Skip to main content
TV reviews




Rating: 4/5
Review: "Legion TV review"

Rating: 3.8/5
Review: "Marvel's Iron Fist TV review"

The only similarity is that both TV series are based on the characters of Marvel. Each has a different treatment.

Legion may based on the superhero genre but its whimsical presentation is a rare but engaging style. Throughout its 8 episodes, the creators and directors do not bother explaining anything that does not make sense. It is akin to Christopher Nolan's inception where the reality is hard to separate from fantasy. It is a confusing but engaging way of getting the audience's attention. I admit that at times, the series veers toward the ridiculous boundary of fantasy. The style is portrayed in an indie film style. Small and intimate. There is a slow start before unleashing a torrent of emotions and stunning visuals from episode 4 onward. For a TV series, the visual treatment is definitely amazing. It draws your eyes to the screen. There is just 1 thing I don't get is that the ratio aspect changes from time to time. At first, I thought it only changes during flashbacks. However it is applied to present scenes too. It is a little disorientating but it is a minor flaw.

The characters are not presented as a perfect role models. The main character is facing lots of problems. His character's development is one of most problematic development in a superhero genre. Yet it is effective as once it reaches the last episode, you can't help but cheer for him. The character is brought alive by some great acting. The rest of characters are decent.

Legion is off to a great start for the mutants.


Marvel's Iron Fist may receive negative flak for its undercooked plot and characters and tepid fight scenes. Some called it the worst Marvel's TV series. Before I watched the first episode, I was prepared to be disappointed. However after the first episode, I was pleasantly surprised that it might not be so bad after all.

Its plot is not something worth shouting out but it just do its job by introducing the world of Danny to us. There are critisms that Danny was whitewashed. I don't really have a problem with him although his accent and acting could be better. His martial arts skills may be stiff but he tried his best. The rest of the cast fare better.

The fight scenes are not many in the whole 13 episodes season. Although the fight scenes are barely passable, there are no memorable fights. Every fight scene is stiff and lacks tension. The editing does not help much to the already stiff fights.

The pacing is decent with enough twists in the villains development. It runs a bit too long (season 1 could shave off 2-3 episodes) but overall, it is not boring.

It is a passable TV series that serves a basic introduction of Iron Fist before the anticipated The Defenders hits the small screen in August.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rating: 3.4/5 Review: "The Spirit of Ramayana" (103 minutes) "A passable Thai horror movie with an interesting concept but weak execution." As a low-budget horror movie, it has enough entertainment values. In the recent years, there are a few strong Thai horror movies with decent production values and there are many mediocre low-budget horror movies. The Spirit of Ramayana is somewhat in the middle. It may not look that polished but its themes and concept are intriguing enough. The story: The narrative is straight forward however its editing made the movie look messy and disjointed. It is a simple story about Mintra, a young dancer who is rejected for the main role because she cannot pull off an evil and sensual side. However, a spirit helps her to unleash her dark side. On paper, it sounds like a supernatural Black Swan. It lacks the emotional depth of Black Swan as the director seems only interested in churning out cheap scares. As the plot develops fur...
Rating: 3.7/5 Review: "Terminator Salvation DVD review" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is not bad. It is not the worst terminator movie, I actually thought Terminator 1 is just okay. Terminator 2 and 3 are quite entertaining followed by also entertaining Salvation. MCG, the director of Charlies' Angels, takes the directing seat and turned terminator into a dark and gritty world. As what he said, he did not want the future to be a shiny world but a dark and gritty world. He is considered to have done a great job in that and creating the realistic and cool action. But his story pretty much stays the same as his other movies, a simple mindless thrill ride. The story: The future is here and the year is 2018...John Conner is a daring man who will be willing to save people from Skynet, a evil organisation which creates Terminators. A mysterious man who is supposed to be dead suddenly finds himself in the year of...
Rating: 3.7/5 Review: "Fantastic Four movie review" "A decent gritty reboot that could have been something more than what it is now." This is Josh Trank's first big budget movie and it seems he is slightly inexperienced of directing a movie of a massive scale. Fresh from directing a small budget movie, Chronicle, it seems that he is overwhelmed by whatever happened (there are rumours that Matthew Vaughn was brought in to reshoot). Nonetheless, on the whole, the reboot is an alright movie that rehashes on the tired superhero origin. It is disappointing that it is a little shallow. I think with a longer runtime, it could benefit the characters' development and flow of the story. The story: Apparently, the writers of the film said that it does not follow any story from the source material. Instead, a new origin is created. I didn't exactly know how the original source material goes (I read a couple of Fantastic Four comic books to know the tone ...