Iron Fist Season 1 Review

Iron Fist's season 1 is not a martial arts epic and that's not a terrible thing. It's a glowing character driven crime drama series about a man returning home and struggling to find his place in the world.

In October 2013 when the 60 episode Defenders deal that Marvel struck with Netflix, it was announced that a 13 episode season of Iron Fist would be included in that deal. On March 17th 2017, all 13 episodes were released on the world.
The season is the story of Danny Rand (Finn Jones) who returns home after 15 years and discovers he's believed to have died. If that is not bad enough, he has to prove who he is to the people he thought would recognise him and welcome him home. Danny finds it difficult as he learns that just because you call people friends doesn't mean they're trusted. Danny has the ancient power the iron fist bestowed upon him that aids his martial arts capabilities and is allegedly the sworn enemy known as The Hand (previously seen on the Daredevil series). His return home to New York is not a pleasant experience for those he encounters as he discovers The Hand plays a bigger part in his life and brings danger upon those around him.
The show has the theme of social status which plays a large part in the story and is topical to today's political climate. It depicts how society is stuck in a world revolving around money and self gain and the negativity of such values. It is also about not fitting in and the problems of fitting in when you're not considered a social norm. The relevance in those themes are not touched on very often and that could be because production companies fit to the corporate world or that these topics would rather be acknowledged but nevertheless they will always be topical.
The season starts steady, slows down just after halfway while building suspense and developing peoples motives. Then picks back up to a steady pace again 4 episodes from the end before the momentum builds into a runaway train for the final 2. Being character driven instead of action driven may seem strange to those expecting high levels of martial art action but it is the best way to develop Rand's character as he has to adapt to a world that has changed while he's been gone (for reasons I won't spoil for those not in the know). The amount of characters to introduce and develop to tell this crime story just wouldn't work as a martial arts epic.
The characters introduced are all  more layered than Rand giving us a sense we're experiencing the events from Rand's perspective. Rand is a rather complex character himself, he's lost his parents as a child and has been away from home for 15 years and while away from home he's being training to be a warrior to harness the power of the iron fist. All of the other characters challenge Rand's trust and his faith in humanity. He encounters people who are criminals, teachers, business people, and friends from his childhood and they all teach him some of life's important questions.
Choreography in the show is gentle and fluid and less brutal and violent than what we've seen in Daredevil. The choreographers and stunt team have done well at depicting a contrast of violence with a gentle look but it aids in revealing Rand's character as much as words.
The visual effects of the power of the iron fist are simple and effective. It is not a cheap looking piece of imposed visuals from a B movie nor is it over the top big Hollywood flashy imagery. It is a rather realistic adaption from how the power is depicted in the comics. The show also contains a rather unique piece of visual effects when Rand suffers a flash back scene that is a sharp intense flash with a slight overlay of the flashback fragmented. This really works well in revealing how sharp and powerful this feels for Rand.
The quality of production and performances on Iron Fist is no less than the previous Marvel Netflix shows and the amount of negative reviews that it has received are unwarranted. I believe the bad reviews Iron Fist has received are for two reasons. Firstly, Iron Fist has a similar structure and narrative of the previous Netflix Marvel shows and critics are now grown bored of it. Or secondly they had expectations of martial arts epics like The Raid and when in actuality it's more like Kill Bill.
Iron Fist is an intense character driven drama featuring crime, fluid fight scenes and an inviting score. I look forward to more of his character in the upcoming series  The defenders (slated for release later this year).

Mr. Cynic Rates this 8.5/10