Luke Cage (Spoiler Free)

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  • Luke Cage (Spoiler Free)

    Has anyone finished it yet? Well cast, for the most part. You have some scene stealers and a big scene chewer. Mike Colter isn't a great actor, but he seems to have an innate ability to click with every actress he's paired up with. The series has more of a blaxploitation feel than Samuel L. Jackson's Shaft reboot from 2000. Great music. The action scenes could have been stronger and more creative. I liked episodes 1-7 more than 8-13. I've heard complaints about the pacing, but it wasn't a problem for me. These Marvel/Netflix shows really should be shorter though...
    "I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray." - Prince

  • #2
    Re: Luke Cage (Spoiler Free)

    Colter was great on The Good Wife.

    I think the problem is Luke Cage is just not a very good solo character-- in the comics, he's much more interesting when he's paired with Iron Fist, or married to Jessica Jones, or leading the Avengers.

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    • #3
      Re: Luke Cage (Spoiler Free)

      Always was a fan of Luke Cage even read his old comic book stuff which I recently revisited and it's awful (why'd I like it so much when I was 12?). I was looking forward to the series and was disappointed. The cast is fine. No issue there. Here are my problems with it. **** Spoilers**** Don't read if you haven't seen series and want to**** Spoilers**.

      1) Like all Marvel Netflix shows there's a problem with pacing. It is 3 to 4 episodes too long. Toward the end I was fast forwarding over every non Luke part not only because they were boring but characters began to be silly.

      2) Here's the biggest problem... Jessica Jones had a super powered enemy in Killgrave who was a nasty villain (one of the best). Daredevil had the Kingpin who is stronger then him plus some ninjas peppered in. Luke Cage has... NO ONE! Yeah, he has villains, but they are nonpowered until the very last episode. So it's established that Luke is bullet-proof and superstrong. Basically no one in Harlem can stop him. The bad guys are all named after Serpent Society characters in the comics but have no powers. Cottonmouth is very charismatic, but not superstrong. There is no threat to Luke in most episodes other then a special bullet in 2 episodes that wounds him. Throughout the series bullets bounce off Luke and he crushes guns. ALOT! Um, so there's no superpowered mutants or villains or mercs in Harlem? Having no threat makes Luke Cage hard to watch. A solid hero needs a solid villain. All of us on done deal know that. It's not like he doesn't have a built in rogues gallery. And it's not like it's reality based because there are references to the marvel universe abound.

      3) They acted like Hells Kitchen was 3 states away rather then a mile or two because when Luke has trouble with the special bullet he never considers his friend Jessica who has powers and likes him. Luke Cage needed a guest appearance from Daredevil or Jessica Jones.

      4) Just when I was getting used to Cottonmouth being the NONpowered but well acted bad guy... he's offed and replaced by his cousin who with each episode gets more ridiculous.

      5) Some guy named Shades who looks cool but is wall-paper.

      6) Misty Knight starts off cool but midway becomes a whole different character in that she goes from sharp detective to complete bumbling idiot. The interrogation scenes are horrible and very very very lengthy.

      7) His barbershop mentor is great but dies way too soon. I genuinely liked his character. I understand someone close had to die to push Luke but him?

      8) The bad rogue cops were all insignificant.

      9) The Diamondback character was mildly interesting until he put on that horrific outfit with a HUGE power core on the back that literally flashed like a neon sign but Luke never thought to pull it off. The fight scene at the end was hard to watch. I felt Luke could have done any number of things to stop Diamondback like even take his helmet off... you know the one with his chin sticking out waiting for Luke to hit him there but didn't.

      Anyway, a lot of hype over the series but it was weak sauce. I liked the first 2 episodes but it really didn't get better and ended up getting worse. I liked Jessica Jones much better throughout although it was long to. Like Jessica Jones and Daredevil I disliked the support characters and same goes for Luke Cage after a while. Of the 3 Marvel series I liked Jessica the most on the strength of Killgrave. I felt Daredevil got tedious, but it was never completely full of plot holes like Luke Cage. Luke deserved a better villain and better writing.

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      • #4
        Re: Luke Cage (Spoiler Free)

        Totally forgot about this thread. Based on the low activity, I guess it's safe to throw out a few spoilers...

        Diamondback was a terrible villain. It felt like he was plucked out of a Saturday morning cartoon and shoehorned into the story. How could this lunatic be a boss of bosses? Who in their right mind would follow him? His big brawl with Luke was all kinds of corny.

        Overall, I thought the many of the fight scenes ranged from average to poor. How many times do we have to see Luke rough up the same thugs? The guy is bulletproof. How about coming up with creative attempts to take him out?

        Cottonmouth, a far more interesting and charismatic antagonist, died way too soon. However, I thought Alfre Woodard was fantastic throughout. She absolutely stole this series. Simone Missick made a great Misty Knight, but her character's competence was at the mercy of the plot. Kudos to Cheo Hodari Coker for creating so many cool characters for actresses of color.

        I really wanted to love this series, but only ended up liking it.
        "I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray." - Prince

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        • #5
          Re: Luke Cage (Spoiler Free)

          It's a case where they basically messed up a premise/character that should have been a slam dunk. Everything was in place... a great cast, an audience and a character with a big history in the Marvel Universe with his own rogue's gallery (many villains were cheesy, yes but anyone remember "Bullet"?) and they dropped the ball in my opinion completely. The problem with these shows is the showrunner and some of the writers don't even really know the characters. "Hey, you're the showrunner behind "2 Broke Girls?"' You want to helm a Marvel series?"

          I noticed this a while ago when Marvel commissioned a writer for a "Were Wolf By Night" script (this was maybe 10 years ago). I like that obscure character. Always did. The writer confessed he didn't follow the character or read much comic books but he thought the theme was very Shakespeare. Needless to say nothing came of it but the guy got paid six figures to write a draft.

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          • #6
            Re: Luke Cage (Spoiler Free)

            Originally posted by purplenurple View Post
            It's a case where they basically messed up a premise/character that should have been a slam dunk. Everything was in place... a great cast, an audience and a character with a big history in the Marvel Universe with his own rogue's gallery (many villains were cheesy, yes but anyone remember "Bullet"?) and they dropped the ball in my opinion completely. The problem with these shows is the showrunner and some of the writers don't even really know the characters. "Hey, you're the showrunner behind "2 Broke Girls?"' You want to helm a Marvel series?"

            I noticed this a while ago when Marvel commissioned a writer for a "Were Wolf By Night" script (this was maybe 10 years ago). I like that obscure character. Always did. The writer confessed he didn't follow the character or read much comic books but he thought the theme was very Shakespeare. Needless to say nothing came of it but the guy got paid six figures to write a draft.
            To be fair, you can also have people with little or no familiarity with the source material, like Chris Nolan and Bryan Singer, who can still come up with a compelling story. A guy like Zack Synder is a huge comic fan, but look how Batman v. Superman turned out.

            Luke Cage's main adversary turned out to be his illegitimate, half-brother suffering from Daddy issues. Kind of lame, but it could have worked if the set up had been given more care. Not the fault of source material ignorance, just weak storytelling.
            "I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray." - Prince

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