I can honestly say I did.
I spent today binge watching Season 1 of the Marvel/Netflix Daredevil series. 13 episodes, each clocking in between 47 and 58 minutes. That's approximately 11 hours of superhero submersion, plus meals and bathroom breaks, we'll call it 12 hours even.
For me, that's a grand way to spend my day.
What I likes?
Vincent D'Onofrio. I've said it a thousand times (no, really, at least that many), cast the villain right and any superhero show or movie is going to succeed. Cast wrong and no amount of muscle and right angles in the jawbones of your hero will save it. D'Onofrio owns this. He creates a Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) who not only feels like a genuine threat but is a real human being with layered and emotional reasons for his actions. While his backstory is a bit cliché, D'Onofrio gives us the man born of his abusive childhood with insecurities and foibles that don't detract one bit from him being one scary son of a bitch who doesn't mind getting his hands (and car door) dirty.
Parkour. When I first saw video of practitioners getting up and over with grace, strength and flair I thought to myself, "self, make a note that if you ever get to direct a Batman or Daredevil movie, get these guys to do their stuff, 'cuz this Parkour stuff is the live action version of what you imagined Batman and Daredevil would do if they actually existed." They had DD using a Parkour style of movement as he chases and flips around the city. Good on 'em, 'cuz it's about time that found its way into a superhero series.
The outfit. The red one. When it shows up, it looks pretty great. At least, it looks great in motion. Not so good in close up still moments, but excellent in the action sequences.
The nods to Marvel fans, both the comic and movie variety. Lots of comic geek references (my favourite is Fisk's comment about ascots) and enough references to iron suits, magic hammers and the recent destruction of half of New York to firmly ground this series and those to come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Pretty much everything else. The supporting cast is uniformly great and the writing is generally pretty tight as is direction and general coolness. The fights are awesome.
What I didn't likes?
The outfit. The black one. Along with not being sold on the red outfit close up and still, I loathed the black version. Not so much the UnderArmor look but the black mask just SUCKED. He looked like a guy pulled a toque down over his eyes and forgot to cut eyeholes. It just seems kinda weird that a guy looking to protect his identity would pretty much advertise that something about his eyes isn't normal by covering them completely. Sure, it's a long shot that anyone would imagine that blind lawyer Matt Murdoch is the masked vigilante prowling the rooftops, but to basically point out that he's not using his eyes by covering them seems a bit on the nose to me. I blame Frank Miller. It looked great in his version of the character in the comics, but live it's just jarringly weird.
Not enough Stick. Murdoch's sensei and semi-surrogate father only shows up in one episode and it felt like we'd missed the half episode that explained the backstory of why he was there in the first place. I would have liked to see him utilized better. I hope Scott Glenn signs on for season 2 and gets more screen time. He's way too good an actor to waste on a single episode, particularly given how great the character is and how much he plays a part in DD's backstory.
That's about it, actually. I did find it dragged a bit here and there as it bogged down in the unnecessary B story bits between Matt and Foggy but nothing is perfect and for some that might be a plus rather than a minus. I'd have preferred more action overall, but there was at least one great fight per episode so it's hard to fault them much.
Overall I'm very pleased, looking forward to A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Power Man, Iron Fist and The Defenders along with the recently announced Season 2 of DD. Netflix scored high with this first installment in their foray into the Marvel Universe and I am confident the next offerings they bring will be just as tasty.
1 comment:
We watched this, too. Yes, it did drag a little bit, especially after Foggy found how Matt's secret. I think Foggy could have reacted better, but that's just me.
Michelle didn't like the extended fight scenes. They were brutal and a little over the top, but I liked them.
The three main babes were handled well. They weren't just eye candy but had good contributions. Also? Awesome eye candy!
I've started to notice how few roles there are for women in movies and TV shows. It's sad, really. But, that's another subject.
We will definitely watch season 2. And, like yourself, I'm eager to see the other Marvel shows Netflix does. They did such a good job with House of Cards, Marco Polo and, of course, Dare Devil.
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