Marvel's Luke Cage

Luke Cage does an excellent job giving each of its cast members (however long they stick around) distinct personalities and memorable moments that create immediate stakes. ... But none shine as brightly as Colter.

On a writing level, Luke Cage is to be commended for keeping the plot fast-paced and lively, avoiding some of the mid-season drags that other Marvel shows have experienced. ... Acting-wise, Mike Colter proves to be a real treat.

Luke Cage is the result of a meticulous vision, and it should rightfully elevate Coker into the league of television auteurs.

It's a formula that's worked well, and it once again proves successful here. But to its credit, Marvel's Luke Cage is different then its predecessors.

Luke Cage is a breakthrough for Marvel, a provocative, socially conscious crime drama that brings a fresh perspective to the ever-crowding superhero genre.

Cage is Marvel’s best TV series yet, but more importantly he's the superhero that the world seems to need most right now, mainly because he’s the most real.

In many of its moments, it's wonderful, but it suffers from the narrative sag common not only to the previous Netflix/Marvel team-ups, but most of Netflix's attempts at the "our season is really a 13-hour movie" model. ... Still, Mike Colter is every bit the charismatic hero promised by his Jessica Jones appearances.

At times, Luke Cage feels like a series in search of a story, or a series intent on drawing one out, scene by chatty scene, over 13 episodes. (Six were available for review; I watched the first two, sampled the rest.) A cast this good, especially a Luke Cage this good, should compensate.

While the show is light on special effects, Colter (perhaps best known, before "Jessica Jones," for "The Good Wife") not only oozes charisma but manages to look like a superhero just walking around in a sweatshirt, or even (in rare moments) a jacket and tie.

This isn’t a story show, it’s a vibe show, simply told but not simplistic, confident but not overbearing. It’s a pleasure to enter this world, a pleasure to watch these magnetic actors ping-ponging the dialogue, a pleasure to watch McGuigan’s camera float through Stokes’s nightclub, a pleasure to see Colter posed against skylines like an onyx god.

Even those who are normally allergic to capes and spandex are likely to be intrigued, particularly by Colter’s simmering performance. ... The supporting cast is equally enjoyable, particularly Alfre Woodard as Mariah Stokes, Cottonmouth’s cousin and a corrupt city councilwoman, and Simone Missick as Misty Knight, a streetwise detective and Luke’s would-be love interest.

This might be the best of Marvel's Netflix shows so far.

The early episodes are so charmingly brainy and move with such a light step--Paul McGuigan of Sherlock and Scandal knows his way around a flashy pilot--and the cinematography is so stylish--not surprisingly, everybody loves photographing Mike Colter--that you only sometimes realize that the things you expect to get out of a superhero show are largely missing.

Luke Cage is not a quick binge, but there’s something to appreciate in its 1970s noir-influenced pacing. As slow burns go, this one rewards patient viewing.

At times, Luke Cage feels so concerned with urban problems, it's as if Marvel met "The Wire," an impression helped by an excellent cast.

A wildly charismatic performance by star Mike Colter and solid work from the rest of the show’s cast are usually enough to power this addition to the Marvel TV universe through its rough spots, which include a somewhat clunky pilot and a notable tendency to sprawl (a common trait among streaming and pay-cable dramas, and not just in the superhero realm).

The most interesting aspect of Luke Cage, at least early on, is the sheer volume of its artistic and cultural references. ... Savor those details--maybe even put together some reading and Spotify playlists while you’re at it--and hang on until the fourth episode, which finally delves into Luke’s prison-based origin story. The show begins to pick up energy at this point,

Luke Cage succeeds where so many Marvel ventures have failed in finding a unique, if not perfect, pitch between seeing the hero at its center as an icon for social good and understanding him as a human being, and it's important that the writers don't ignore or sublimate the fact that he's also African American.

Colter’s performance is more than strong enough to keep the focus on Luke Cage. The performance is so powerful we don’t even care that the basic plot has been recycled from hundreds of comic books. The rest of the cast delivers as well.

So far so good. ... A show that exudes a distinctive vibe and carries some social relevance.

Again, Daredevil, Jessica Jones and now Luke Cage take… their…… time in unspooling a 13-episode story, rarely serving up action scenes just because.

Overall, the show could have used a little tightening (it might be time to rethink the 13-episode model, which Daredevil's second season ought to have already proven), and episodes can lag a little bit in the middle, but it's an enjoyable ride.

Despite its languid narrative style, Luke Cage is doing many fascinating things. Its mood and visual aesthetic are as well-honed as the perfectly bleak Jessica Jones; its action scenes, when they arrive, are brutal and swift; and its lead performers are uniformly terrific, most of all Mike Colter as Cage, who wrings endless charisma from his character’s resolute stoicism.

The cast is great. The performances--particularly by Colter in the lead role--are better than the show, which sags in spots. It's solid, but not spectacular.

There are times when Luke Cage strains at the confinement of the genres it uses, when its superhero, gangster, and crime fiction subplots seem too familiar, too flimsy, to contain all the drama Coker and his writers want to pour into this show.

It often feels like the cultural lessons are getting in the way of the genre fun. There’s more conversation than action, and the talk has a tendency to slide into debate, about vigilantism or competing ideas of Harlem or visions of the solitary black hero.

It’s an entertaining drama that sometimes feels like a missed opportunity to be something greater.

The abundance of flaws--a sluggish pace, thinly stretched plots--can't smother everything interesting. ... Luke Cage is a meaningful attempt at developing a new-model black hero. [30 Sep 2016, p.48]