Daredevil (2015)
TV-MA
Starring Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Vincent D'Onofrio,
Created by Drew Goddard
The Story:
Matt Murdock (Cox) was blinded as a youth. Years later, the blind lawyer hopes to make a difference by defending the defenseless in Hell's Kitchen, New York. He does this by day with his lawyer partner, Foggy Nelson (Henson). However by night, Mr. Murdock has a secret. He's the crime-fighting vigilante known as Daredevil.
This is his story.
:: insert Law & Order bomp bomp here::
So a while back, Marvel announced they were partnering with Netflix to bring some of their 2nd or 3rd tier characters to the small screen.
Guardians of the Galaxy hadn't hit yet.
Agents of Shield was doing so-so in the ratings.
Perhaps this was a chance for Marvel to recoup what was looking to be a dismal future?
Hahahhaha....
Hardly.
Instead, it stands as the latest stroke of genius from the House of Ideas.
Those that know me, and my love of Marvel comics, also know that I have no love for Matt Murdock.
Daredevil is a comic that I can read for an issue, maybe 3-4 tops before I simply cringe and throw it away.
He's a preposterous character.
He's been portrayed as the quippy-jokester... well, that's Spidey's gig.
He's the bad-ass vigilante... Batman's been there, done that.
And really, a blind lawyer? That can only go so far in comics before the reader is bored to tears.
And no, I've never bothered with Frank Miller's take on the comic, I really don't care that much about Daredevil, in print.
So it was with a big fat, "meh", that I approached the launch of Daredevil on Netflix.
Would it be grim? Would it be gritty? Would there be humor? Would I care to finish the first episode, let alone come back for seconds?
I'm happy to report that the answer to all of those questions is, Yes!
It's dark. It's brooding. But there's a light touch of humor laying over the cast which makes the show quite entertaining.
They could have easily left out the naughty language and toned back the violence if they wanted to grab the mainstream superhero audience, but they opted not to.
That could be a genius move on the part of Marvel and Netflix.
Wait, what? Comic movies aren't just for kids?
Nope, these are the Walking Dead-ish Superhero shows for adults who don't want to watch superhero movies.
They walk a nice line between Law & DisOrder. You get Murdock as lawyer, then you'll get a bit of Murdock as vigilante.
It's a nice balance, and they show never stays too much on either, nor do they seemingly shortchange the other part of the story.
All this being said, I've only watched the first episode. I'm not a big fan of binge watching, I like to take my time and enjoy what I'm seeing. I'm in no hurry.
Cox is great in the role. Looking over his roles, I'd have to say this is probably the first time I've ever seen him. He's great, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table in future episodes.
Heck, I haven't even seen the villain yet, but you feel the gravitas that they've given D'Onofrio for the role.
Looking forward to the remaining 12 episodes.
All in good time.
Final Grade: A-
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