‘The Defenders’: Action takes a back seat to long back story
New York City is in peril, again.
Good thing the city’s local superheroes practically outnumber the Starbucks, each with a film franchise and/or TV series devoted to their crusades against evil forces.
This week it’s “The Defenders’” turn to clean up the already clean streets of Manhattan. The Marvel superheroes, each equipped with disparate powers and their own Netflix series, are thrown together for an eight-episode limited series that debuts today on the streaming service.
In it, Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) reluctantly join forces after they each encounter a nefarious network of ninja masters known as the Hand.
This dangerous cult will do anything to achieve immortality, a mission that includes, of course, wiping out considerable swaths of humanity. Members of the Hand hide in plain sight among the moneyed jerks of the New York 1 percent, sipping fine wine and listening to classical music while their minions exploit the other 99 percent to get what they want.
Leading the charge is the ancient being Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver) and her sidekick, the recently resurrected Elektra (Elodie Yung). Alexandra has been around for centuries, but for some reason she’s taken ill and isn’t expected to live much longer.
She needs to move fast, but there’s a formidable opponent in her way: the series’ pacing.
The first three episodes eat up precious time with superhero exposition: Here’s what they’ve been doing since the last season of their series, their ongoing internal battles and how their paths cross, etc.
Exploring the origins of the Hand also takes up extensive amounts of time. Regardless, most viewers will still need a flow chart to figure out where and how the group came to be.