With the release of the new upcoming Daredevil: Born Again project, I thought what better way than to start this little project of mine than with one of my favorite series, Daredevil. So without further ado, here we go…
The first season to one of if not the best comic book show ever. Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio are some of the best castings in history, along with other amazing castings like Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson. Daredevil is the story of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer who has heightened senses and uses them to fight crime and save Hell’s Kitchen. The story follows Matt trying to live a double life as Matt Murdock, while also being the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and just how hard that really is.
How do you beat someone who has everything? That is the question that Matt had to answer when it came to taking down Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio}. Wilson Fisk owned everything from poor broken down old tenements to about half of the cops in the Hell’s Kitchen precinct. Matt struggled with finding the answer for that the entire season and almost broke his number one vow, not to kill. The show makes it very apparent about Matt being Catholic and how important that is to him, so to have him struggle with the thought of killing another human being goes against everything he believes in, which just goes to show how intimidating and great of a villain Wilson Fisk is.
Foggy Nelson and Karen Page were so well casted with Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll respectfully that even the times where the story didn’t focus on Charlie Cox and his incredible performance, you didn’t lose anything in the way of acting when the focus shifted to Foggy or Karens’ stories. I think the introduction of Karen Page was done perfectly and she was perfectly added into Matt and Foggy’s friendship circle that it felt like she had been there forever. There was so much chemistry between the three of them, when they would laugh it really felt like they were just a group of friends laughing over drinks, or when they would argue it really felt like their hearts were breaking because of how close they all were. Speaking of arguing, the Matt and Foggy scene, where Foggy finds out Matt is Daredevil and is just torn up, is just fantastic acting from Elden Henson and it really makes you feel like two best friends are ending their relationship. Along with Foggy and Karen, other fantastic side characters include Ben Urich (Vondie Curits-Hall), James Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore), and Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), along with a whole list of other minor characters who played their parts to perfection.
This show has some of the best choreography and sound design I have ever seen and heard in film. There are times where you really feel like Daredevil, where you can hear everything, and shout out to the sound designers because they nailed every sound they had to make. The sound design for a show about a blind man who has super hearing had to be perfect to really get the feeling like he could actually hear a pin fall or hear a child screaming from a mile away and they absolutely nailed it, I have nothing but praise for them. And for the choreography, it is perfect. There is little to even no CGI in this show and I couldn’t be happier. The way they perfectly captured what it would be like to just be a normal guy who would get tired and sweat and bleed while being a vigilante was perfect. Any time this man walks down a hall beware because you might end up with ten different broken bones. The second episode has some of the best choreography in this show and it just perfectly encapsulates what it would be like to fight ten men all at once. Daredevil gets tired, his hits are less hard, he’s going to make mistakes, get hit, get knocked down, but the way they show all of this makes it feel real, like this is what it would actually be like if you were a vigilante. I think another part that just improves the choreography is when we meet Stick and we get the flashbacks of him teaching Matt and then we see how Matt has improved, but we still see the same fighting style even back when he was 10, which is just perfect continuity.
A show is only as good as its villain. Vincent D’Onofrio is up there with Heath Ledger’s Joker, Josh Brolin’s Thanos, and Anthony Starr’s Homelander as one of the best villains in all of film. Wilson Fisk is such a perfect villain for Daredevil because he is just so good at pushing Daredevil to the line and seeing if he’ll pass it. A man that owns everything, that has an infinite amount of resources, is working with some of the biggest crime bosses in the city and is the clear number one person in charge. He is so meticulous, so cautious we don’t even hear his name until the end of episode 3 and then the man who said it kills himself because he knows Fisk will do worse to him. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk is just one of the most menacing villains of all time. Now as mentioned, Fisk was working with a whole load of crime lords. The Russians headed by Vladimir and his brothers were very good gateway villains into the real big bad, Nobu wasn’t anything special as we’ll see with the continuation of the group called the Hand, Leland Owsley wasn’t anything special either other than an annoyance, and I actually really enjoyed Gao’s character and just thought she was an interesting character with interesting motives. But for the best side villain, it is obviously James Wesley (Toby Leonard Moore). He may have just been Fisk’s assistant, but he was just perfectly portrayed, perfectly casted, he had the perfect amount of cockiness, swagger, while also being a sheep who follows the biggest and best. I think his story is perfect and I wish he was in more episodes, but I think his death was perfectly timed, when for the first time ever, he tried to do something by himself, without Fisk’s knowledge or input and it got him killed. It just proved that he wasn’t meant to be a number one and I think that if he had survived it could have caused a power struggle between him and Fisk and I’m glad that didn’t happen because I feel it would’ve brought Fisk and Wesleys’ characters down.
The opening season to a historic show. I thought with the news of the new series Daredevil: Born Again coming in Phase 5 what better way than to start off this little fun project of mine then with Daredevil, one of my favorite shows ever and one of the best shows ever. I can not wait for Daredevil: Born Again and I’m a little scared that Disney may make the show less dark than its first 3 seasons, but I really don’t think that Kevin Feige, Charlie Cox, and Vincent D’Onofrio would let that happen and would have rather not filmed the show than make it not as great as it could be. And even if the show is a disgrace to this fantastic character and Charlie Cox’s original portrayal of Daredevil, we will always have this masterpiece of a show to watch over and over again.
9.4/10 ☆
9/10 😁
The only reason I am bumping down the enjoyability for this show is because of how dark and grown up it is. We do sometimes forget that these characters were originally created for kids. Obviously, nowadays they are for any and everyone, but for the more squeamish viewers who don’t like blood or this dark brooding presence over their shows then this show is not really for them. I’m also just annoyed that I have to wait to watch this amazing show with my sister till she’s old enough because every time we’re scrolling looking for a movie or show to watch and I see Daredevil pop up, I always tell her that that is one of my favorite shows and I just can’t wait to share it with her. So really this show is a 10/10 for enjoyability, but it does include a lot of dark themes and blood and stuff, so thinking of the greater population, I bumped it down one, which is still one of the most enjoyable shows ever.
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