[TV] Marvel's Luke Cage

[Metallourlante]

Tennent and Luke Cage were the only bright spots of that show.

Totally agree.

Back in topic, can't wait for this show it looks very promising

[bloodmoth13]

It was a good show, it was WAY overhyped though, i was seeing reviews that claimed it was better than daredevil, which just wasnt true. It got better towards the end.

daredevil is fantastic, looking forward to this too.

I just hope marvel movies figure out whats going right in these series andtake that to the movies, and whats going right are the fleshed out villains. Kingpin, punisher, purple man were all great, loki is also much loved (best part of the thor movies) and bucky was amazing in winter soldier, however i cant even remember the villains from iron man 1 or 2, red skull was kind of lame too, zemo was incredibly anticlimatic, ronan the accusor was also pretty flat. The villain is really what creates the drama for the story.
Marvel was lucky that RDJ carried iron man, team ups also can go without a compelling villain (GoG/avengers)

[Stormcall]

I can understand that point of view but the best and most interesting characters in all the Marvel/Netfliks stuff aren't the protagonists. For season 1 of DD the best character and performance was Fisk and in season 2 it was The Punisher. For JJ it's Purpleman but then again I'm not all that interested in the triumph of good over evil in my TV selections.

It has nothing to do with good vs evil. Look at shows like Breaking Bad, The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, three of my favorite shows. The protagonists of those shows are a meth cooker, a team of corrupt cops, and an outlaw biker gang. NONE of them are good guys. But also, none of them were boring. Even as flawed and corrupt/evil as those characters were, you could still feel something for them, you could be invested in the conflicts between them and whatever they were dealing with.

THAT is the issue here. When the protagonist is as simply boring as Jessica Jones was, it makes the conflict of the show, ie, what the entire show is based around, boring as well. I mean, God himself could make a special trip down from Heaven to star as the villain, but if the protagonist is as dull as JJ's the show will still suck for me. No matter how great the antagonist may be(and I'm not as in love with Tennant as some people are to begin with), there still needs to be something for them to play off of in order for a show to be good, and JJ just...didn't have that.

[Milchshake]

Watched the first two episodes so far and am really in to it. The characters are solid so far. Though I prefer learning about characters through dialog rather than an overdose of flashbacks.
I love Theo Rossi as Shades, he projects menace in a way I cant quite grasp.

The music is incredible so far. Many of the written reviews already keyed on this. But it really adds to the immersion. A complete contrast to having just watched BvS and Suicide Squad, were the music took away from the imagery.

[Jotaux]

I completely forgot this released today! I can't wait to get home and watch it!


Also its mandatory that I say I wish Netflix would do a batman series in any netflix series thread.

[rogueMatthias]

Also its mandatory that I say I wish Netflix would do a batman series in any netflix series thread.

That could genuinely be insanely awesome. They should get Marvel Studios behind it too

[Bathory]

Watched the first 2 episodes, so far so good. Lot of potential.

[Fencers]

Just a few episodes in so far. Greatly enjoying the show.

The music and art direction is fabulous.

[jimboa24]

I'm about halfway through, on episode seven. I'm a little frustrated with the show so far, because for me....well, let me put it this way. My favorite Marvel character is the Punisher. And we all know the Punisher exists in this universe. If Luke Cage were to take a page of out the Punisher playbook, this entire series would be resolved in five minutes.

It just seems like they're making a very simple problem overly complicated. Just kill Cottonmouth. I haven't seen enough to know if his councilwoman cousin deserves it yet, but I suspect she probably does, so just kill her too, for good measure.

"Bang." "Bang."

Cue happy ending, roll credits. The end.

[Gallahadd]

Just finished the show after marathoning it all today, spoilers obviously, so consider yourself warned:

EXCELLENT. Loved it, solid 9/10.

The main cast were all great, my only problem (at the start of the series at least) was that I felt the badguy wasn't up to standard... But then Cottonmouth ate a mic stand and Mariah went to the Dark Side and WOWZA. Thankfully, unlike previous netflix shows, which the antagonist was strong, the protagonist was even stronger. Mike Coulter delivers a killer performance as Luke, easily managing to one-up his previous outting in the role. His support from Misty and Temple is really strong, and I'm glad they went with Luke x Temple and left him just friends with Misty (still hoping we get Danny x Misty in Iron Fist, or preferably Gallahadd x Misty in real life...)

Thought the storyline was GREAT, everything from the early episodes which were almost an old school Gangster Drama, through the grim revalations about Reva in the middle to the final showdown with the seemingly unstoppable Mariah at the end, which lead to, in my opinion, the best ending yet in a MarvelFlix series. The Phyrric nature of their victory left me equal parts happy and sad, which meant for me the whole thing had a far more realistic end than the comparitively simple "Good guys win, bad guy are dealt with" endings we got in DD and JJ season 1.

One question comes up though... So that flashdrive that Luke had, the one he got from Reva. Is that the same one that Jessica got the videos of Killgrave off? And If so, is there some connection between the experiments that created them both? The timing seems a little off, but you never know stranger things have happened.

[Fencers]

I didn't expect this show to be so openly political. Wow. This is the most sharply pointed commentary Marvel has ever done perhaps.

Very engrossing show too.

[Feral Camel]

Finished the series. Feeling pretty mixed about the show. It never felt like it kicked into second gear. I loved the music and the style but it still felt lacklustre for most of the parts.

I finished it pretty fast (Victorian long weekend) and I did enjoyed a good chunk of it. I just don't think it was as good as the 2 season of Daredevil or Jessica Jones.

Spoilers - just the things I found annoying. Don't read until you've watched the series.


Like Jessica Jones, the fight scenes were (IMO) very dull. Daredevil put the standards pretty high but with Jessica Jones she has the trauma to make the story feel engaging. Luke Cage sometimes felt half arse. Sometimes that worked with Cage being the man he is, other times it looking like Mike Coulter just trying to to earn a pay check.

Mahershala Ali was great but he ended up being anti-climatic. I'm still not sure if I disagree with that yet. It just like a bit of a let down. I've had a soft spot for him since House of Cards and he was likeable in Hunger Games. I just don't think the character was explored enough.

Alfre Woodard stole the show in one scene but never really topped it after that. Hoping for more in the next season.

I felt Simone Missick playing Misty Knight carried the show. Started off slow but really love a late scene with her. Looking forward to seeing more of her.

Sonja Sohn was wasted. I was really hoping to see more of her in another Marvel show. She was great in The Wire.

The Flashbacks felt heavy handed.

I wasn't a fan of how Diamondback looked. He came across like a bad arrow villain

I like Shades, I just didn't think the character really went anywhere.

Overall it felt like the Blacksmith in Daredevil season 2. I except it, but didn't feel like it was a great overall story.

Regardless, I'm happy to see other liking the show but I think Cage works better with



Drunk ramblings above!

[Fencers]

My gripe with the Luke Cage series is that Cottonmouth (so far) seems like a poor man's version of Kingpin. Though the actor who plays Cottonmouth is not even close to Vinny D's performance as Kingpin, the Cottonmouth role is also underwritten compared to Kingpin. We have seen the suddenly brutal gangster before in these Netflix series. And the last time we saw it done was perhaps the best Marvel non-comic villain we had ever seen.

I feel the writers were very lazy in using Cottonmouth and Black Mariah as foils for Luke Cage. Something more sinister whereby Diamondback could have been a night prowler/Richard Ramirez-ish foil instead of just another gangster we are supposed to boo'ed by.

About halfway through the series; episode eight. So my comments may change sentiment by the end. I am just not enthralled by the villains thus far.

[Gallahadd]

My gripe with the Luke Cage series is that Cottonmouth (so far) seems like a poor man's version of Kingpin.

1000000% this. A large chunk of the first 1/2 of Luke Cage seems like DD season one, but with more black people. However without going into detail it gets much better later on.

[Fencers]

Really surprised the show is so political. It's not overly biting or critical, but fabulously daring in it's limited scope. That's great. Bravo, Marvel & Netflix!

I think the failing is the villains. Motivation, portrayal and narrative is very lacking. It also serves to undercut Luke Cage's theme of Luke being a hero of the people in a time of uncertainty- specifically a black hero, in a historically black neighborhood of post-Stop & Frisk/Giulianiin NYC of contemporary America.

The villains and the threat they pose doesn't suit the material on both level; the superhero and urban crime genres. Opportunity missed!

- - - Updated - - -

Finished the series- pretty good. What I said in post #35 held true.

While I enjoyed the show a lot, Luke Cage lacked a certain tang in the narrative. I admire certain aspects of the season and the relative daring with which the show was unafraid to insert timely political issues. That's way cool.

However, the show didn't go far enough. It dallies with certain issues, again pretty neat, but doesn't bite down very hard in the end. Generic villains that don't really match the allegory or metaphorical themes of the character Luke Cage in the show miss tremendous opportunity.

The show misses a lot of narrative themes as well. For example, if Luke is the people's champion than why rob him of that agency at the end when he defeats Diamondback?

Similarly, Luke's speeches are kinda hallow when the contrast between him and his foils' are superficial at best. Where Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock were driven by a sense of righteousness in the face of their violent, base and illegal compulsions; Luke is kind of a goody-two-shoes with villains who all but mustache twirl. Cage makes speeches that are easy to make, he doesn't really struggle against anything at all despite the show trying to convince you Luke has 'problems'.

I also thought the acting was kinda uneven; Misty Knight's actress was trash, the Puerto Rican gang leader was poor/scenery chewing, Chico was the worst actor of them all, et cetera.

I did enjoy the show a lot more than Jessica Jones. Not nearly as good as DD S1&2 though.

[BloodyAngel12]

I enjoyed it and i really love Luke Cage in the comics but i felt the series lacked urgency.

Really good bad guy in Black Mariah.

Was hoping for an Ironfist cameo or something like that, hell i would of been satisfied if Matt Murdock appeared at the end to defend Luke Cage.

I also hear Netflix is down at the moment.

[Crillam]

I did enjoy Luke Cage very much but not as much as both seasons of DD and the one of JJ.
It just felt slow at times. and because he is bulletproof, well the action scenes are all the same.
Sure the new bullet did some work but still.

[Poppincaps]

Great show. I think it is better than DD S1 but not quite as good as DD S2 and JJ S1. I love how the show really didn't pull a single god damn punch though. Liberal use of the n word as well as referencing several real life events such as the Trayvon Martin thing. Gotta respect that. Mad respect to Disney for allowing Marvel to do their thing.

I will say that Luke Cage was far superior in terms actual style. The entire show gave off that authentic Harlem feel. The final fight was a little corny, but I loved it for that exact reason. Long story short, Netflix and Marvel have done it again.

[Jtbrig7390]

Loved it solid 10/10.

Loved how they didn't pull any punch's and added in some RL issues to the mix. The final fight was funny and yet cool, felt and looked like a real comic story fight.

The number 1 thing I like about it tho is The Ending is not a happy ending. Girl gets killed,Woman and guy walks free and luke gets locked up. There was nothing happy about this ending and to me that's a good thing. Also the whole his brother getting powers next hint was nice

I think ALOT of people are going to hate it because of all the political stuff they added in. But to me that gave it flavor and made it realistic.

Love marvel letting netflix do there thing

[Zeek Daniels]

I liked Shades. He seems like a mastermind in the making. Cant fight for shit but hes smart. Hope we get a backstory on him later on.