A/N: I know I missed Sunday sorry there was a party at my house so my bad sorry.
So after two or so months I finally finished Netflix's Daredevil. The reason this took so long is I'm not the kind of person who can sit for thirteen hours binge watching a show no matter how good it is or how much I like the show, I don't have the attention span to do that.
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The Man without Fear |
My favorite superhero of all time is Daredevil. I love the idea of a disable superhero who has not just the problems every other superhero has but other more personal limitations that set him back a lot, that creates for an interesting character. So when I heard he was getting a Netflix I thought both perfect and "Oh my god I want that now!" So what do I think of the TV now that I've watched it what do I think?.... I love it!
Daredevil is a fantastic show with interesting characters, amazing acting, a great story, good action and just about everything was spectacular.
Daredevil is a show about Matt Murdock who when he was a child saved the life of a man who was about to be hit by a truck but the truck spilled over and the chemical contents it was carrying spilled into Matt's eyes and blinded him for the rest of his life. However he found that in exchange for making him blind the chemicals gave his super senses. After the death/murder of his father with the help of a blind ninja master named Stick he learns combat skills and when he is older (and a lawyer) he becomes a vigilante (later named Daredevil) fighting in the name of justice. Now in post-avengers Hell's Kitchen (pre-Clinton era) a new crime boss has risen Wilson Fisk (A.K.A the King Pin) who plans to tear down Hell's kitchen and build a better tomorrow through criminal means. Now Daredevil must not only get the basics of what it means to be a hero but stop the crime boss before the city he loves is gone forever.
If I could compare this show to anything (even if it's in the smallest common factor) is Game of Thrones and what I mean by that is that the show's greatest strength's are within it's interesting characters. This for the most part is a character show and the best way to review this is by talking about the characters.
First our hero. Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil was one I was at first skeptical about as the only thing I remembered seeing him in was Boardwalk empire and I wasn't impressed with his performance. After seeing the show I see he was the perfect choice to portray Daredevil as he very much brings forth the exterior cool, calm confidence and the interior insecurity, guilt, anger and righteousness that the character is supposed to have and balances both sides beautifully. You believe Matt Murdock to be a man struggling with what's right and trying to be the best he can be when so many forces are weighing down on him both externally and internally. The performance is extremely compelling and he pretty much owns every scene he's in. I hope he's nominated for an Emmy when the time comes because he definitely deserves a nomination.
Now while Charlie Cox as Daredevil is awesome the person who steals the show and should WIN an Emmy is Vincent D'Onofrio as King Pin. In both the comics and cartoon's King Pin is portrayed as a cool, level-headed crime boss who is the master of quiet intimidation, basically Vito Corleone. Here however he's played as both intelligent and intimidating but also in probably the most sympathetic light the character has ever been in and the most complex. He's basically an anti-social man child who is playing in the adults game with an adult appearance but with a child's personality, if you don't give him what he wants he's going to kill you in a temper tantrum and he kind of sucks at dating. My favorite villains are the ones who either think of themselves as the hero and/or in certain perspectives is the hero. Wilson Fisk entire motivation is to make Hell's Kitchen a better place and not the crime ridden cesspool he's lived in for so long and you buy it, he's so genuine in the idea that his plan is with good intentions and in certain aspects you agree with him more than Daredevil. You root for him when he finds love and happiness, you cry when he cries and you feel upset when he feels angry. The writing and performance for King Pin is just brilliant and perfect.
Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson is great as well. He's laid back and the comedic character in the show but you can still take him seriously and he's never played as an idiot, he's played more as a well-meaning laid back guy you would want to share a drink at Josie's with and he has some of the best dialogue in the series. Yet like Matt Murdock who kind of got upstaged by the villain, the villain's best friend/right hand man kind of upstaged foggy. The character of James Wesley could have been just a generic, forgettable henchmen but with excellent writing and the performance of Toby Leonard Moore it transform into an interesting character of the King Pin's puppet master, right hand and best friend of Wesley. A intelligent, confident to the point of overconfident and dedicated guy who doesn't seem as if he's outright evil but more along the line he's here just to do his job and help his friend and you genuinely buy these guys are friends especially in episode 8,11,and 12.
Deborah Ann Wolf as Karen Page I also really liked and found really cool she's running away from an apparently dark past and feels guilty after the death of her co-worker David, the first person to show her any kindness is killed because of her and you feel real sympathy for her. She's very caring, resourceful, and determined person who just wants to do the right thing and bring the person responsible to justice. I also really like Vanessa played by Ayelet Zuer, I like that they make Vanessa know what her boyfriend is up to and she accepts it not just out of the fact she genuinely loves Fisk but is also kind of crazy herself making her a more interesting character than in the comics.
One of my favorite characters (along with with King Pin, Wesley, Jack Murdock and Karen) is Vondie-Curtis Hall as Ben Urich. Ben is a passionate and determined journalist and a devoted husband who is trying to survive in a internet saturated world and you understand his plight and want to see him succeed and he's a genuinely good person, he also has one of the few scenes in episode 12 & 13 that almost made me cry. Scott Glenn as Stick was inspired casting and I like the idea that Stick was not the traditional wise ninja master you see as he's rather mean and is very stubborn a lot of the time yet he is very funny and entertaining to watch. I also really loved Fisk's fellow mobsters Nobu was cool, Owlsey was just entertaining to watch, Anatoly and Vladimir were interesting but my favorite was Madame Gao a really old (probably late eighties) Chinese woman who was probably the most blatantly evil and intimidating person on the show a women who could offer sagely words of advice while at the same time ripping you apart.
The only character I didn't care too much for (and one of the weaknesses of the show) was Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple and it's not like she's a bad character she's caring yet has her limits and has her own moral code yet the thing is, is that she doesn't really do anything besides help Daredevil heal and her appearances are very sparatic so we never really get to know Claire that well.
Besides the characters the writing is really solid and well done, the dialogue is great and most of the episodes are coherently structured and never waste any screen time on unnecessary stuff. The actions scenes are really cool and done well as in you can actually see them and they are choreographed nicely especially the now infamous fight in episode 2 which is equal parts hilarious and badass. On a side note the cinematography is beautiful with interesting shots and angles done in most episodes.
My favorite episodes so far are episode 2, a great Jack Murdock centric story and automatically makes Jack on of the best fathers in television. Episode 6 a great episode involving Matt trapped in a stick situation and some of the best writing in the show, episode 7 as Stick was amazing and it adds an interesting layer to Matt Murdock with what's revealed in this episode, episode 8 the backstory of the Kingpin is amazing character study of our villain and has some of the shows best directing and has the best ending to any episode and episode 11 & 12 are suspense filled rides both with shocking endings.
Now the show does have flaws like everything does. Along with Claire not being well realized some episodes are not up to par as some others, now that doesn't mean their is a bad episode within the bunch but the other episodes are usually so good anything less than brilliant stands out. Episodes 3,13, and 5 are like that. Episode 3 is poorly structured and confusing to follow even though the ending is good, episode 5 is somewhat forgettable until the end and blends too easily with episode 4 (a great episode) and episode 13 as the finale one starts out amazing and the middle is still good but the end part is somewhat anti-climatic mainly the fight between King Pin and Daredevil.
Still the show is overall a near masterpiece and if it weren't for the flaws mentioned above it would be.
I give this TV show a 9.5/10~ Near perfect with great characters, brilliant writing and action and just a joy to watch
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