Marvel's Iron Fist

This is easily the least compelling Marvel Netflix series so far.

Despite a very good cast and a great origin story, Iron Fist is predictable, a little hammy, and has no real sense of how to tell a cohesive story.

Marvel's Iron Fist gets off to a slow start. ... More concerning, however, is the lack of Iron Fist's signature moment. ... While it's a fun romp and stands on its own well enough, this new series is even more impressive when thought of as a bridge to a bigger world yet to come

Ultimately, Marvel’s Iron Fist feels incredibly inessential, even boring at times. It’s a show that doesn’t push for bigger themes, doesn’t seek to have its own voice beyond the Buddhist philosophy spouted by a white guy.

The biggest problems with it is pace and familiarity. It’s difficult to get a handle on Danny--an enigmatic lost rich kid with mystical powers--and parts of Iron Fist seem cribbed from other Marvel superhero tales. Jones does grow on you, especially after he begins to take on a kung-fu master persona, but there seems little special about the story or any of the characters.

Not as gritty as "Daredevil" or as cool as "Luke Cage" and "Jessica Jones," this latest component of what will be put together as "The Defenders" lands with more of a dull thud. If the Marvel-Netflix team-up has sought to assemble the Beatles of brooding brawls, think of "Iron Fist" as a notch below Ringo.

The first half of the season is just a checked box. Filler episodes are one thing, but right now Iron Fist looks like a filler season.

The sad thing, and perhaps the hopeful thing, about the dawdling featurelessness of the early episodes is that you can see a better show struggling to get out.

The show’s corporate intrigue is tedious and boring, and Danny’s business rivals are less villainous than greedy and sleazy.

Is it too late to make her [Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick)] Iron Fist? Because the current guy doesn’t have the right mettle to defend anything.

Unfortunately, the trouble with Iron Fist doesn’t end once you start actually watching the show, which like its character, is occasionally sweet, frequently maddening, and ultimately kind of lost in Marvel’s New York.

The clunky dialogue often creates the sense that the show doesn’t trust its audience. ... Everyone fights the same, and no one looks interesting doing it.

There’s a problem ... when it’s more entertaining to watch Danny strapped down on a gurney in the psych ward than it is to see him dispatch ninjas, special powers or no. Still, Iron Fist has its moments. ... Not enough to make 13 ponderous hours feel like less of a slog.

Iron Fist isn't dreadful, but it's certainly not good. There are a lot better things to watch (many on Netflix) than waste your time on this.

It feels like an afterthought, one that will require more than half a day to dismiss.

We got a show that’s so lifeless that I have no interest in finishing out the season.

What’s remarkable about Iron Fist is just how much is missing from it. There’s no visual language whatsoever, no sense of setting, no characters about whom you care (other than a little with Henwick’s Wing), no social message, zero sense of humor and no atmosphere.

Iron Fist--devoid of vision, lacking in executional chops--barely even tries. It assumes its own marvelousness and proceeds tediously from there, offering few satisfactions for any possible audience.

Iron Fist feels like a step backward on every level, a major disappointment that already suffers from storytelling issues through the first six episodes made available to critics and would probably be mercifully skippable in its entirety if it weren't the bridge into the long-awaited Defenders crossover series.