Iron Fist hit Netflix on March 17, and like many fans, we started watching the show over the weekend and then slowly wrapped up all 13 episodes over the week. In our review based on preview episodes where we saw about half of the season, we called it a confusing mess of appropriation and poor storytelling.
We are not alone. On review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, Iron Fist has an 18% approval rating among critics – of the 50 who reviewed the season, 41 disliked it and the average rating is 4.2 out of 10.
“Regular” viewers, however, paint a different picture. Over 80 percent liked the show with an average rating of 4.1 out of 5, with nearly 7,000 votes. And for what it’s worth, on Netflix the show currently has a 3-star rating, though that may change as more people vote, and the rating system itself won’t last long.
We’ve heard critics dismiss viewers who liked the show as “fanboys,” while Iron Fist star Finn Jones said critics didn’t get the show. Now, that’s nothing new – insanely boring films such as Batman v Superman (Yawn of Justice) and the dumpster fire that was Suicide Squad trotted out this defense.
The difference is that Batman v Superman did slightly better than Iron Fist among critics, with 27% of critics liking it, although only 63% of fans liked it. With 25% positive reviews, more critics also liked Suicide Squad compared to, although once again only 63% of viewers liked it. In other words, critics liked these movies more, while fans seem to like Iron Fist more.
Iron Fist isn’t a great show – but it’s certainly no worse than Batman v Superman or Suicide Squad. In fact, it’s pretty comparable to other Marvel-Netflix shows, although it might not be as good as the previous ones. This is accurately reflected in its viewership ratings – Daredevil season 1 has the highest rating at 4.6 out of 5, with 96% liking it; followed by Jessica Jones at 4.3 out of 5, and 90% linking her; Luke Cage is 4.2 out of 5 and 85%. The lowest rating for Luke Cage – despite a stellar 93% and 8.2 out of 10 from critics – is due to the fact that Luke Cage’s story made some very poor choices mid-stream, which critics didn’t haven’t seen in the preview episodes.
If the reviews are to be believed, those shows were all amazing, while Iron Fist is terrible. The truth, as the viewership scores show, is that all four shows are pretty good, but not perfect. Iron Fist’s failures as a series (compared to its siblings) are minimal, and we’d say its poor reviews are more a case of failing to manage expectations than failing to make an enjoyable series.
The thing is, with Jessica Jones and then Luke Cage, the Marvel-Netflix combination had, on the surface at least, succeeded in making shows that were progressive and tackled socially relevant issues. Against this backdrop, Mighty Whitey’s hero Iron Fist didn’t stand a chance.
Even before the show aired, its creators had to unequivocally declare that protagonist Danny Rand was not a white savior. After watching the entire season of Iron Fist, we have to dispute this statement from the showrunners. But what about claims from critics that the show’s pacing is uneven or that the fight scenes lack impact?
SPOILERS FOLLOW
Let’s talk about how we felt after watching all 13 episodes.
To some extent, those complaints are also true, but they don’t drag the season down as much as some people claim. The show is filled with interesting characters – Danny Rand is pretty boring, but doesn’t pass the screen time, thankfully – and we enjoyed just about every other performance. Ward Meachum’s character in particular starts out as a smug snake who stands in Rand’s way and over the course of the series slowly begins to lose everything he has including his mind, an arc that ends in satisfactorily at the end of the season. . This whole story is fun to watch, as is pretty much everything about his dad Harold – especially the ice cream scene with his assistant Kyle.
At the same time, we’re getting more insight into the larger world that Marvel-Netflix shows occupy as a whole, as the hand expands from what we’ve seen in Daredevil.
As for the fight scenes themselves – with the exception of Daredevil, which actually does a great job on that front, which of the Marvel-Netflix shows actually did a good job with the action? Jessica Jones gets away with it, while Luke Cage wades through the gunfire as if he’s going through a kiddie pool.
With those facts in mind, it’s pretty clear that Iron Fist didn’t deserve to be bashed by critics, and someone who’s enjoyed the other Marvel-Netflix shows will probably have fun with it, too. So in that case, forget the reviews and listen to what other viewers are saying instead.
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