This past Friday Netflix and Marvel re introduced us to the
man without fear as the Netflix original series Daredevil was made available
for instant streaming.
Daredevil is the story of Matthew Murdock. The son of boxer
Jack Murdock, Matthew was blinded in a toxic spill after a car accident. Young
Matthew saved a man’s life but lost his sight. Matthew grows up to become a
lawyer after attending Columbia University where he meets his best friend Foggy
Nelson who he starts his own law firm with.
Lawyer by day Murdock tries to put criminals away, but sometimes
the law makes it difficult to put bad men away so at night Murdock takes it
upon himself to put those criminals out of business as Daredevil.
The show is 13 episodes and will eventually we will see
Daredevil again in the Defenders series coming to Netflix.
The main story arch of Daredevil stems from the Battle of
New York from The Avengers. A Major construction company controls the
rebuilding contracts for Hell’s Kitchen following the devastation of the
Avenger’s battle and that company is owned by the mob and a one Wilson Fisk.
Unlike the movies out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or
MCU, Daredevil has a very dark side to it and to be honest it was a refreshing
change from the films. Daredevil is gritty, gutsy and gory.
There is a lot of
blood, and a lot of violence. This is not your fancy Avengers fights with all
their powers and what not, this is a man with heightened senses beating the
crap out of the scum in Hell’s Kitchen and getting his fair share of bruises in
the process.
Although the fight seems can feel a little dragged out, they
feel so real to the viewer you may start dodging punches on your couch.
One particular fight scene is very notable. In episode two
Murdock goes into a building to save a kidnapped child. The entire fight is a
single shot and it makes for a great peace of cinematography. It is so fluid
and when the fighting goes off camera viewers are immediately on the edge of
their seats waiting for someone to bust threw the door Murdock just went in.
The show does a great job of introducing its villains and
telling their stories. We find out how the Russians who kidnapped the boy from
episode two got to New York, and what their role in the show is. We also find
out that the Russians, Chinese and Japanese mobsters are all working together
with the King Pin, Wilson Fisk.
One thing the show does that makes it stand out is tell the
story of Wilson Fisk. Not often do we see the history of our antagonist and
find out how they got to the point they’re at and what they mean to
accomplish. We see glimpses into his
past just as we see glimpses inti Matt Murdock’s.
Not only are viewers shown Murdock’s struggles as a hero,
but we see the man’s day to day struggles as well. We see him struggle with the
morality of what he has to do in his costume, and we also see how people
interact with him because of his disability. The way that people interact with
him because of his vision adds a bit of comedy to the series. A lot of people
nod in response to his questions, or go for a hand shake.
There are plenty of great elements to this show but there
are a couple things missing. It would have been nice to see some type of tie-in
to the upcoming Marvel shows that will be on Netflix. Some type of cameo or
mention of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, or Danny Rand would have been fun. Surely
Daredevil will feature in the next show that starts up. The lack of a lead in to the other shows and
the long fight scenes are really the only things to complain about.
Marvel and Netflix had a lot to prove with this show as tit
is the flag ship for a fleet of shows headed to Netflix in the next couple of
years. They have succeeded, and after you see episode thirteen of Daredevil you
will want to see the rest of what Marvel and Netflix have coming.
