Okay, let’s cut to the chase. Marvel has a winner on its hands with Daredevil, which is currently streaming on Netflix. The show is well written, superbly acted and very, very violent (as in Oldboy violent and not recommended for young viewers).
It’s easy to say that this rendition of Daredevil got everything right that the Ben Affleck 2003 movie got wrong, but that wouldn’t be fair. The version currently streaming on Netflix had 13 hours to tell its story. The Affleck version tried to tell it’s tale in two and failed because it didn’t trust its source material. And that is where the Netflix version succeeds. It not only trust its Frank Miller source material, it immerses itself in it.
Every hero needs a villain and Vincent D’Onofrio, as Wilson Fisk (Kingpin), is the reason that Daredevil shines. His Fisk is downright scary and bordering on insanity sometimes, echoing D’Onofrio’s previous performance as Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket. It is worthy of award recognition. That is not to discount the splendid performances of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock or Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page. And Elden Henson raises the character of Foggy Nelson from comic relief to someone you care about because he uses humor as a shield to keep from being hurt.
Daredevil represents the opening salvo in Marvel’s Defenders series. Later this year, Netflix will premiere the second show in the series, A.K.A. Jessica Jones. Next year, we will see Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Afterwards, the four heroes will combined into an Avengers-type series called, The Defenders.
Don’t be surprised to see characters and references from Daredevil cross over to A.K.A. Jessica Jones. And Jones will certainly cross over to Luke Cage, her husband in the comics. We should also expect Luke Cage to crossover to Iron Fist because those two formed “Heroes for Hire.”
Words like “dark” and “gritty” get thrown around too often when used to describe movies, but those words are certainly appropriate when used relative to Daredevil. If the rest of the Defenders are anywhere as good as Daredevil was, we all are in for a terrific ride.