Daredevil (Netflix Original Series)

I've been a fan of Daredevil ever since I first saw him in the TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. I don't think I had ever heard of the character before, but when I saw that I said to myself, "Self, that is the coolest superhero ever! (Next to Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman, that is.)" A few years later I picked up the comic book during the Fall From Grace storyline and was hooked. While I haven't always enjoyed the direction Marvel has taken with the character, I've always loved the character and his potential. (I even liked the Ben Affleck movie--director's cut, of course.) When I heard Netflix would show an original series, I was excited. This was the proper venue for a Daredevil story.

Daredevil is a 2015 Netflix original series from Marvel Studios. It is a 13-episode action drama about a blind lawyer with uncanny abilities and mad fighting skills.

The Good

Charlie Cox. When I first heard Charlie Cox had been cast, I looked him up online, because I'd never heard of him. He didn't seem like an obvious choice for the show. But after the first episode, I was sold on him as both Matt Murdock and Daredevil. He really made me feel for him and his struggle. I believed he could do all the unbelievable things he does.

Writing. The writing was top notch. The dialog was believable, plot lines made sense, characters (even the minor ones) were well developed, and events flowed into the next seamlessly. Very little felt contrived or convenient. Almost everything that happened contributed to the overall story.

Pacing. This show is very deliberately paced, but unlike similarly slow-paced shows like Mad Men, this never seemed to drag. The decompression was used to its fullest like a well planned dramatic pause to give the viewer time to savor what was happening and take the enormity of it all in.

Black Suit. Every review I've seen has pointed to Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.'s Man Without Fear miniseries from the 90s as the inspiration for the black suit, but it actually made an appearance a decade earlier in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk tv movie. It makes sense that this is what someone would go out in to fight crime, and I like how ineffective it was in protecting him justifying another suit. It was a distinct look that the viewer would never confuse with all the other thousands of characters dressed in black that is a cliche of so many movies and tv shows. I really appreciate the costume designers bringing something new to the table.

Fighting. The fighting style was really unique which I appreciated. I love it when movies bring something new to the table, and this style was definitely something I hadn't seen before. I also like how many fight scenes there were and how long they take. Too often the hero is able to subdue his adversaries with a few punches and walks away with a bloody lip at most. These fights actually took enough time to feel like someone received a proper punishment with all parties receiving series injury. I like how Daredevil's suit was regularly ripped and how many times he needed stitches and couldn't even get up or walk after a few fights. It made the world feel that much more believable and the stakes that much higher.

Kingpin. The Kingpin isn't introduced until the end of the third episode. Before that he is a voice on a phone and a whispered mention. It was very effective technique to make his seem larger than life and a true menace, one that reminded me of Orson Welles in The Third Man. It's a shame they had to ruin it and actually show the character.

Rosario Dawson. It's nice to see how superheroes get patched up. If you really did go out there and fight crime, you're going to need stitches and bed rest. The nurse Rosario played was a really likeable character. The writers did an excellent job showing her struggle in deciding to help Daredevil even though the idea is ludicrous. There was really chemistry between her and the title character, which the series needed.

The Bad

Ben Urich. I've never been a fan of Ben Urich in the comics, and this show only made me dislike him more. He is the token "blackface" character Marvel puts into each of their projects (a white character cast as a black character for no reason other than to have another black character). And in this version he was an annoying old man that did little more than antagonize the main characters. He wasn't smart. He didn't do much investigating. He didn't break any big stories. He did little to move the plot along. The show could have worked just fine without him. I actually cheered when he died at the end, glad he wouldn't be returning.

Wilson Fisk. While the character was interesting and showed a lot of interesting backstory and emotion, he was portrayed as an emotionally damaged man controlled by his feelings and not his brain. He was his own worst enemy and did more to take down his empire than Daredevil. I never bought that he could run an empire or strategize to take over the criminal organizations in the city. And his sudden shift from good samaritan to thief along the road seemed contrived. He was much more interesting before we saw him. And his whole romance never made sense. We never saw why he was interested in Vanessa or her in him.

The Red Suit. While I appreciate the red suit made an appearance and Daredevil did more than just pose in it on a rooftop as the last scene, I was hoping they would introduce it earlier in the series so we could see him do more in it. That is until I saw it. It was a strange design with a really ugly mask that doesn't change the shape of Charlie Cox's head enough to make you believe it could hide his identity. The Ben Affleck suit form the movie was really a good look that was both true to the comic book and made sense in a practical world being based on biker gear. They should have stuck more closely to it.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

While I thoroughly enjoyed the show, this is not at all the approach I would have taken with the series. I would have preferred a different art style. While I think Alex Maleev is a talented artist, I just don't dig his style. His run on Daredevil was my least favorite artistically. I would have preferred less yellow and more noir in the vein of Frank Miller's run or even John Romita Jr.'s style. And the casting was not at all how I imagine the characters, but they still made for an enjoyable ensemble.

Overall

Overall, I loved this series. It had me hooked from the first minute and didn't let me go until the last. I had originally planned to watch it over three days, but once I started I couldn't stop. The characters, the story, the acting, the action, the tight plot, and the faithfulness to the comics made this a true classic. I highly recommend this series and give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 remotes.