Ramone Reviews: Marvel’s ‘Daredevil’

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: I'm a sucker for comic book and superhero movies. The Ben Affleck Daredevil movie wasn't the best.  It's not the worst (Electra was pretty awful), but Daredevil wasn't the worst.  Now, because superhero movies are so popular, it was only a matter of time before Daredevil was rebooted.  It's been too long since the first one for a sequel, so it only makes sense to reboot the film; I mean, it's Hollywood after all.  Reboots and remakes are what they do best!

Thank Lemmy (God) for Netflix!  Instead of rebooting Daredevil, Netflix decided to make it into a 13 episode series, and if there's one thing us Americans love, it's binge watching our favorite show. Especially ones about superheroes!

Marvel's Daredevil isn't quite an origin story.  It does tell us how Matt Murdock goes blind, and trains to become the vigilante eventually known as Daredevil, but I wouldn't go as far as calling it an origin story. The majority of this is told through flashbacks.  Netflix did pay for 13 episodes, after all...

The series starts with Matt Murdock/Daredevil (played wonderfully by Charlie Cox) and his best pal Froggy Nelson opening their own law firm.  By day, Matt is the blind lawyer from Hell's Kitchen; by night, "the man in the mask."  Fans expecting to see Matt in the Daredevil costume will be pretty disappointed.  His costume throughout the series consists of a black outfit and a black mask.  It isn't until the last episode when Matt gets the Daredevil costumes and adopts the name Daredevil.  But let me tell you what, it's a fun ride watching him get to that point!

What makes the show great isn't only the excellent acting and writing, but the great action sequences. It's not like the old Adam West Batman where he hits a guy and the guy goes down in two seconds. Daredevil gets his ass kicked--a lot!  But since he's Daredevil and has some pretty kick ass moves, he always gets his man, even if that means limping away from a fight.

Vincent D'Onofrio plays Daredevil's arch nemesis, Wilson Fisk (the Kingpin).  Although D'Onofrio plays a great Fisk, Fisk is too human in this.  We see him fall in love, we learn about his past and we start to feel empathy for him, all while he's cutting a guy's head off with a car door.  I shouldn't empathize for Wilson Fisk!  I want to see Daredevil kick his butt from episode one, but instead, I start to feel bad for him.  Hopefully in season two, Fisk is more of the ruthless son of a bitch I think he is (it's at this point that I should point out I never read the comic, so I only have to assume that since the Kingpin is the super villain, he's a cold hearted bastard).

Netflix got the formula right on this one: great writing, great acting, and great action scenes.  Superhero shows will never replace big budget movies like The Avengers, but it's a great alternative than going to the theater to see a 90 minute truncated story of our favorite heroes.  So viva Daredevil, and viva Netflix!