Uh-oh! I expected this to be much better!
I am going to split my review into two: The No-Spoiler section & the spoiler section, considering the fact that it hasn't been many days since it has released on Netflix. So everyone can read :)
THE NO-SPOILER Part:
The Defenders is like your street-level Avengers, where all the main Marvel Netflix characters - Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage & Iron Fist team up. I was so excited for this series ever since they announced this Marvel-Netflix show, and even more after seeing each of the characters' individual shows (excluding Iron Fist, coz if one had read my Review on Iron Fist, they'd know how much I hated it). The very fact that these completely different, complex and interesting "superheroes" would team up to fight some crazy, evil villain, was a long wait I couldn't bear.
This show has some good moments, but it also left me very disappointed in some aspects. I liked how in the beginning they took some time and showed us where each of the characters were, after we last saw them in their own shows. All this run-time set up a dark atmosphere, which I thought is best suited for the Marvel Netflix series (Proof: Daredevil). I felt it was necessary, to know how or what exactly made these 4 characters unite, how each had a different purpose, and how each of their stories interlink and come together. And oh yes their initial meet-up scenes were awesome! The diner scene was pretty rad!
Each of the interactions got me so pumped, as I was so waiting for all of them to meet, as there was hardly any mention of one in another's show before this. Matt & Jessica had some good interactions between them. The snarky comments made by Jessica on Matt's suit, the back-and-forth banter and "the what now?" remarks and interactions between Luke Cage & Iron Fist, was hilarious. It was interesting how in the beginning any of them weren't that getting along, as these are 4 completely different people with different intentions that came together. As they got along more, you also sensed a good spirit of team work between them. You'd appreciate all this only if you've SEEN EACH OF THE INDIVIDUAL SHOWS! Otherwise, it won't have the impact on you, as much as it would after you've watched them (Sadly, yes even Iron Fist, for the Colleen-Dany related scenes)
While this was going on, you were getting some good interactions between some of the other supporting cast of the previous shows such as Trish, Karen, Foggy, Claire and Colleen, and also some mildly interesting set-up on the villains (not spoiling here who they are in case people are waiting to even see who could the villain even be that makes all these unite together, as I was like that. More in the spoiler section.)
Till this, it was fun. The enthusiasm in me couldn't wait for more. I was smiling like some crazy fellow throughout all these scenes! Haha.
The action scenes are good overall, although some were shot in the dark, and felt very hazy and weird. The hallway fight scene though, Wow! Not as good as the 2 we got in Daredevil, but that was where it felt as if my dream of what I'd imagined how they'd fight if these 4 would team up was showcased. Best scene in this show! Well shot, action packed, and gave everyone enough things to do.!
I also loved the show's use of colour, how each character had a dominant colour in each of their scenes. I noticed how more music/BGM was used in this show, which felt kinda out of place at times, but otherwise it was fine. The intro was kinda catchy too.
All 4 of our protagonists were almost given equal screentime, and some were done proper justice:
a. Matt was deciding on which life he really likes, and once again his internal conflicts, stuff like how he yearned for the life as 'Daredevil', even though he also wanted to save the city as a lawyer, was portrayed brilliantly like how it was in Daredevil Season 1 & 2. Charlie Cox did a fine job here too.
b. Jessica Jones, though I didn't like her show, was a bit better here. Apart from that shows' faults, her "I don't care about anything" attitude didn't let me have an emotional attachment to her character in that show. Here, her investigation skills, her dialogue and in general as a character were done much better. It was so clear how she didn't want any part of all this, and it makes sense, as I had no idea how they'd fit her into all this. They also showed her powers a bit more here.
c. Luke Cage, felt a little out of place for the most part. His character is like that, as only Matt & Danny know about all the stuff related to the villains. All he cared about was saving that Cole kid's life. His good-natured, helping attitude got tested in quite a few occasions, and he was ok as Mr. Bulletproof in this. He did seem a little underpowered here though?
d. And wow the biggest surprise of all, Iron Fist was actually OK in this series!!!!! Woah, can you believe that? No more corporate boardroom shit, no more sloppy fight sequences, and as a character and actor he was more tolerable here, as he was given something more to do. He was able to bounce off of other characters. Any scene or whatever Danny did here was much much better than what we saw in that Iron Fist show. He also had some good "fist" scenes. It was pretty shocking, considering what we'd seen there.
e. Special mention goes to Stick, who is such a badass, as always! It was soo much fun whenever he's on screen. All credits go to Scott Glenn, for his role as Stick. Oh and must mention Colleen Wing too. Her character is slowly growing on me.
Now comes the disappointing part. Like really really disappointing. The villains! Oh boy. All talk, and no show! They are not menacing, powerful and complex they were in Daredevil like Wilson Fisk, or say Kilgrave in JJ. They keep talking and building up about what they are gonna do. But nothing seems to be at stake here! Their plan seemed to be so intimidating at first, considering what we've been hearing so far. Was really disappointed that the Defenders were fighting, after all, these guys.
I hear Signorney Weaver is a big actress. Truth be told, I haven't watched any of her movies, and here I didn't understand why they kept her character so "mysterious" and all. Her character was quite good at first, but then it wasn't that great by the end. (I'll talk more about all this in the Spoiler section below)
THE "SPOILER" PART:
Let's delve into some spoilers.
First, the good.
Stick had some seriously badass moments here. The way he coolly cut his own hand to escape from the "Hand" (Get it? No? Ok :/) , when he just cut that guy's head off coz he was talking too much, classic Stick! Felt very sad when he died! Will definitely miss him a lot!
Ok so the villain is no one but the Hand. Yes, you might think "Oh no. They were really intimidating and menacing in Daredevil, and became some dumbed down college-student ninja-kiddos type in Iron Fist. Why again?".
Well, I asked myself that. But then I thought, it made sense, coz apparently this is the end of "Phase 1" of the Netflix-Marvel series. So that means, if all 4 of these guys are gonna team up against this already familiar villain, for whom soooo much build-up was given all throughout Daredevil and Iron Fist, would come out here as bigger, badder, more menacing and dangerous than before, right, RIGHT?
Well no. Not at all. You see the head honcho, Alexandra, played by Sigourney Weaver. At first she was intriguing. Her dialogue, and acting as the leader, was good, and her character seemed to be having some depth in it. And then they started to show how vulnerable she was, a lot. Granted, that shows some more insight into her, and some scenes where there was internal conflict amongst the members of the Hand was good, but then she just gets killed off! The point to be noted here is that, it didn't add any impact to the latter episodes and the finale! Why, just why for this keep her character "mysterious"? She was just making speeches, talking about how she believes in the "Black Sky". There was never a reason to fear her!
Throughout this season, there was only lots of talk talk and talk about how the city will crumble. They did start with some interesting things like earthquakes, but by the end, the stakes weren't as high as earlier! The dark environment set up through cases taken up by Jessica & Luke, the things they said they would do, never really happened. It would've made more sense if these 4 teamed up for a much more intimidating villain. The Hand were defeated so easily in this man. Seemed like a bunch of amateur goons. Probably could've at least used a few more extras, for our heroes to fight. All that buildup all this while for something so lacklustre. Not like what we saw in Daredevil Season 2!
(On a side note, when I learnt what Madame Gao could actually do, I just went "Woahhhh". A cool moment, in my opinion.)
Elektra just didn't sell me as a villain. She was an interesting sidekick, while with Daredevil in Season 2 of that show, but her becoming the big bad was... eh.
And the whole Matt dying fake-out in the finale.... Writers. Listen up. When everyone already knows there is gonna be a Daredevil Season 3, and that there's no way in hell Marvel is gonna kill off its best show/character in this Netflix universe, you know he's not gonna die. That kinda dragged down the finale for me. Seemed pointless. Probably I'm being too nitpicky, but whatever.
(SPOILERS END)
In the end, Defenders is a show that delivered almost everything you expected with our 4 heroes (and the supporting characters from each of their shows) when they'd meet up, but messed up pretty bad with the villains. Overall, it's a fun show to watch, but could've been done much better.
My rating 6.5/10
What did you guys think of this show? What did you folks think of my review? Did I miss out anything? Do you agree/disagree with me on anything?
Comment below, and let me know!
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I am going to split my review into two: The No-Spoiler section & the spoiler section, considering the fact that it hasn't been many days since it has released on Netflix. So everyone can read :)
THE NO-SPOILER Part:
The Defenders is like your street-level Avengers, where all the main Marvel Netflix characters - Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage & Iron Fist team up. I was so excited for this series ever since they announced this Marvel-Netflix show, and even more after seeing each of the characters' individual shows (excluding Iron Fist, coz if one had read my Review on Iron Fist, they'd know how much I hated it). The very fact that these completely different, complex and interesting "superheroes" would team up to fight some crazy, evil villain, was a long wait I couldn't bear.
This show has some good moments, but it also left me very disappointed in some aspects. I liked how in the beginning they took some time and showed us where each of the characters were, after we last saw them in their own shows. All this run-time set up a dark atmosphere, which I thought is best suited for the Marvel Netflix series (Proof: Daredevil). I felt it was necessary, to know how or what exactly made these 4 characters unite, how each had a different purpose, and how each of their stories interlink and come together. And oh yes their initial meet-up scenes were awesome! The diner scene was pretty rad!
Each of the interactions got me so pumped, as I was so waiting for all of them to meet, as there was hardly any mention of one in another's show before this. Matt & Jessica had some good interactions between them. The snarky comments made by Jessica on Matt's suit, the back-and-forth banter and "the what now?" remarks and interactions between Luke Cage & Iron Fist, was hilarious. It was interesting how in the beginning any of them weren't that getting along, as these are 4 completely different people with different intentions that came together. As they got along more, you also sensed a good spirit of team work between them. You'd appreciate all this only if you've SEEN EACH OF THE INDIVIDUAL SHOWS! Otherwise, it won't have the impact on you, as much as it would after you've watched them (Sadly, yes even Iron Fist, for the Colleen-Dany related scenes)
While this was going on, you were getting some good interactions between some of the other supporting cast of the previous shows such as Trish, Karen, Foggy, Claire and Colleen, and also some mildly interesting set-up on the villains (not spoiling here who they are in case people are waiting to even see who could the villain even be that makes all these unite together, as I was like that. More in the spoiler section.)
Till this, it was fun. The enthusiasm in me couldn't wait for more. I was smiling like some crazy fellow throughout all these scenes! Haha.
The action scenes are good overall, although some were shot in the dark, and felt very hazy and weird. The hallway fight scene though, Wow! Not as good as the 2 we got in Daredevil, but that was where it felt as if my dream of what I'd imagined how they'd fight if these 4 would team up was showcased. Best scene in this show! Well shot, action packed, and gave everyone enough things to do.!
I also loved the show's use of colour, how each character had a dominant colour in each of their scenes. I noticed how more music/BGM was used in this show, which felt kinda out of place at times, but otherwise it was fine. The intro was kinda catchy too.
All 4 of our protagonists were almost given equal screentime, and some were done proper justice:
a. Matt was deciding on which life he really likes, and once again his internal conflicts, stuff like how he yearned for the life as 'Daredevil', even though he also wanted to save the city as a lawyer, was portrayed brilliantly like how it was in Daredevil Season 1 & 2. Charlie Cox did a fine job here too.
b. Jessica Jones, though I didn't like her show, was a bit better here. Apart from that shows' faults, her "I don't care about anything" attitude didn't let me have an emotional attachment to her character in that show. Here, her investigation skills, her dialogue and in general as a character were done much better. It was so clear how she didn't want any part of all this, and it makes sense, as I had no idea how they'd fit her into all this. They also showed her powers a bit more here.
c. Luke Cage, felt a little out of place for the most part. His character is like that, as only Matt & Danny know about all the stuff related to the villains. All he cared about was saving that Cole kid's life. His good-natured, helping attitude got tested in quite a few occasions, and he was ok as Mr. Bulletproof in this. He did seem a little underpowered here though?
d. And wow the biggest surprise of all, Iron Fist was actually OK in this series!!!!! Woah, can you believe that? No more corporate boardroom shit, no more sloppy fight sequences, and as a character and actor he was more tolerable here, as he was given something more to do. He was able to bounce off of other characters. Any scene or whatever Danny did here was much much better than what we saw in that Iron Fist show. He also had some good "fist" scenes. It was pretty shocking, considering what we'd seen there.
e. Special mention goes to Stick, who is such a badass, as always! It was soo much fun whenever he's on screen. All credits go to Scott Glenn, for his role as Stick. Oh and must mention Colleen Wing too. Her character is slowly growing on me.
Now comes the disappointing part. Like really really disappointing. The villains! Oh boy. All talk, and no show! They are not menacing, powerful and complex they were in Daredevil like Wilson Fisk, or say Kilgrave in JJ. They keep talking and building up about what they are gonna do. But nothing seems to be at stake here! Their plan seemed to be so intimidating at first, considering what we've been hearing so far. Was really disappointed that the Defenders were fighting, after all, these guys.
I hear Signorney Weaver is a big actress. Truth be told, I haven't watched any of her movies, and here I didn't understand why they kept her character so "mysterious" and all. Her character was quite good at first, but then it wasn't that great by the end. (I'll talk more about all this in the Spoiler section below)
THE "SPOILER" PART:
Let's delve into some spoilers.
First, the good.
Stick had some seriously badass moments here. The way he coolly cut his own hand to escape from the "Hand" (Get it? No? Ok :/) , when he just cut that guy's head off coz he was talking too much, classic Stick! Felt very sad when he died! Will definitely miss him a lot!
Well, I asked myself that. But then I thought, it made sense, coz apparently this is the end of "Phase 1" of the Netflix-Marvel series. So that means, if all 4 of these guys are gonna team up against this already familiar villain, for whom soooo much build-up was given all throughout Daredevil and Iron Fist, would come out here as bigger, badder, more menacing and dangerous than before, right, RIGHT?
Well no. Not at all. You see the head honcho, Alexandra, played by Sigourney Weaver. At first she was intriguing. Her dialogue, and acting as the leader, was good, and her character seemed to be having some depth in it. And then they started to show how vulnerable she was, a lot. Granted, that shows some more insight into her, and some scenes where there was internal conflict amongst the members of the Hand was good, but then she just gets killed off! The point to be noted here is that, it didn't add any impact to the latter episodes and the finale! Why, just why for this keep her character "mysterious"? She was just making speeches, talking about how she believes in the "Black Sky". There was never a reason to fear her!
Throughout this season, there was only lots of talk talk and talk about how the city will crumble. They did start with some interesting things like earthquakes, but by the end, the stakes weren't as high as earlier! The dark environment set up through cases taken up by Jessica & Luke, the things they said they would do, never really happened. It would've made more sense if these 4 teamed up for a much more intimidating villain. The Hand were defeated so easily in this man. Seemed like a bunch of amateur goons. Probably could've at least used a few more extras, for our heroes to fight. All that buildup all this while for something so lacklustre. Not like what we saw in Daredevil Season 2!
(On a side note, when I learnt what Madame Gao could actually do, I just went "Woahhhh". A cool moment, in my opinion.)
Elektra just didn't sell me as a villain. She was an interesting sidekick, while with Daredevil in Season 2 of that show, but her becoming the big bad was... eh.
And the whole Matt dying fake-out in the finale.... Writers. Listen up. When everyone already knows there is gonna be a Daredevil Season 3, and that there's no way in hell Marvel is gonna kill off its best show/character in this Netflix universe, you know he's not gonna die. That kinda dragged down the finale for me. Seemed pointless. Probably I'm being too nitpicky, but whatever.
(SPOILERS END)
In the end, Defenders is a show that delivered almost everything you expected with our 4 heroes (and the supporting characters from each of their shows) when they'd meet up, but messed up pretty bad with the villains. Overall, it's a fun show to watch, but could've been done much better.
My rating 6.5/10
What did you guys think of this show? What did you folks think of my review? Did I miss out anything? Do you agree/disagree with me on anything?
Comment below, and let me know!
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Nice review
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteBro! Do a review for the ultimate tv show "breaking bad" as soon as possible
ReplyDeleteHi. Sorry bro. Don't have time. I watched it soo long ago, so don't remember most of it!
DeleteNo problem bro
Delete