{"id":4153,"date":"2016-10-12T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=4153"},"modified":"2016-10-11T16:57:11","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T00:57:11","slug":"luke-cage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/luke-cage\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLuke Cage\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Ashton Newton\r\nEntertainment Editor<\/pre>\n
Marvel\u2019s Netflix shows have proven one thing in the past: they know exactly what they\u2019re doing. \u201cDaredevil\u201d and \u201cJessica Jones\u201d both had incredible performances, compelling stories and plenty of details straight from the comics. Marvel\u2019s \u201cLuke Cage\u201d is the next show in the ever-growing lineup, and it follows the footsteps of its predecessors.<\/p>\n
Luke Cage made his debut in \u201cJessica Jones\u201d: the bulletproof man with a mysterious past. The new show picks up right where the first left off. Cage moves to Harlem and tries his best to live a normal life by working multiple jobs and trying his best to lay low. Obviously, things don\u2019t go as planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke Cage\u201d makes it clear that everyone is human. Although Luke has bulletproof skin, he reacts to things and feels the same emotions that any human would. On the other side, the villains Cornell \u2018Cottonmouth\u2019 Stokes, a Harlem crime lord, and his cousin, Mariah Dillard, are equally human. The hardships and tragedy these characters endure make them feel both real and relatable. This is done by fabulous performances all around.<\/p>\n
The side characters don\u2019t get as much focus as the main characters in \u201cLuke Cage\u201d. While Misty Knight plays a prominent role, her presence almost never seems necessary. Claire Temple plays a larger role. She is the only character to have appeared in \u201cDaredevil\u201d, \u201cJessica Jones\u201d and \u201cLuke Cage\u201d. She is what holds these heroes together so her presence in \u201cLuke Cage\u201d is only logical. Her character arch has been building over years in television and I imagine that \u201cLuke Cage\u201d is just a small step in a long journey for her.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest differences between \u201cLuke Cage\u201d and previous Netflix shows is the soundtrack. Main events and action sequences are almost always accompanied by music. Scenes at Cottonmouth\u2019s club repeatedly show live music; sometimes the musicians are featured just as much as the actors. The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic and is used to convey common themes and emotions.<\/p>\n
While the story is very strong, the writing feels a little off at times. There are cheesy lines so predictable they made my eyes roll. Luke Cage, specifically, is super corny. It\u2019s partly his character, getting called out on it by other characters, but it felt a bit distracting.<\/p>\n
The show is also a bit more adult than \u201cDaredevil\u201d and \u201cJessica Jones\u201d. While those were very mature in their own right, \u201cLuke Cage\u201d has some pretty strong language and graphic violence. It\u2019s mostly the characters in the show staying true to comics, just as The Punisher in \u201cDaredevil\u201d is more foul mouthed than anyone else on the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke Cage\u201d fits well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are plenty of callbacks to other Marvel films. At one point Luke is referred to as \u201cHarlem\u2019s Captain America\u201d. I\u2019ve wished that there were more ties to the Marvel Universe since Daredevil season one, and I felt that Luke Cage did a very good job. There are huge ties to \u201cIron Man 2\u201d, and for the first time, Avengers Tower was even in the background of the promotional art.<\/p>\n
Overall, I\u2019d recommend \u201cLuke Cage\u201d to anyone. It doesn\u2019t require an extensive knowledge of superheroes, it\u2019s culturally relevant, there\u2019s action and drama and the performances are top of the line. It\u2019s well rounded, wildly entertaining and easily the best Netflix Marvel show yet.<\/p>\n
Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Ashton Newton Entertainment Editor Marvel\u2019s Netflix shows have proven one thing in the past: they know exactly what they\u2019re doing. \u201cDaredevil\u201d and \u201cJessica Jones\u201d both had incredible performances, compelling stories and plenty of details straight from the comics. Marvel\u2019s \u201cLuke Cage\u201d is the next show in the ever-growing lineup, and it follows the footsteps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":937,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/937"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}