Monday, April 13, 2015

Netflix's "Daredevil" - Don't Miss This Wonderful Adaptation! - A Review by Wayne Rée

Daredevil fans have been nervously wringing their hands for many months ever since the Netflix web series was greenlighted and set for production.

From the announcement of the series creator/ writer Drew Goddard and Steven S. DeKnight as showrunner, to Charlie Cox joining the cast as titular character Matt Murdoch/ Daredevil, the geek community simply couldn't wait for the series to premiere! Added to this was the rousing fan approval when Vincent D'onofrio was confirmed to be Daredevil's main nemesis, Kingpin.

When the series finally aired on 10 April, Red Dot Diva saw that most fans couldn't help but binge-watch all 13 episodes!

Red Dot Diva has only finished watching the first episode of "Daredevil" a few minutes ago and found the series to be dark, intense, visceral, entertaining and very promising. Naturally, much of the promises laid in those gorgeous biceps and abs of Matt Murdoch (Charlie Cox). She really didn't expect the visuals to be that beautiful.

W00t! Case in point. 'Nuff said

Although, she really enjoyed (Truth, okay!) Charlie Cox's portrayal of the charming but inwardly seething-angry persona that inhabits Hell Kitchen's vigilante, Daredevil.

Now, Red Dot Diva's geek pal and writer Wayne Rée, who is a ardent Daredevil fan, has watched the entire series. Here is his mainly spoiler-free review of Netflix's "Daredevil":

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Dance with the devil in the pale moon — wait, wrong superhero.

If you follow me on Twitter (@waynereewrites, by the way – but you already knew that), I’m sorry for the stream of tweets that were basically the social media equivalent of me weeping tears of joy all of Saturday and Sunday.

You see, "Daredevil" went live on Netflix on Friday and for the 48 hours after, all was right with my world. I’m a massive Daredevil fan. Have been since the late 90s when he was under the Marvel Knights banner. I mean, that series was one of the first superhero books to show me the importance of creators and not just the characters. If for no other reason, it’s easy to see why – next to Spidey, of course – Matt Murdock holds a very special place in my comic-lovin’ heart.

The Netflix show is everything I could’ve wanted from a Daredevil TV series. Was it a perfect show? No. Was it a perfect adaptation of the character, his supporting cast and his antagonists? You’re damn right it was.

Needless to say, they got Matt and Wilson Fisk’s characters down perfectly – but even more impressive was how right they got secondary characters like Foggy Nelson, Ben Urich and Vanessa soon-to-be-Fisk. The show takes its overall tone from Frank Miller and John Romita Jr.’s Man Without Fear and some of my favourite elements from David Mack’s Parts of a Hole, but doesn’t really adapt any particular storyline. Which is fine ‘cause it still captures the spirit of some of the best creator runs on the book.

Tonally, the closest comparison I can make is Captain America: The Winter Soldier – a spy film with superheroes. "Daredevil", a crime drama with superheroes, is very similar in that sense. Like Cap 2: Electric Buckyloo, it’s certainly a better superhero show than it is anything else, but that mix of another genre helps to give it a distinctive flavour.

And the action, man. It’s not groundbreaking stuff, but some of the fights and beatdowns and flat-out slayings are just so well done.

But, as I said before, it isn’t a perfect show. Some of the dialogue felt clunky, some episodes were certainly stronger than others and (SPOILERS) I am not a terribly big fan of the final costume (though it certainly looks much better in motion than it does in the promo stills). I was also going to originally make a point about the pacing, but @direcow from Here Be Geeks rightfully pointed out that, this relatively early in the Netflix original series game, pacing for binge-watching isn’t an exact science.

On a whole though, I still loved it, if for nothing else than reminding me why, save a few issues here and there, Daredevil’s been the only superhero comic I’ve been reading consistently for more than a decade. The characters are key here and, much like the comics, they’re more than enough to suck you into their world.

They certainly did for me all those years ago. And now, I can confidently say, they’re very probably gonna do the same for you. Welcome to Hell’s Kitchen, everyone.

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Have you got on the Netflix "Daredevil" bandwagon yet? Did you binge-watch or do you like relishing it nice and slow like Red Dot Diva?
Love it or hate it?

Tweet Wayne Rée and Red Dot Diva about your thoughts of the series!

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