The Defenders RATE then REVIEW the Defenders!

[inomilan]

8/10 is an "alright"?

I was trying to be kinder haha.

 

[legendkillin]

7.6 so I rounded to 8

I like the team dynamic but I never cared for The Hand. I find the bland and I don't like Elektra.

 

[Drizzle]

Maybe 7.5 out of 10.

I liked it, the more condensed 8 episode storyline helped. I didn't think it was as good as either season of Daredevil or Jessica Jones, but I liked it more than Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

 

[just one thing]

taught it was good. A bit of them all in it. matt and danny's story got a follow up from where there seasons left off. Could understand were jessica was at and what it took it get her out of her shell. Liked how luke walked out of jail like a man in a state of grace and then from the moment he got talking to danny up to the end when they were discussing the merits of collens plan the increasing tone in his voice and look of disbelief on his face.


The hero's blended well.

As a criticism i think this one could have done with being longer, a few more episodes. The villans needed more time to boil. The other netflicks shows showed us something humane in the villan, something to identify with them. Didn't get that here.

The supporting cast didn't get much. Claire and Matt had about a word. Small stuff.

Over all good.

 

[Mike Murdock]

I gave it an eight. The first half was a welcome slow build reaching a great crescendo. But it did feel like a dip as they were either stationary fighting or stationary at the police precinct. The Hand infighting built up at the same time which also caused issues. But I thought it ended strong and the extra time at the end after the action was well worth it.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

I loved it! Maybe as follows:

1. DD S2
2. DD S1
3. Defenders S1
4. JJ S1
5. LC S1
6. IF S1

Either way this was solid all the way through. Say what you want about the hand's plan being lame. When [BLACKOUT]Elektra took over for Alexandra[/BLACKOUT] I was glued to the screen from there on out.

Every Defender had a chance to shine.

 

[Paradox1]

I gave it a 6 as I thought it was just okay. The biggest problem I had was I thought The Hand was weak. The reveal of what they were actually after was very disappointing. Alexandra potential as a character was squandered, her relationship with black sky ended unfulfilling. It was a move imo done for shock instead of story.

 

[Smilodon]

Thought it was rather average, if slightly underwhelming.

I was never jazzed about Ramirez and Petrie getting the keys to The Defenders to begin with, since I wasn't that high on their work on DD S2 to begin with. (If I were Loeb, I would've bent over backwards to get Drew Goddard to help run things. Or maybe even Melissa Rosenberg).

Spoiler

I had skipped Iron Fist just because I really couldn't get the motivation to even check out the supposed trainwreck of a show. But from the very first moment, I could definitely see what all the hoopla regarding Finn Jones is all about, because he is grating as Danny Rand. I've never read Iron Fist before, and the show doesn't make me want to pick up an IF comic in the slightest, which is saying something because I love the whole Wuxia/Kung Fu/Martial Arts genre as a whole.

That being said, Charlie Cox is just the main man of these Netflix shows (I mean, excluding Sigourney Weaver, David Tennant and the incredibly charismatic Mahershala Ali). It helps that I'm most familiar with DD of all characters, but I really feel like his characterization was the strongest out of the four leads. It helps having two seasons under his belt, but I definitely feel like he is given the most varied material and thus Cox is able to give a greater, more nuanced performance. Krysten Ritter is great as Jessica Jones, but I think she was very one-note in The Defenders. Her relationship with Trish is what makes her special and I would've loved to see either Trish more involved or cut out of the show completely, because she was just kinda there.

Mike Colter was great as Luke Cage again and I actually found him to be the second best member of The Defenders behind Matt. Finn Jones is just eaten alive in most of these scenes though. I'm glad Colleen Wing was the one side character that still had an arc in The Defenders, as Jessica Henwick deserves it. Helps give Bakuto something to do too.

I'm glad we get to see an update on Foggy, Karen and Malcolm. I wish we could've gotten a bit more interactions between some of the side characters, since they're all pretty cool. But it is what it is being a team up show.

The Hand was definitely the most disappointing part of the show. Master plan aside, Sigourney Weaver needed an episode all to herself (I was really looking for a flashback episode like the kind that Kingpin or Kilgrave got) and the Netflix shows in general needed someone else other than Gao to flesh out. The rest of the fingers of The Hand should've been shown to be more capable besides being expert martial artists and prolonged lifespans from consuming dragon remains. Gao can use her chi to move objects, which is really all the kind of stuff you need when you're just dealing mystic ninjas. Pressure points, enhanced strength from training, being able to jump large distances, etc. There's plenty of genre tropes to mine from.

Massive props for hiring an actual Japanese guy to play Murakami. It was getting tiresome hearing bad Japanese on these shows when they rely on Japanese lore so much.

I would've loved to see an episode dedicated to fleshing out Alexandra, Gao, Sowande, Murakami and Bakuto. I mean, it would've been like taken place in the past probably, but I think it would've been worthwhile to do so. Change up some of the fights, trim side characters etc. You don't need to show Shao-Lao, but I would've really liked to see K'un-Lun. The show beat around the bush too much in terms of this. Too much mysterious dialogue for the sake of being ominous. They needed to be much more direct.

I'm really bummed that they killed Elektra off and revived her for this. Would've much more that Bullseye killed her off properly. Elektra is revived in the comics yeah, but they don't even really purify her soul or anything here. Maybe Iron Fist would've known how to do that (I don't know anything about IF, so don't throw stones at me if he doesn't any other sort of K'un-Lun magic). Her transition back to Elektra is weak and it actually kinda weakens the previous seasons of DD somewhat. Not a lot of actual payoff. The writers also failed Matt and Elektra at the very end again. The dialogue was just baaaaad. As a dedicated Matt/Elektra shipper, I am let down. But this is not the end for these two!

Lastly, the character interactions were good, but I felt like they could've gone a lot deeper. Matt and Jessica talking to John Raymond's daughter, Luke/Danny's first argument, that was all real solid stuff. Everything else was just kinda repetitive with everyone either wanting to work alone or in disbelief of The Hand's machinations.

Misty was very blah here too. It's a horror movie situation where you see characters that are far too many steps behind the protagonist (or overwhelmed because they're fighting immortal chi-blasting ninjas) so you just get frustrated with them.

The action was great. Into the Badlands blows them out of the water, but it was enjoyable as a action vehicle for sure.

6-7/10. Had a lot of fun watching it, but the same problems that have plagued the Netflix shows continues here again!

 

[BlackFox]

Overall I enjoyed it pretty well and the ending was satisfying, liked the Avengers homage with the single tracking shot of them all fighting, nice nod.

The shortened series caused a few issue with juggling so many characters and giving them something all meaningful to do. I understand the desire to see all the characters and side characters together but there has to be a little more than that, the only major disappointment was Weavers character who was rather a weak villain compared to Elektra to who was excellent.

Pro's
The group dynamics worked well.
Elektra was great again and had some of the best moments.
Fight scenes much better than the last couple of Netflix outings
Some side characters had decent arks to their story at least (Colleen Wing)
Great DD ark.
Made me like JJ for the first time.

Cons
Finn Jones still struggling in the role
As mentioned perhaps a few too many side characters to successfully juggle
Weak main villain for the first half
Waste of SW
Fairly basic story wise.

Overall it was decent and enjoyable just maybe not enough great moments to make it really stand out compared to a DD series but I got more out of it than IF or JJ so sort of mid tier in the overall picture on a level with LC. 7.5/10

 

[raisethe3]

Solid show, but not great. The action sequence could be a lot better.

I'd give it 7/10.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

Solid show, but not great. The action sequence could be a lot better.

I'd give it 7/10.

which one?

 

[Spider-Aziz]

It's pretty good. One thing I'm not a big fan of is how the Black Sky acted post resurrection.

I'm in the 8/10 camp.

 

[Dasher10]

So... the consensus here is that it's good but not great and should have been better but nobody here hated it.

Compare that to Iron Fist where ratings were all over the place and were often in the middle of the scale and many people outright loathed it.

 

[righthooksrus86]

Loved it I give it a 9/10...The cinematography, the acting, and the fight choreography/action scenes were amazing. It was pretty much the perfect superhero team up.

 

[Flint Marko]

Really enjoyed it. Definitely better than Luke Cage and Iron Fist, which were both a step down in quality from the prior series. So I'm not sure where I'd rank this among JJ and DD seasons 1 & 2, but it's up there with the best. I'm very pleased that they actually made me care about the Hand.

 

[Spiderine]

Gave it a 7

Solid interaction between the 4 main heroes. Great chemistry. Strong performances from supporting characters Claire Elektra Misty and Stick.

Each finger of the Hand except Madame Gao felt like the middle finger to the audience. Too weak

Everything and anything involving the Hand was lazy boring weak and repetitive. I am tired of Hydra lite.

 

[Quasimod0]

I loved it and had a great time watching it. Probably my 2nd favorite season after DDS2. The team had a great dynamic

 

[greenlantern248]

I give it a 7. It was a good series. Great action, the 4 leads had good chemistry with each other. The overall story was good.

My complaints about it is, like everyone else the hand was a letdown, Alexandra was boring. If the tried to pull her off as some female version of the kingpin it was a let down. You felt threaten with Fisk I didn't have the sense of evil in her.
My other complaint I have which is actually more of a complaint about the entire MCU. If your going to connect everything to one big universe then can we spread out these heroes. I mean really, you have bomb squad and about every unit converging on a building in Hell' s kitchen, where was Iron Man, or Spiderman, Doctor Strange. A Chinese restaurant gets mowed down with gun fire and Spiderman isn't swing over to it to see what's going on.

Anyways thought the show was good. I would put it
1. DD2
2. DD
3. Defenders
4. Luke Cage
5. Iron Fist
6. Jessie Jones

 

[Zarex]

I thought the show was fine, but could have been much better without all of the long, dull speechifying and tedious exposition. There's no need for characters to constantly reiterate what we already know (The Hand is dangerous!) multiple times. Some cinematic MCU style snappy dialogue would have been lovely, though Ritter did bring some much needed humor to the team. She's my MVP.

Spoiler

Also, Sigourney Weaver didn't do anything memorable and I think the show would have been improved if she were killed much earlier.

Like all the Netflix Marvel shows it would have benefited from tighter editing. This could have been a terrific six or even four episode mini series rather than a just ok 8 episode show.

 

[FunkMiller]

5/10.

Building the plot around the worst character was not a clever decision.
All the mystical, kung fu ******** was tiresome, cheesy, and undercut the entire premise. The big fight in the styrofoam dragon skeleton reminded me first and foremost of an episode of Arrow... only worse.
Trying to make The Hand and all the ninja nonsense a decent villain was a very bad idea. These programs work best with more grounded villains and storylines. That's why DD season 1 and JJ season 1 are the best.

Cox, Ritter and Coulter continue to be brilliant. They just needed better material than this idiotic script delivered.

Iron Fist is terrible, and will continue to be terrible.

 

[Lantern Venom]

There was quite a dichotomy on display in this show. The heroes interactions were usually well done. The villains all seemed warmed-over and flat. The exploration of heroism's moral spectrum, from Misty's law-and-order approach to Stick's by-any-means-necessary approach, gave the show some gravitas. The Black Sky being revealed as essentially a really good martial artist was deflating and the "really big hole" story line was silly and perplexing. This season ended up with the positives outweighing the negatives, but just barely.

 

[voyzovrezon]

Not having seen The Iron Fist, I didn't get the whole plot line about his fist opening some gate. What was it, a monster machine? A creature? Why bring down NY? How was destroying the city going to get the members of the The Hand home?

I would have given the series a much higher rating if it weren't for this confusing plot.

 

[Nathan]

Honestly, watching Iron Fist wouldn't have cleared anything up. The whole Iron Fist being a Key plot, was introduced in Defenders. Basically, one of the previous Iron Fists sealed up what's basically a Dragon Graveyard. The Hand require the bones of the Dragons, to prolong their life. Excavating the Dragon bones, would weaken the foundation of New York, until it would eventually collapse. It was all grade A bs.

 

[voyzovrezon]

Honestly, watching Iron Fist wouldn't have cleared anything up. The whole Iron Fist being a Key plot, was introduced in Defenders. Basically, one of the previous Iron Fists sealed up what's basically a Dragon Graveyard. The Hand require the bones of the Dragons, to prolong their life. Excavating the Dragon bones, would weaken the foundation of New York, until it would eventually collapse. It was all grade A bs.

Thanks. Good to know it wasn't just me.

 

[Set]

Not having seen The Iron Fist, I didn't get the whole plot line about his fist opening some gate. What was it, a monster machine? A creature? Why bring down NY? How was destroying the city going to get the members of the The Hand home?

I would have given the series a much higher rating if it weren't for this confusing plot.

There were dragon bones down there. The dragon bones were the source of the until-then-mysterious 'substance' the Hand elders were using to maintain their immortality and resurrect each other (and their choice flunkies), which they stole from K'un-Lun (from which they were expelled for these necromantic experiments in the first place).

Some previous Iron Fist or Fists had travelled the world sealing away any other sources of the dragon-bone-immortality/resurrection substance, to keep them from exploiting it.

It was pretty basic. They wanted to live forever, and have a ready supply of the magic substance they needed to cheat death over and over.

How exactly mining the dragon bones would cause New York to collapse, I have no idea. That's where they lost me. Does the mystical energy of the bones somehow reinforce the ground around it? Wouldn't Dr. Strange be likely to know if New York was held up by magical energies from deep beneath the ground? Eh. I'm not even going to try to make sense of that part. The Hand elders getting access to an unlimited supply of their immortality/resurrection substance, able to not only keep themselves immortal, but use willy-nilly on their favorite minions (like Nabu) is more than enough threat without the earthquake business, which, IMO, was a needless addition to try and ratchet up the tension.

I was very impressed with the tying together of the Hand with K'un-Lun, with the dragon bones / 'substance' as connective tissue. It was a neat way to at least bring Matt and Danny's stories together.

I would like for season 2 to perhaps tug on connective threads tying Matt and Jessica together instead (the chemical company responsible for blinding one and empowering the other), and perhaps tying them into other chemical-empowerment threads, like the mysterious chemicals used to empower Luke Cage, or the pills used by 'Nuke' and later Trish to gain temporary super-powers. Is there a 'Power Broker' working behind the scenes in New York, working to produce metahuman enforcers for entities both quasi-legitimate (the special forces that Sgt. Will 'Nuke' Simpson worked for) and illicit (criminal elements)? It would be more of a challenge for Luke, in particular, to face enforcers for that company with bulletproof skin like his own, and strength to match, and be far more of a challenge for everyone else than 'yet more ninja.' Less Hand and ninja. Less focus on Danny, who seems to be the weak link, actor-wise. (Although he could also be connected, if Rand Enterprises has a connection to the chemical company in question, or Rand resources can be leveraged into fighting them on a corporate front, while the team punches face at the street level...)