Pete Messum Reviews...

Marvel's Iron Fist has been met with a rather negative critical reception since its released on March 17th. The fourth of Marvel's Netflix collaborations, Iron Fist is a martial arts show focused around the character of Danny Rand (Finn Jones) who returns to New York fifteen years after being presumed dead in a plane crash along with his parents. However, his former friends Ward (Tom Pelphrey) and Joy (Jessica Stroup) do not recognise him, and things have certainly changed. His father's former friend Harold Meachum (David Wenham) is officially dead, but hiding away from public view, as Ward runs Rand Enterprises. Despite seeking help from martial artist Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), Danny finds himself virtually alone in a changed New York. For many shows, the first episode is usually a bit of a rough patch. A whole 45-60 minutes of setting up a whole show can be daunting to both writers and viewers, and its easy to see why many people have preferred binge-watching sho

In the conclusion to this season's 'Ghost Rider' pod, 'The Laws of Inferno Dynamics' sees everyone team up to fight Eli, now imbued with the ability to create molecules out of nowhere (or, from another dimension it would seem). Getting to see a new version of last season's Secret Warriors team is cool, now with Quake, Yo-Yo and Ghost Rider, a trio that works very well with a range in abilities and characters. Sadly, we don't get to actually see this team in action very much, with all of them given one-off scenes or, in the case of Quake, barely that as she grapples with...stopping earthquakes. Not quite as intense as I'm sure it should have been. I was also disappointed not see Eli and Robbie go head-to-head with their powers, and after being so damn badass in the previous episodes, Ghost Rider just gets stabbed a couple of times and doesn't really do much. But hey, the effect of Robbie's face burning off is pretty cool. Eli as this pod's

'Deals With Our Devils' marks Agents of SHIELD's first big dive into multiple dimensions, in what appears to be a tie-in to Marvel's Doctor Strange released last year. While at first faking Coulson, Fitz and Robbie's deaths seems a bit silly for a show that's so good at killing its main characters I'm tempted to place several thousand pounds on Ward's return, the revelation that they are in fact stuck in an awkward dimensional gap is interesting. This of course connects to the scientists' ghostly demeanor, and while the sepia filter is a little uninspired, the episode does some clever things with this idea, and it is shot very well to create this double-effect. If there's one big problem I have with this is that it deviates away from the main narrative somewhat, taking up the best part of the episode on this. I don't mind story-of-the-week episodes, but so close to this pod's finale is a bit annoying if I'm honest. I do also feel t

Well, things certainly heated up quickly! 'The Good Samaritan' rockets us further towards our 'Ghost Rider' finale, as we delve further into Robbie Reyes' past. The flashbacks give us the origin we wanted to see, even if the slow-motion detracts from the emotion somewhat. Having an original Ghost Rider give Robbie his powers is an interesting origin, and the way it all ties to the team of scientists linked to the Darkhold is an interesting twist. The writers have certainly planned out this whole story arc, and while it is paying off, the coincidences and tie-ins are a little too much for me. I do have to complain though that Robbie's brother Gabe is really, REALLY annoying. I mean, I'm not exactly a Simmons fan, but he's so irritating I actually don't mind Simmons anymore. Hopefully he'll die soon. Regardless, seeing Mace go toe-to-toe with the Ghost Rider after his tense inspection was a fantastic pay-off for the episode, especially given ho

Watching a double-bill of Agents of SHIELD can be a little overwhelming at times, given the show's love for crafting huge almost nonsensical plots over the course of a season and often cramming quite a lot into single episodes. Therefore, taking a look at 'Lockup' with the following episode in perspective is a little odd. It's essentially a build-up episode, getting all of the pieces on place for events to skyrocket towards this "pod"'s conclusion. Setting 'Lockup' inside a prison makes me think very much of films like 'Dredd' or the 'Batman: Arkham' games, allowing for some concentrated action set-pieces. The big set-piece of this episode saw Daisy going toe-to-toe with a variety of prison inmates, trying to avoid using her superpowers, and proved to be a fantastic sequence - built upon much more firmly later on in the episode when May approaches Daisy about being too cold. The Daisy/May comparisons are obvious, but it does go t