The defenders: a movie review

A threat arises, greater than anyone can handle. The police are ineffectual and the only way to handle it is for various lone-wolf heroes to band together and combine their powers to fight the new evil. Yes, I’m talking about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers! Wait, I mean the Defenders! ... What’s the difference again?

This summer’s end was accented by the release of Marvel’s latest entry into its Netflix exclusives. The Defenders follows the adventures of the four heroes previously featured in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) on Netflix: Daredevil (Charlie Cox), the blind lawyer fighting crime on the streets and in the courts; Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), a booze-chugging, super strong private investigator with a very disturbed past; Luke Cage (Mike Coulter), the bulletproof ex-convict looking to lay low and keep to himself; and Iron Fist (Finn Jones), the heir to a billion dollar company and possessor of a very destructive right hook. These solo operatives soon find themselves needing to band together to battle an ancient force that threatens New York.

But while the skeleton premise is the same as the 2012 blockbuster The Avengers, the execution is anything but the same. The MCU’s Netflix series eschews Michael Bay explosions and CGI magic for a more grounded and gritty style (and trust me, these shows are not meant for your young brothers and sisters to enjoy). The Defenders follows the exploits of each hero following their first adventures as they are all drawn by the same force to eventually battle it together.

The series takes a different direction from the four shows that came before it; the previous shows placed far more emphasis on the hero’s conflict with the villains, whom are much more fleshed out. Conversely, The Defenders primarily looks at the dynamic between the reluctant heroes. While it certainly serves for some action-packed fun, The Defenders does somewhat lose what made the previous series stand out. Each of the previous shows (maybe with the exception of Iron Fist) had a very layered and nuanced villain pulling the ropes.

They were all multi-dimensional characters that were carried by their actor’s jobs in portraying their inner turmoils. None of them really fit the “stock villain” archetype that does evil so they can twirl their moustaches; rather they all have their own motivations to see themselves as the heroes of their own story, a common trait among many of the best villains in fiction. The Defenders has one of its own to a degree, an original villain known as Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver). I certainly enjoyed Sigourney’s acting, though I felt as though her development suffered a bit as a result of the short length of the series and the staunch focus on our heroes’ camaraderie (such as Jessica’s roasting of Daredevil’s gaudy red costume). Don’t get me wrong, Alexandra was a good villain, but I just wish we would have had more time to see her story develop and clean up her motivations for the viewer to see. Ultimately, this is a compromise in favour of “more hero, less villain” in a similar direction as other movies Marvel has put forth (I’m looking at you, Thor 2 and your dark elves; what even?).

Compromise, however allows us to see each of the heroes slowly come together and realize they need each other. Without spoiling too much, the moment all four end up at the same place at the same time is one of the most entertaining parts of the series altogether, and their reactions to each other’s abilities is hilarious. (If you had a magic fist that could blow up walls, should you really be surprised that a guy can tank bullets like it’s his job?) Any time Iron Fist and Luke Cage are on screen, it’s great not only because their powers create a perfect offense/ defense equilibrium, but Iron Fist’s youthful energy and recklessness is tempered by Luke’s pragmatism and wisdom. It’s a really great pairing and I hope they interact more down the road (and team up to form Heroes for Hire like in the comics).

The actors carry themselves just as well in this series as their home series, especially Iron Fist who improves quite a bit. In particular, Charlie Cox and Mike Colter are my favourites because they really allow for their characters’ personalities to shine and they feel real. Admittedly, these opinions are slightly biased due to my love for their home series, but the Defenders gives each of these characters the opportunity to interact, and the actors play it off oh-so-MARVELously.

The same can’t be said about the show’s story as it does no real favours unfortunately. It somewhat builds off of some plot elements from previous shows, but there is enough context given so that new viewers aren’t left completely out of the loop. The plot won’t throw anyone who’s genre-savvy, and most viewers could predict the ultimate outcome of the miniseries. The story isn’t particularly striking or groundbreaking; in fact I found it to be quite predictable. I also found that the ways in which the solitary heroes were brought together to be a bit of a stretch, particularly Jessica’s and Luke’s involvement in the main conflict. (Why should a drunk PI and an ex-con fight an ancient evil? Because that’s the story!) But altogether it’s forgivable, given the rest of the “cool” sprinkled around elsewhere.

The Defenders is ultimately a series worth watching, despite lacking the story and nuanced villains of its predecessors. It more than makes up for it with great fight scenes and refreshing conservatism with the special effects to give a grounded, martial arts-packed adventure that Bruce Lee would be proud of. I do, however, recommend watching the first two seasons of Daredevil before watching The Defenders, as the introduction of a certain character is a spoiler for Daredevil, and his story in particular is advanced greatly. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist can be watched for more context and a bit of backstory but there’s enough explained that they aren’t must watches (though they are really good shows, so watch them anyways!).

Plus, there’s music by Run the Jewels and the Wu-Tang Clan featured; how awesome is that?

Final Verdict: 8/10, would watch while eating rice