BY IAN VAN ORDEN
“ I t ’ s b e e n a lo n g road
L to get back h o m e. And
th a t’ s w h a t R and is to
m e. H o m e .”
“ Iron F is t,” released
on M arch 17 as th e m ost
recent addition in the N etflix
and M arvel partnership, spends m uch o f
its season explorin g the title character’ s
stru g g le b etw ee n tw o w o rld s. D a n n y
R a n d , th e “ Iro n F is t ,” w as b o rn in to
w e a lth , bu t due; to a plan e crash w h en
he was you n g, he was le ft orphaned and
stranded in the H im alayas before being
taken in by a group o f m on ks. Trained by
th e order as a, m artial artist, he returns
to h is form er h om e in New York o nly to
discover a conspiracy within his com pany .
Rand’ s investigation into th is conspiracy
form s th e m ajor p lotlin e o f th e show .
Com p ared to its predecesso rs, “ Iron
F is t” differen tiates its e lf w ith its focus
on k un g fu and th e spirituality related to
the character’ s use o f m artial arts.
In m an y w ays, th e series fe e ls like a
M arvelized version o f a kurig fu classic,
though it falls short o f even the weakest
B ruce Lee flic k . E s p e cia lly n ear th e
beginning o f the season, m ost o f the figh t
scenes feel stiff at best.
This im proves as th e series m oves on,
w ith two scenes near th e end o f its r u n
representing truly great kung fu action (look
for the drunken boxer and the major action
sequence in episode 10). Its fa ilin g s are
strikingly noticeable when compared to the
other N etflix series. It is especially obvious
when compared to Daredevil, another series
that features a form o f martial arts.
Y et another fa ilin g o f th e series is its
pa cin g. It b egin s slow ly, w ith th e first
few episodes dedicated to introducing the
series’ various characters and co nflicts.
This would not, in itself, be a negative, as
this could have allowed for a fair am ount
o f character developm ent, but the show
instead focuses far too m u ch on Rand’ s
struggle with first regaining his share of his
fam ily’ s com pany, and then the decisions
he m akes thereafter. This also causes the
latter h alf o f the season, especially the last
three or four episodes, to feel especially
rushed, as if the writers realized that they
had left far too m any plot threads open to
untangle in the short tim e they had left.
Two especially im portant characters are
not introduced u n til th is point and they
are left underdeveloped and underutilized.
“ Iro n F is t ” re p re se n ts th e w ea kest
en fry in th e Netlix/M arvel partn ership
th us far. T h ou gh it is n ot irredeem ably
bad, w ith characters like th e retu rn in g
Claire Tem ple (the only character present
in each o f the N etflix series so far) and
H a ro ld M e a c h u m , o n e o f th e se rie s
a n ta g o n is ts , e m b o d y in g so m e o f th e
season ’ s best m o m e n ts, it does not hold
to the standard o f quality present in the
other N etflix produced series. W ith an y
lu ck , th is is a flu k e an d n ot a sign o f a
sh ift away from th e fantastic film work
present in the previous series.
NETFLIX ORIGINAL: IRON FIST
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6 Clackamas Print MAY 17,2017 thedackamasprintcom '