I've been waiting for this with bated breath ever since it got announced and after a year of waiting, Luke Cage has finally made his entrance into the Marvel Netflix series. Luke Cage is one of my favorite superheroes and to see him finally get some onscreen representation is a great joy and its amazing to see him come to life. With an amazing cast led by Mike Colter and stellar music influenced by A Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang Clan and original scores; Luke Cage proves itself to be extremely enjoyable.
I'm currently 3 episodes into the show so far I'm definitely hooked. It takes place after the events of Jessica Jones where Cage has gone into hiding once more to live a peaceful and quiet life. I love the production design of the show. The camera work is fantastic and the shots of Harlem are beautiful and vibrant and scenes are expertly crafted. My favorite scene so far happens near the end of the first episode during one of the villain's scenes, Cornell Stokes, in which he kills someone for stealing from him. I haven't been more jealous of lighting and shot composition in a scene before that.
Music is a huge part of the show and I really enjoy it. It gives everything the tone of 90s style with a mix of blaxploitation and it works really well. Luke Cage has the abilities of superhuman strength and invincibility. His only weakness is adamantium and that's not very easy to come by in the streets of Harlem. Every action scene with Cage is this one sided invincible man versus a mob of guys with guns and melee weapons but it doesn't feel old. I feel like I'm watching Jackie Brown or Foxy Jones or Shaft. He's going out and taking down thugs with Wu-Tang Clan playing in the background and its awesome. There's one really cool scene where there's a woman who is high and witnesses him and the police come to question her about Cage's appearance and she simply says: "He's fine."
I truly do want to give praise to the acting of everyone involved. Alfre Woodard, Mahershala Ali, Mike Colter and especially to Simone Missick. The actress didn't read any comics and chose to bring her own interpretation of Misty Knight to the screen and I think it works really well. She's not just the love interest of Luke Cage but she also brings masculinity to her own femininity rarely seen on camera. Props to everyone for spectacular line delivery and performance.
Luke Cage is all around a great show. I really enjoy the difference in tone and presentation from the noir detective fiction of Jessica Jones and the dark, gritty Batman feel of Daredevil is a welcome change. I strongly encourage you to watch Luke Cage. Now what I'm really hoping for is that the Iron Fist series goes for Kung-Fu style films...
