C&C Review - Daredevil - Netflix Season 1

C&C Review - Daredevil - Netflix Season 1

Justice is Blind in Gritty Marvel Comic Adaptation

Reviewed by Steven Carter

 

Daredevil follows the exploits of Matt Murdock, played by Charlie Cox or as my wife put it; “Ooh! It’s Tristan from Stardust!”. Matt and his close friend and colleague Foggy Nelson have just set up their own independent law firm. Unbeknownst to Foggy, Matt is also moonlighting as a masked vigilante. Helping those who are in need and kicking the asses of those who deserve an ass kicking!

Charlie Cox makes a likable Murdoch and nails the characters inner "devil"

Across the first series, Nelson and Murdock begin to unravel a secretive plot that involves the whole of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Eventually, Murdock gets a name out of a murderer after nearly beating him senseless. “Wilson Fisk”. The murderer promptly kills himself in a rather gruesome way in fear of reprisals for revealing his employer’s name. Matt then makes it his mission to take down this “Kingpin of crime”.

The fight scenes are awesome, Ninja on fire level awesome

Marvel’s decision to make this a TV series was certainly the right one. This is how all superhero origin stories should be shown from now on! Releasing Daredevil in this format really allows the leading characters to develop properly whilst allowing DD to kick all kinds of ass simultaneously!
Also with Marvel’s penchant for continuity in it’s cinematic universe, we can expect the core characters to make the transition to the big screen in the future! DD does play a part in the Civil War comics so we could possibly see him make a background appearance in next years Captain America film!

Matt's suit gets a significant upgrade during the course of the season

The series takes a much darker approach this time, compared with Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Daredevil showcases a lot more blood and gore, violence and naughty language that isn’t exactly ideal family viewing.

The cinematography on display is fantastic, Netflix creates several perfectly grim, noir moments

The fight sequences do not disappoint. There are plenty of them about, lots of acrobatics and brutal blows. One particular episode comes to mind where a very long continuous shot shows our hero brawling with multiple Russian hoodlums through two rooms and a hallway. DD is clearly on the brink of exhaustion but always musters up the strength to continue once one of the bad guys comes to and lunges for him again.

Daredevil vs The Kingpin, as you can see, round one goes to baldy

Daredevil is far from being the perfect fighter though and does take more than his fair share of licks, thus resulting in multiple visits from Claire Temple (played by Rosario Dawson), a nurse who those of you with the comic book knowledge recognise as the first love interest of Luke Cage, the hero for hire! There are other subtle easter eggs dotted throughout various episodes as well. Logos have been spotted that belong to the Steel Serpent who is an enemy of K’un-Lun; a mystical city that is the spiritual home of the Iron Fist.

Claire discovers Matt's secret early on and the two develop a close relationship

The casting for this series is also well done. One or two questions were raised with the characters, Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson seemed like a weird choice for me, That being said, he won me over once he got more screen time. “Nelson Vs Murdock” is a great episode to see this happen. A lot of emotion is on show here and you get a sense of how intense the bromance was between these guys during their uni days. The rest of the supporting cast are solid, notably Deborah Ann Woll as the beautiful Karen Page and Vondie Curtis-Hall as Ben Urich is a real stand-out.

The show boasts a really well thought-out cast, there are no weak links

You can't not mention Vincent D’Onofrio, he is fantastic as Wilson Fisk. His presence just exhumes menace, whenever he's on screen, expect something bad to happen, my only issue is when he speaks Chinese, it sounds rather awkward.

You really don't want to bump into this guy in a dark alleyway

Overall Daredevil is an incredibly fresh take on what's now a pretty familiar story, it stays well clear of what has worked with other Marvel properties when it could have played it safe. Instead we are well rewarded for the showrunners efforts, the format is new for the superhero genre and it could well reinvent how comics are adapted for live action in the future. If you are on the fence about getting Netflix, then I would use this as a good reason to sign up. If not then do it for upcoming shows AKA: Jessica Jones (later this year), Luke Cage (2016), Iron Fist and the Defenders (TBC)!