C&C Review - 'Marvel’s Jessica Jones'
Netflix Hit Another Home Run
A Review by Steven Carter
I have been looking forward to this series for a while now, right from the first trailers. The idea of another Netflix Marvel adaptaion after the astounding Dardevil series was something I knew I'd be on straight away. When Jessica jones was announced my curiosity peaked further and after a serious Netflix binge here are my thoughts on the first season, relatively spoiler free aside from some events in the first episode to get the ball rolling.
The overall tone is very dark. Darker than I expected. Like a lot of private eye films and TV shows, you get a lot of monologues from our heroine to set the scene. Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) is a PI who predominantly exposes love cheats. She also happens to possess superhuman strength but prefers to keep it on the down low. She is handed a case by Jeryn Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss). A missing persons case. As Jessica begins to investigate, one of her worst fears is realised. A mysterious figure from her past, presumed dead has come back to haunt her. Like the Daredevil series that was released earlier this year, this is certainly not one for the little kiddies. Whereas Daredevil was full of blood and swears, Jessica adds some much needed sex appeal to that pile. It's not long after the introduction of Luke Cage (Mike Colter) that the pair strike up an intense romantic relationship and have a pretty uncomfortable and more importantly, real, sexual tryst.
The opening titles are a nice visual piece, not as slick as Daredevil’s but are decent in their own right! Overall, the casting lineup is excellent. Krysten Ritter does a great job playing Jessica, a former superhero struggling to cope with PTSD after her previous experience with the Purple Man aka: Zebediah Killgrave. David Tennant also does a great job playing the big bad of the series! The psychological presence he holds is incredible.I was freaked out by his performance long before he appeared properly in the show and when he does reveal himself things get a whole lot more interesting.
Ritter is suitably mysterious in the lead role and has a great arrogance and bravado that is born out of fears and her imperfections during the course of the season make her a lot more relatable than her regular vices like drink and casual sex. More often than other heroes in the MCU Jones makes the wrong choice again related to her own insecurities, you'll be raising an eyebrow at points for sure but this is part of the characters appeal and a breath of fresh air from Marvel.
Plenty of kudos goes to Carrie-Anne Moss, who doesn't look like she has aged a day since her Matrix stint 16 years ago! Rachael Taylor’s character is also an interesting addition. Originally, this character was meant to be Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) but was changed to the very un-super powered Patricia Walker who some hardcore Marvel nerds may recognise as the vigilante Hellcat!
Then we come to Luke Cage. Played by Mike Colter, who certainly looks the part as the Hero for Hire but still has room for improvement. Sure his character is interesting, I love the way Marvel have started to intertwine his past with Jessica’s and without spoiling too much, it's not in a good way. As intriguing as this relationship plays out, Colter comes across as rather subdued and with so many electric performances around him may need to step it up as Luke Cage is such a key character for the future of the Netlfix and Marvel colloboration. Hopefully it's just early days and we may see him blossom once the Luke Cage series takes centre stage!
The show blends the noir genre into the wider marvel cinematic universe and shows the range of the comic book giant's catalogue of heroes. The fact that Jones isn't one of their iconic characters really helps the creators and you can tell they've had a free pass in terms of exploring the best decisions for the series creatively and thematically as opposed to delivering a standard comic book TV show. These days with the speed these properties are being developed that's an incredibly important factor in separating Jessica Jones from the crowd and you have to applaud Netflix for their approach.
The action in the series is a real treat and cannot be compared with the 'Daredevil' series. Jessica’s fighting skills mainly consist of punching really hard and throwing people about whereas Murdock was a highly skilled and acrobatic combatant. This offers a new perspective on power levels within this street-level Marvel universe and while it's not exactly Thor level strength it does make you wonder just how a friendly tussle would go down with Matt Murdoch. The same is said for the Luke Cage action scenes, it's all pretty easy and he doesn't need to put much too effort into fighting, surely a more evenly matched bout is set for his solo series.
Overall the the new Netflix adaptation has once again got me hooked. The hide-and-seek situation between Jessica and Kilgrave is excellent. The mystery is engrossing and the payoff is well worth the suspense, it's certainly different and that's not always a good thing when it's just for the sake of it but there's a real purpose with this series that starts with the first episode and does not let up or disappoint.
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