Daredevil (Netflix)

[HalfGlass]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAy6NJ_D5vU

Like, dude, after that trailer, I could not be more excited for this show! I'm looking more forward to this than most movies this summer! Now I believe Drew Goddard when he said it should be looked at as a 13 hour movie!

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm a bit worried it's going to go too far into the GRIMDARK territory, and I absolutely hate that Frank Miller costume, but that was a really good trailer, at the very least.

 

[HalfGlass]

I'm a bit worried it's going to go too far into the GRIMDARK territory, and I absolutely hate that Frank Miller costume, but that was a really good trailer, at the very least.

Yeah I think my biggest worry is the juxtaposition of this and the rest of the MCU. I think it's awesome that they both exist in the same universe, but while Guardians was a bit out there, I could still believe seeing Groot and Iron Man hanging out. When I see this trailer, it's hard to believe that Rocket could theoretically be in any scene of the show. I would hate for the creators to sacrifice telling a compelling narrative in the vein of the Frank Miller comics, but when a character in the trailer mentions Thor's Hammer and Iron Man's suit, it's hard not to think about the crossover.

Note: I am still holding out hope that they can push Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones into the films at some point, especially Civil War or Infinity War!

 

[HalfGlass]

Who's binging this weekend? :drool:

 

[Dodgernole05]

Who's binging this weekend? :drool:

I have to work all night tonight and morning tomorrow. But once 2:30 hits tomorrow its all daredevil time.

 

[Mad Dog]

Daredevil was usually best when the writers would do the really dark side phases. He was always different than most other Marvel characters and the storylines were most interesting when they delved into the dark world. He was not the typical super hero. He has more in common with Batman the Dark Knight. Or, the old film noire movies.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Already 2 episodes in, this show is great. Planning on binging like crazy tonight.

 

[quinnmac000]

alright this is way better than anything else Marvel has put out in the last 4 years.

 

[HalfGlass]

Just watched the first episode (the rest on Sunday). Thoughts...and some spoilers...

This may be up there with Cap 2 and Guardians as one of the boldest moves the studio has taken. What made the first episode so great was its ability to have the action take a backseat. There is a brief fight sequence and the beginning and end of the episode, but other than that it was the quiet character moments that shined! Seeing Murdock open his heart to the priest in the opening scene was incredible and revolutionary for the genre. The show can take its time now. There is no rushing an origin story because we have 11 hours to go through it all! I've only heard the show gets better as it goes on and if the 1st episode is any indicator of its quality, consider me excited for the rest!

 

[quinnmac000]

alright this show is super political and I see why they couldn't put it on public television

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

alright this show is super political and I see why they couldn't put it on public television

Well, they could have sold this to a channel like FX or AMC or a premium channel.

 

[quinnmac000]

Well, they could have sold this to a channel like FX or AMC or a premium channel.

I do agree but I think in what happening in the news, they would be strongly pushing an agenda and pushing people away fast and a certain theme which has been prevelant in US news lately and a large presence in the show would be just that.

Aka that police station scene with the russian.

 

[Brian G.]

Finished the series. Had some flaws but I loved it. Cox and D'Onofrio really nailed their parts.

8.5/10

Can't wait for Season 2!

 

[Drew]

I'm only 2 episodes in but to me the most fascinating part is that Fulton Reed is in it.

 

[SeventyOne]

7 episodes in, only the most generic of SPOILERS (nothing a comic reader wouldn't expect):

Stunt work and particularly fight choreography are amazing--the latter better than most movies.

Kingpin is terrific. Understated, unlike the Affleck movie, but completely believable. Not a perfect analogy, but a bit like the difference between Anthony Hopkins Hannibal and TV Hannibal, for those who have seen that show. Foggy Nelson also hits the right mix of annoying and charming, steals most of his scenes ... probably because Matt comes off more as a male model than an actor. He looks great, but any time he has extended dialogue, it got cringe-worthy quick. It takes special skill to make corny comic book lines work in live action, he just doesn't pull it off.

I kind of agree with Tuc48038, the MCU Easter eggs are jarring given the GRIMDARK psuedo-real world on display here (halfway through the season, still not sure if radar sense is a super power or if just heightened normal senses like in the comics for a while). Thankfully they are few after the first episode.

The bigger problem for me tho: this should have taken a page from Agent Carter and been a 70s period piece. A kid listening to boxing on the radio, a crusading newspaper reporter, heroin trafficking--they all feel dated, even anachronistic, in 2015. Even "Hell's Kitchen" feels out of place--the neighborhood's pretty gentrified now, not the evil pre-Guiliani NYC the show wants it to be. At one point even the soundtrack felt 70s. Had they set this decades earlier, it would have been a fun romp that could name-check SHIELD. Instead, I saw too many tropes from the 60s-80s comic that should have been updated--it feels like the equivalent of Tony Stark still being a POW in 'Nam. while largely avoided current events in the MCU.

Overall for me, flawed but largely watchable. Somewhere in the middle of the total MCU output.

 

[JungleSkip]

Overall I really enjoyed the season, especially after episode 5/6 when they dropped the unnecessary, over-the-top violence. I thought the first five episodes, full of our hero torturing people and upclose shots of compound fractures bursting through the skin, felt like they needed to justify the TV-MA rating a bit much. Once they backed off of that, the show improved greatly. I loved the Kingpin, especially the subtle Norman Bates-y qualities he has. Madame Gao is clearly a set up to payoff in the Iron Fist series.

I'm not a fan of a late death that I won't spoil here. But the character should not have been killed.

The bigger problem for me tho: this should have taken a page from Agent Carter and been a 70s period piece. A kid listening to boxing on the radio, a crusading newspaper reporter, heroin trafficking--they all feel dated, even anachronistic, in 2015. Even "Hell's Kitchen" feels out of place--the neighborhood's pretty gentrified now, not the evil pre-Guiliani NYC the show wants it to be. At one point even the soundtrack felt 70s. Had they set this decades earlier, it would have been a fun romp that could name-check SHIELD. Instead, I saw too many tropes from the 60s-80s comic that should have been updated--it feels like the equivalent of Tony Stark still being a POW in 'Nam. while largely avoided current events in the MCU.

I think they don't do enough to show that the reason the city, and Hell's Kitchen, are in disarray is because of the events of The Avengers. They make passing, vague mentions of it, but we really needed to SEE what happened to the area after the Battle of New York. Granted, this isn't our universe, and I see no reason why in the MCU Hell's Kitchen couldn't still be a crap hole, but since they used the Chitauri Invasion as the reason for its hard times, they did a really bad job showing it. I have to assume that's due to it having a TV budget, but still.

Overall I thought the series was good, but flawed. I wouldn't rank it above The Flash or Arrow on the CW, but it's infinitely better than SHIELD or Agent Carter, both of which I find fairly boring. In the MCU, it's better than the Thor movies and Hulk, but I'm not sure I'd rank it above anything else.

 

[SeventyOne]

Overall I really enjoyed the season, especially after episode 5/6 when they dropped the unnecessary, over-the-top violence. I thought the first five episodes, full of our hero torturing people and upclose shots of compound fractures bursting through the skin, felt like they needed to justify the TV-MA rating a bit much.

Complete agreement. Even the occasional mention of "*******" felt more like using it just to use it, rather than organic. Because God forbid we have a superhero TV show or movie kids can watch.

I see no reason why in the MCU Hell's Kitchen couldn't still be a crap hole, but since they used the Chitauri Invasion as the reason for its hard times, they did a really bad job showing it. I have to assume that's due to it having a TV budget, but still.

OK, alien invasion = Hell's Kitchen still a craphole. But did Cap crashing into the Atlantic in 1944 somehow mean NYC radio stations still broadcast boxing matches in the mid-90s? I can suspend disbelief for things like magic hammers and titanium exoskeletons, but that, just couldn't. Not with the super-serious, dark "real world" they are trying to create. Too much of an anachronism.

 

[JungleSkip]

OK, alien invasion = Hell's Kitchen still a craphole. But did Cap crashing into the Atlantic in 1944 somehow mean NYC radio stations still broadcast boxing matches in the mid-90s? I can suspend disbelief for things like magic hammers and titanium exoskeletons, but that, just couldn't. Not with the super-serious, dark "real world" they are trying to create. Too much of an anachronism.

I never understood if he was listening to the radio or watching the TV. From the faint glow of the light in those scenes I thought he was watching TV. Or I guess in his case listening to the TV.

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

I'm watching this now. Literally, right now. On episode 6? Maybe 7. Someone mentioned the Asian heroine manufacturer as an Iron Fist tie-in. That was what I was thinking, too, to set up a unifying platform for The Defenders. The show is not perfect, but it is so far more gripping than most shows on television, so I'll stick with it. It kind of bothers me that DD's proto-suit looks so similar to Iron Fist stylistically just before Iron Fist comes out. I love Iron Fist and think that move kind of cheapens his own costume since it will now look like it was he who borrowed the style from DD. Oh well. Anyway, good show.

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm watching this now. Literally, right now. On episode 6? Maybe 7. Someone mentioned the Asian heroine manufacturer as an Iron Fist tie-in. That was what I was thinking, too, to set up a unifying platform for The Defenders. The show is not perfect, but it is so far more gripping than most shows on television, so I'll stick with it. It kind of bothers me that DD's proto-suit looks so similar to Iron Fist stylistically just before Iron Fist comes out. I love Iron Fist and think that move kind of cheapens his own costume since it will now look like it was he who borrowed the style from DD. Oh well. Anyway, good show.

The proto suit is from Frank Miller's Daredevil origin story "The Man Without Fear"