Yeah, I know I'm late to the party, but better late than never right?
Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, the Shaman of Animation back with some more superhero talk. Twelve years ago, a movie premiered that would introduce the mainstream world to a new hero. That movie was called Daredevil, and it was critically panned by both movie audiences and long time comic readers of the character. Now twelve years later (And getting some movie right issues resolved) The man without fear gets a second chance on the small screen with a 13 episode Netflix series. So let's talk about Daredevil.
Daredevil is the story of Matt Murdock, a blind small time attorney by day, and a hardened vigilante by night. He uses his extremely heightened senses along with his childhood combat training in his crusade to clean up Hell's kitchen which after the events of the first Avengers movie has gone to...hell. His fight to clean up the streets will eventually lead him face to face with Wilson Fisk, a man with the same goal as Matt, to clean up the city, but by using more underhanded methods to do so.
For the longest time, the MCU has been called out by its critics as being too "childish" and "lighthearted". Daredevil takes those criticisms and beats them viciously with his Billy Club. This series pulls no punches when it comes to its content. The phrase "Dark and Gritty" has been used a lot to describe a lot of shows with more serious tones and themes, I've even use these words myself. But in reality, these series are something that I like to call "Pseudo-Edge", series that people think are pushing the edge when in reality they try too hard to do so.
I said it in my discussion of Batman vs Superman, Daredevil didn't need some type of grandiose speech and gray filter to show how dark it was, it just showed you with the atmosphere it had about itself. From the first time you see Matt standing over a rooftop in costume, you knew how the series was going to be like. Not only that but the series felt very real with the situations that was presented in it: A city that's a shell of its former self, gangs, drugs, child trafficking, corrupt police. A lot of these issues are things that go on in the real world. Not only that, but it can get very brutal when it comes to the violence in this show, I was honestly surprised with some of the stuff that happened seeing as it is still a Marvel product at the end of the day.
Wilson Fisk, what is your major malfunction?!
All the characters in Daredevil in my opinion were well written. Matt's battle to save his city and how it affects him both physically and personally was greatly told. But the real MVP of the season went to Vincent D'onofrio and his portrayal as Wilson Fisk A.K.A The Kingpin. Now, outside of a couple of episodes of Spider-Man the Animated Series, I didn't know a lot about Wilson Fisk besides he's this evil business man. This show really takes time to establish Wilson as a character, we get to see his what made him who he is and his motives, and the show really does a great job of humanizing The Kingpin and in some cases. actually sympathize for him. He is without a doubt the most three dimensional villain in The Marvel Cinematic Universe, movie or television and he is easily the best one (Although considering the MCU's track record with villains, that isn't hard to do) As I stated earlier, Daredevil really shows that both Matt and Wilson want the same thing: to make Hell's Kitchen a better place and how that same goal and their battle with one another just affect the heir character development (Especially for Matt) just makes for great storytelling to a great show
The final verdict for this is that Daredevil is a must watch show. The action is awesome, every character has a purpose and doesn't feel like they're a waste, and the series overall just has a different feel from everything else Marvel has done before. Honestly, if it wasn't for the the Marvel logo and some very small mentions to The Avengers, I wouldn't even be able to tell that this show was in the same universe as the Avengers, hell I wouldn't even be able to tell that this is a superhero show because it doesn't. Which is really a good thing for the series: it's a nice standalone that you don't even have to have watched all the other movies to understand it. If you're at home one day and you have nothing going on and you have Netflix, just binge watch Daredevil. It really is the best way to watch it as it feels more like a 13 hour movie than it does a 13 episode show.
Kudos to the Marvel team for making such an excellent first season with Daredevil, and with The Punisher on board for Season 2 next year, it's only gonna get better.
Til next time folks, I'm The Shaman of Animation saying:
Seriously, if you haven't seen Arrow, don't bother, you're not missing out on much.
Take Care...
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