As Marvel's first venture with Netflix, Daredevil had a lot of pressure to deliver a great show. If they failed, then the whole Marvel-Netflix venture might have fallen flat on it's face. 

The series received great reviews, and led to several other characters, and the expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the realm of TV. After their success on the big screen, despite the flop of the Daredevil movie, I was interested to see if they could do a better job on the TV. So here's my take on the series.

It was great! The plot was engaging and interesting, the acting brilliant, and the overall production put the rest of the MCU to shame. Keep reading to find out why.
I'm going to go over the spoiler-free plot below, but if you want to skip that part then scroll down to underneath the picture to get on to the rest of the production, and the thing I think all the MCU films could learn from this series.

The plot of this series is based around Matt Murdock finding his feet as a vigilante in Hell's Kitchen. As the series goes on the viewer is introduced to the back story of the character, his relationships with all those he comes into contact with both as a Lawyer and a crime fighter, and most importantly his arch-enemy, the notorious Wilson Fisk. The plot is a little slow at times, but overall is very well written and doesn't leave many moments where the audience is left uninterested. 

This show is filled with actors who give an incredible performance on the screen, too many to give them all the praise they deserve, but I'm going to talk about a few of them here.

Obviously, I need to talk about Charlie Cox's portrayal of Matt Murdock, which I think is absolutely perfect. He does a great job of capturing the complex moral dilemmas of the character, and his struggle at maintaining the relationships with everyone around him as a lawyer and a superhero. His portrayal of the blind man in the city is great, and does a great job of mastering the fight choreography as well.

Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson make up the two most important characters in Matt's life, Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, and they both gave an amazing performance as well. Each of them in turn did an amazing job of making the characters believable and relatable, as well as showing an amazing range of emotion. The character's each held the spotlight in their own way, and I cannot praise their work highly enough.

Daredevil's main help in his early days as a superhero is a local nurse Claire Temple, played by Rosario Dawson. Her performance here, and appearances in the other Netflix dramas, is fantastic. She does a great job of making the audience understand her emotions and gives the audience a great view of the hero's actions through those who help to patch him up after his inevitable injuries.

The main antagonist of the masked man is Wilson Fisk, who was played by the talented Vincent D'Onofrio. He has been a fan-favorite to play the character for a while, and I can't blame that choice at all. His performance is stellar, showing the complexities of a man trying to shape the city in his own way, by whatever means necessary, and brings his own charisma and formidable power to the role. 

Now, one of my biggest criticisms of the MCU is their fight scenes. Most of the scenes, certainly in the first few films, are jammed full of cutting between camera angles that they look confusing and makes it harder for the audience to fully appreciate the exchange of blows involved.

This series is full of fight scenes, as expected, but most of the time these are long continuous shots, like the GIF above shows. I think this looks so much more impressive, and gives the audience a much better understanding of the action as it happens.
But that's just my opinion.

As well as the awesome fight choreography, the lighting and effects are also very impressive, and just add to the more gritty nature of the series when compared to other MCU productions.

This review turned out to be a bit longer than I intended, but even in this I can't praise the series enough. So I'd recommend you take some time and watch the series in full!
Leave a comment, and let me know what you think of the series.

Until next time,

Tim

Plot: ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇     Performance: ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇     Overall: ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇ ✇

image credits: image 1, image 2, gif