Returning to Harlem after his encounter with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) is trying to live a quiet life, laying low and leaving his powers unused. But when the ruthless club owner Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes (Mahershala Ali) starts to expand his business, and the people of Harlem start to suffer as a result, Cage realizes that he finally might have to put his abilities to use to protect his new home.
Luke Cage is the latest of the Netflix-based shows taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As I found Luke Cage's character to be the highlight of Jessica Jones, I was very excited to see him have his own series. The Luke Cage character in the comics is also a very interesting one, and it's well past time for him to be given a live-action role. With the Netflix shows being as consistently strong as they have been, I couldn't wait to see how Luke Cage's story would unfold.
Luke Cage is by no means a bad show, but I think it's the weakest of the Marvel Netflix shows so far. The biggest setback for the series is its length; there's absolutely no need for the season to be 13 episodes long. Stranger Things proved that a comparatively shorter run of episodes works very effectively for a TV series, and if Luke Cage had been shorter, I think it would have been much better. As it stands, it doesn't really feel like a full season; it feels like a season with a few more episodes stapled onto the end.
The greatest strength of the show is the actors, without a doubt. Luke Cage is a showcase for fantastic acting talent, and talent that I hope to see much more of in the future. Mike Colter once again excels as Luke Cage, although I didn't find his character quite as compelling as he was in Jessica Jones. He did have a lot more opportunities to show more versatility in his acting, including humour and some real dramatic moments, and he sold it all very well. How they explored Luke's backstory was also interesting, as it was much different than what I expected, and added a new layer of tragedy to Cage's character. The supporting cast around him were very well fleshed out, and they all felt very real. Even scenes where characters were just sitting around and talking about sports were very entertaining, because it all felt so natural and fun.
The villains were much more interesting characters. Mahershela Ali excelled as Cottonmouth, delivering yet another fantastically layered villain to the Netflix universe. His cousin Mariah, played by Alfre Woodard, had a much more recognizable arc over the course of the season. The season was essentially telling a supervillain origin story in the background with Mariah, and it was very well-paced. My favourite character of them all was Shades, played by Theo Rossi. I'm not quite sure why, maybe it was because Rossi was just acting the hell out of every scene, but his character was just a joy to watch. The worst of the villains was the one who ultimately turned out to be the most important; Diamondback, played by Erik LaRay Harvey. A character who was built up over the entire season turned out to be an over-the-top crazy guy who just wanted revenge for poorly developed and clichéd reasons. They even threw in some religious ranting, so we know he's really craaAaAAaazy. It was just a big letdown to end the season on, and he's the biggest indicator of how the season gets a bit worse as it goes on.
The most distinct aspect of Luke Cage is its style. The music and the camerawork felt different from the other Marvel Netflix shows, and helped the show to develop its own identity. Harlem has a real, palpable cultural identity, which is greatly helped by the lack of racial stereotypes. There's a musical guest every episode, and integrating the music into the story in such a natural way was a great idea. Method Man even had an extended cameo and did a freestyle Luke Cage rap, and moments like that show how much fun the creators were having. The world of Luke Cage is very diverse, and that was a welcome addition to the Marvel Universe. The world also had a very recognizable feeling of history to it; even though we don't get all of the backstory of every character, it feels like we know much more than we see. Since the world feels so lived-in, learning more details was always a welcome development.
Although, something that struck me as odd was how often the "n-word" was said, and yet these characters still refuse to say "fuck". Especially with this show, where the villains go on multiple rants, and there's lots of other cursing all over the place, that "f-line" remains uncrossed. It's not a big deal, it just struck me as strange.
The action scenes are an enormous flaw in the show. Good fight choreography isn't really the point of the show, but the action scenes ranged from average to cringeworthy. The action in general is meant to be simplistic, because Luke Cage can essentially just walk through a crowd of people without getting a scratch on him. Even so, the fighting was generally clunky, poorly filmed, and just not very interesting. There was some decent stuntwork every now and again, but it was overall pretty bad.
The story of the season was interesting, but strangely never seemed to actually go anywhere. There were goals set in place for certain characters, but most of them were never resolved properly, or just dropped for the sake of adding new characters and new plotlines. The season felt like it ended about halfway through, and then it went on a completely different (and inferior) path. That tonal shift halfway through is probably why the back half of the season felt almost like an afterthought. It was a very layered plot, and I will give the show credit for balancing everything really well. It accomplished the rare task of making a police procedural plot very compelling, and both the heroes and villains were given lots of time for development. But even all that good stuff can't override the overall disjointed structure of the season.
Like any Marvel property, there were multiple references to the larger, interconnected world of the MCU. It was nice to see Claire Temple, the most recognizable recurring character in the Netflix shows, pop up in this show. She had a lot more to do than ever before, and Rosario Dawson is a great actress, so she deserved more time to flesh out Claire. There was also a very cool recurring joke, where someone was selling bootleg footage of the Chitauri Invasion on the streets. Little details like that help make the Netflix shows feel more connected to the larger universe. At the same time, those connections are getting less and less important, to the point where this show could probably exist outside of the MCU if they wanted it to. The increasingly fraught relationship between Marvel films and TV is probably to blame for that. A notable example of that relationship's status is Alfre Woodard being cast in both Captain America: Civil War and Luke Cage as two separate characters, and the creative teams behind both projects having no idea. As hilarious as that is, it kind of worries me, because maybe this universe isn't as airtight as we all thought. The superhero bubble has to pop some time, and the bigger and more complicated the world gets, the bigger the risk of it all collapsing.
But the larger possibility of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe collapsing doesn't really mater right now. For now, Luke Cage was a solid show that by no means brings down the quality of the Marvel Netflix world. If anything, the increasing diversity and variety of the world improves it, and even if the writing dipped in quality every now and again, I was consistently engaged in what was happening. I would like to see more of Harlem, and these characters, and I don't know how soon I'll get that. I am looking forward to seeing how Luke Cage factors into the Defenders, and what villains he'll face off against next. For now, I'm happy with Luke Cage; it was nothing special, but it worked just fine.
I still can't wait for Iron Fist, though.
Luke Cage is the latest of the Netflix-based shows taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As I found Luke Cage's character to be the highlight of Jessica Jones, I was very excited to see him have his own series. The Luke Cage character in the comics is also a very interesting one, and it's well past time for him to be given a live-action role. With the Netflix shows being as consistently strong as they have been, I couldn't wait to see how Luke Cage's story would unfold.
Luke Cage is by no means a bad show, but I think it's the weakest of the Marvel Netflix shows so far. The biggest setback for the series is its length; there's absolutely no need for the season to be 13 episodes long. Stranger Things proved that a comparatively shorter run of episodes works very effectively for a TV series, and if Luke Cage had been shorter, I think it would have been much better. As it stands, it doesn't really feel like a full season; it feels like a season with a few more episodes stapled onto the end.
The greatest strength of the show is the actors, without a doubt. Luke Cage is a showcase for fantastic acting talent, and talent that I hope to see much more of in the future. Mike Colter once again excels as Luke Cage, although I didn't find his character quite as compelling as he was in Jessica Jones. He did have a lot more opportunities to show more versatility in his acting, including humour and some real dramatic moments, and he sold it all very well. How they explored Luke's backstory was also interesting, as it was much different than what I expected, and added a new layer of tragedy to Cage's character. The supporting cast around him were very well fleshed out, and they all felt very real. Even scenes where characters were just sitting around and talking about sports were very entertaining, because it all felt so natural and fun.
The villains were much more interesting characters. Mahershela Ali excelled as Cottonmouth, delivering yet another fantastically layered villain to the Netflix universe. His cousin Mariah, played by Alfre Woodard, had a much more recognizable arc over the course of the season. The season was essentially telling a supervillain origin story in the background with Mariah, and it was very well-paced. My favourite character of them all was Shades, played by Theo Rossi. I'm not quite sure why, maybe it was because Rossi was just acting the hell out of every scene, but his character was just a joy to watch. The worst of the villains was the one who ultimately turned out to be the most important; Diamondback, played by Erik LaRay Harvey. A character who was built up over the entire season turned out to be an over-the-top crazy guy who just wanted revenge for poorly developed and clichéd reasons. They even threw in some religious ranting, so we know he's really craaAaAAaazy. It was just a big letdown to end the season on, and he's the biggest indicator of how the season gets a bit worse as it goes on.
The most distinct aspect of Luke Cage is its style. The music and the camerawork felt different from the other Marvel Netflix shows, and helped the show to develop its own identity. Harlem has a real, palpable cultural identity, which is greatly helped by the lack of racial stereotypes. There's a musical guest every episode, and integrating the music into the story in such a natural way was a great idea. Method Man even had an extended cameo and did a freestyle Luke Cage rap, and moments like that show how much fun the creators were having. The world of Luke Cage is very diverse, and that was a welcome addition to the Marvel Universe. The world also had a very recognizable feeling of history to it; even though we don't get all of the backstory of every character, it feels like we know much more than we see. Since the world feels so lived-in, learning more details was always a welcome development.
Although, something that struck me as odd was how often the "n-word" was said, and yet these characters still refuse to say "fuck". Especially with this show, where the villains go on multiple rants, and there's lots of other cursing all over the place, that "f-line" remains uncrossed. It's not a big deal, it just struck me as strange.
The action scenes are an enormous flaw in the show. Good fight choreography isn't really the point of the show, but the action scenes ranged from average to cringeworthy. The action in general is meant to be simplistic, because Luke Cage can essentially just walk through a crowd of people without getting a scratch on him. Even so, the fighting was generally clunky, poorly filmed, and just not very interesting. There was some decent stuntwork every now and again, but it was overall pretty bad.
The story of the season was interesting, but strangely never seemed to actually go anywhere. There were goals set in place for certain characters, but most of them were never resolved properly, or just dropped for the sake of adding new characters and new plotlines. The season felt like it ended about halfway through, and then it went on a completely different (and inferior) path. That tonal shift halfway through is probably why the back half of the season felt almost like an afterthought. It was a very layered plot, and I will give the show credit for balancing everything really well. It accomplished the rare task of making a police procedural plot very compelling, and both the heroes and villains were given lots of time for development. But even all that good stuff can't override the overall disjointed structure of the season.
Like any Marvel property, there were multiple references to the larger, interconnected world of the MCU. It was nice to see Claire Temple, the most recognizable recurring character in the Netflix shows, pop up in this show. She had a lot more to do than ever before, and Rosario Dawson is a great actress, so she deserved more time to flesh out Claire. There was also a very cool recurring joke, where someone was selling bootleg footage of the Chitauri Invasion on the streets. Little details like that help make the Netflix shows feel more connected to the larger universe. At the same time, those connections are getting less and less important, to the point where this show could probably exist outside of the MCU if they wanted it to. The increasingly fraught relationship between Marvel films and TV is probably to blame for that. A notable example of that relationship's status is Alfre Woodard being cast in both Captain America: Civil War and Luke Cage as two separate characters, and the creative teams behind both projects having no idea. As hilarious as that is, it kind of worries me, because maybe this universe isn't as airtight as we all thought. The superhero bubble has to pop some time, and the bigger and more complicated the world gets, the bigger the risk of it all collapsing.
But the larger possibility of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe collapsing doesn't really mater right now. For now, Luke Cage was a solid show that by no means brings down the quality of the Marvel Netflix world. If anything, the increasing diversity and variety of the world improves it, and even if the writing dipped in quality every now and again, I was consistently engaged in what was happening. I would like to see more of Harlem, and these characters, and I don't know how soon I'll get that. I am looking forward to seeing how Luke Cage factors into the Defenders, and what villains he'll face off against next. For now, I'm happy with Luke Cage; it was nothing special, but it worked just fine.
I still can't wait for Iron Fist, though.
Comments
Post a Comment