For the past week, my Facebook feed has had at least one article a day slagging on Iron Fist.
I am so sorry to add to that chorus. You're probably tired about hearing about it then. But because I still feel like ranting . . . You know how you've said before that 90% of anything is crap and that you have to really like something for the crap to be enjoyable? Martial arts films, like westerns, really fall into that category, but there certain hard to quantify elements that make them enjoyable. For instance, I haven't seen many Shaw Brothers films, but the ones I have seen, I've enjoyed thoroughly. However I'm probably the only one in my meat space social circle that even knows what Shaw Brothers films are and I wouldn't have anyone to recommend them to because I don't think anyone would really appreciate them. My problem with Iron Fist is that it doesn't have any unspeakable elements that make it likeable, so when it fails at even the basic essentials, it's a huge disappointment. The plot is bad. The acting is sub par. The pacing is off, on and on. As I said, as far as high budget martial arts endeavors are concerned, it's embarassingly subpar, to the point where something on Youtube like Sockbaby or Slug Street Scrappers feels better executed (and no, those aren't all that great either, but for what they are, they're satisfying). It really is a huge disappointment and I've been looking forward to it since it was first announced.
http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/19/14961738/iron-fist-marvel-review http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/15/14919546/iron-first-marvel-reviews-finn-jones I am currently working on a movie that is every bit as bad as The Room but with none of the charm. It is bad across all aspects - bad acting, bad editing, bad sound, bad framing, bad dialogue, bad pacing, bad plot, bad action. Bad movies can be good - A friend just sent me some leftover posters from Birdemic 2 even though apparently I was the only person to get paid on it - but there has to be... I dunno. An earnestness. A sense that there's effort. This is, I believe, what makes outsider art "art" - that the creator has put something of themselves in it. The film I'm currently working on is an overly cautious, cynical take on filmmaking.
Ha! I was actually gonna say in my original rant that I remember better fight scenes from Power Rangers when I was growing up, but I thought that was too mean. Now I regret not saying it. After reading the Finn Jones review, it sounds like maybe everything else aside, the show creators were trying to play things safe and that took a lot of life out of the thing. Which really seems to mesh with what you're saying. Being a competent creator is only half the formula. If there's not a sense of soul to what you're creating, you're gonna come up short. Also, now that you mention it, Shaw Brother films totally feel like outsider art.The fights here look generic, to the point where if you told me they were actually footage from the ’90s Power Rangers series, I would believe you.