Netflix's Daredevil

[Orius]

I'm surprised no one posted about this yet.

 

I'm up to episode 4, and damn, it's getting better with each episode. This is exactly what I've always wanted from Marvel shows. The comics always had pretty interesting stories, but the studios wasted all that potential by profiting on mainstream blockbusters with all style and no substance. Daredevil looks to improve that for the future to come. Ironic, considering that the movie with the same title was hailed as one of the worst Marvel movies ever (save the director's cut).

 

There are so many good things to say about this, but I think I'll save most of them for future discussions and keep it short for now. The character writing is simply splendid. Initially, I was a little worried that it might get too boring for me, but the characters were interesting enough to suck me in and connect with me on an emotional level. Every main character and side character are given enough time to flesh out with meaningful scenes that aren't just there to fill up the screentime. Even though they've changed the race of Ben Urich and maybe even tweaked the backstory a little bit, I still find the scenes he's in pretty engaging.

 

And when we finally become familiar with the characters, that's when Marvel strike while the iron is hot, diving into the meaty storyline of a man who's just "trying to make his city a better place." It's pretty much your textbook formula of "familiarize the audience with the characters before telling the story" you see in every TV drama and anime, but it works really well here. And even though the story of a vigilante fighting mob bosses in a crime-infested city is hardly any more marvelous than a rogue A.I. bent on destroying humanity, I think the strong character writing here really makes it shine a lot more than Age of Ultron, or just about any Marvel production for the last decade, including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

Speaking of AoS, we don't get a dull-fest of a first season here in Daredevil. Every episode here so far as I've seen is used to their full potential of telling an interesting story. I must say that the court drama portrayed in a superhero show probably impressed me a lot more than it should. And it speaks length as to what AoS did wrong when it's not the superheroics in Daredevil that made me excited, but the kind of human interaction we get in the show. There's just... something special that Daredevil did very right, a combination of both the gritty style (of Dark Knight) and (the well-written script full of) substance culminated in a wonderful recipe that I could watch with little complaint, for whatever reasons.

 

And I haven't even talked about the spectacular casting yet! Most of the casting are functional at best, but only because I've seen four episodes. Charlie Cox and Elden Henson have a nice enough chemistry for me to like them. Charlie in particular plays up the human vulnerability so well that I could even feel his fear and insecurity beneath the mask, so that's a plus for him. I'm pleasantly surprised about the casting choice of Rosario Dawson. Before episode 4, I didn't think much of her due to her less than impressive past roles, but she's got me sold by the end of it. Deborah Ann Woll is okay, but I need to see more of her before I could decide. Vondie Curtis-Hall works fine as Ben Urich, but again, I need to see more of his acting.

 

And of course, we can't talk about the casting without mentioning Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk. To be honest, I wasn't as impressed as the others the first couple of scenes I saw him between episode 3 and 4. He was pretty good, but it wasn't mind-blowing. But once again, Daredevil pulled through by the end of the episode with

Fisk and his anger management issues.

Even though I knew of the character's backstory, that still caught me by surprise. I can't wait to see how Spidey's gonna go toe-to-toe with this imposing figure in the future of MCU.

 

So yeah, that's about it with my thoughts. Have you seen the show? What do you think of it?

 

I'm just going to go watch the rest of the season now.

[Optic]

Uhm... I've seen the old 2003 Daredevil movie which was pretty mediocre at the time from memory. I imagine this new TV series reboot triumphs over that movie in every way?

[Orius]

Uhm... I've seen the old 2003 Daredevil movie which was pretty mediocre at the time from memory. I imagine this new TV series reboot triumphs over that movie in every way?

And triumphs over pretty much every Marvel movie ever made in every way. Except Winter Soldier, maybe (Winter Soldier still seems flawed compared to this TV show).

[Orius]

It's a shame I never got to complete this series. The pacing of the second season was really messy, with that Punisher sub-plot and the Hand sub-plot mixing together. I wish they had just focused on the Punisher instead and leave The Hand for another season. I got bored and jumped ship during mid-season.

[The Bunk]

The first season was a masterpiece imo. The first half of the second season with the Punisher looked to be even better until the flawed second half with Elektra. It could have been better executed, although I thought it had a nice take on how conflicted Matt got when he had to make certain decisions.

 

Speaking of messy, have you seen Iron Fist?

[Orius]

Speaking of messy, have you seen Iron Fist?

I heard bad stuff. But no, I never had the luxury to check out just how bad it was. I also had a problem with how Marvel constantly cast Americans in oriental settings. I know Iron Fist was supposed to be a blonde in the comics, but the timing of it (after the recent Dr. Strange whitewashing, not to mention Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johansson) just frustrates me.

 

To be honest, I didn't really bother to watch Marvel's latest entries after the aforementioned Daredevil season two (or the first-half of it anyway). Out of Marvel's Netflix entries, I only watched Daredevil and Jessica Jones, that's it. It doesn't really have to do with the quality of the show, but more that I just don't have the time for it. Watching a full-length series can be draining (especially considering how long each episode of Netflix Marvel is) and proper time needs to be put aside for that kind of thing, time I just don't have.

 

I might check out Luke Cage in the future though. I heard it's good. Not so sure about The Defenders, however.

Edited June 2, 2017 by Guest

[The Bunk]

Ah ok. Overall I'd say that Daredevil is the best of the MCU Netflix shows. Jessica Jones is a close second. Luke Cage is also pretty enjoyable, but it also has pacing issues, and its second half is very flawed as well.

 

Iron Fist was just mediocre. I didn't have a problem with the whole whitewashing controversy, and if anything, that was the least of its problems. I didn't think it's as bad as critics say, but it's still very disappointing regardless.