lol, the moaning about Iron First is based on racist premises? Really, not the bad acting from the lead, the him acting like a petulant child throughout. The constant utter clichéd writing at every single turn. The massive reliance on, this only works if they automatically do the dumbest thing possible in any situation.
The worst thing is the action, even more over the top, guy standing there, could go and punch him but he decides to do an elaborate spinning 4 times in the air move then clearly miss the kick yet the guy flies backwards crap. Daredevil has a fair amount of that but still the action was done better. This has so many badly done fights, missed punches, ridiculous over the top moves for no reason. Also the absolutely convenient inability to fight beyond second grade slapstick level when the plot calls for it.
The lead isn't as bad as the writing is painful, but his derpy look when he's trying to show any emotion as well as the really weak look as he's throwing punches and the like. He doesn't look nor act strong at all.
I kinda agree. There was a great show here, but the quality isn't quite there. Compared to Daredevil, the writing isn't as good, the cinematography isn't as good, the fight seems aren't as good, the actors aren't giving performances on anything like the same level. It just doesn't compete.
It doesn't suffer so badly against the other two Netflix shows though IMO. I thought Luke Cage was sublime up until episode 7, where it started to tank. The last couple of episodes were dire. Jessica Jones, on the other hand, plain sucked. Maybe five episodes of content drawn out over 13, resulting in a snorefest that was only interrupted by David Tennant's decent turn as the Purple Man. I think I'd place Luke Cage second, Iron Fist third at the moment; Cage ended badly, but at its height it was the better show.
It only takes a cursory glance to see that Iron Fist is getting more than a little undue stick for not recasting the lead as Asian though. It's not the only criticism it's receiving, but it's certainly the most unfair. It started off as a fairly reasonable "It would have been nice to see them cast an Asian lead" and has snowballed from there. Now, not changing Danny Rand's ethnicity is cultural appropriation, a demonstration of the 'white saviour' or 'mighty whighty' trope. It, apparently, is less offensive to retcon the story to keep matters of culture and race in neat little boxes, where everyone respects (and abides by) normal stereotypes. Transcending cultures is racist, but only if you're a white male.
It's quite tragic really. I agree that it might have been a nice opportunity to cast an East-Asian actor in to a lead role in a Marvel project. But the opportunity wasn't taken up. There's was no need for the debate over that decision to descend into a farce.