{"id":1790,"date":"2015-04-29T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/?p=1790"},"modified":"2015-08-26T17:20:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T21:20:41","slug":"marvels-daredevil-isnt-daring-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/marvels-daredevil-isnt-daring-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel\u2019s Daredevil Isn\u2019t Daring Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another edition of Channel Chaser! Because it seems that all I\u2019ve talked about recently is how great the shows out there right now based on DC Comics characters are, it\u2019s time to give Marvel another shot at the small screen, and the perfect opportunity has presented itself with Daredevil<\/em>, the first Netflix-exclusive series in Marvel\u2019s arsenal.<\/p>\n

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Now I have to say, of all the possible superheroes that Marvel could have chosen to spin into a TV series, I would never have expected Daredevil to be the one that got picked…but that\u2019s probably because he\u2019s one of Marvel\u2019s lesser-known properties (with the possible exception of that terrible movie with Ben Affleck a while back). The show is actually quite notable in that it\u2019s the first of Marvel\u2019s new properties to feature a disabled superhero, in that the titular character does all his crime fighting without the use of his sight.<\/p>\n

The backstory established here is pretty close to Batman<\/em> and all those other gritty genre-dramas: as the son of a hard-living boxer, Matt Murdock is blinded by chemicals as a young boy and forced to adapt to life as a blind man in the middle of New York City. After his father is murdered for refusing to throw a fight, Murdock\u2019s grief and anger toward the criminal element in his city inspires him to train in martial arts and use his unique talents to become a masked vigilante. As Daredevil, Murdock takes on all manner of criminals, from corrupt officials to mobsters and street hooligans, and even Wilson Fisk, leader of a vast underworld organization who plots to take over the Hell\u2019s Kitchen neighborhood and use it for his own ends.<\/p>\n

Before I get into my problems with the show, I\u2019d like to state of the record that everything I\u2019m about to say is not a reflection on the actors themselves. In fact, I would venture to say that Daredevil<\/em> is probably one of the best-acted installments in the Marvel brand yet, with incredibly solid performances by the lead characters, supporting cast, and even the villains. Special credit goes out to Elden Henson as Murdock\u2019s legal partner Foggy Nelson, who provides a solid counterpoint as the grounded everyman to Murdock\u2019s idealism and brooding. For once, here\u2019s a sidekick (of sorts) that doesn\u2019t feel inferior to the main hero, gets just as much screen time, and is actually more likeable in a lot of ways. Doubly so for Deborah Ann Woll as secretary and former client Karen Page: far from being the standard damsel-in-distress, she actively seeks out trouble as she tries to do her own part in exposing corruption and murder in Hell\u2019s Kitchen. Compared to them, it\u2019s often Charlie Cox\u2019s action-packed exploits that seem like the secondary storyline to the more down-to-earth human drama and interplay between the characters and the secrets they keep from each other.<\/p>\n

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Of course, I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t also say that Vincent D\u2019Onofrio as Wilson Fisk (a.k.a. \u201cThe Kingpin\u201d if you\u2019re a comics fan) creates a villain who is at once understandable and also utterly terrifying. While I do tend to enjoy Marvel movies, I have to admit that the one thing they don\u2019t normally do is flesh out their bad guys and make the viewer actively care about them and their motivations. Granted, there\u2019s not always time to do that in a movie, but I still think they could do a much better job. That said, Daredevil<\/em> provides a breath of fresh air here by developing Fisk\u2019s character just as much, if not more than, Murdock: we see how despite his being an obvious genius for criminal activities, Fisk is really just a child inside who desperately wants to be loved and make something of himself, throwing murderous temper tantrums when he doesn\u2019t get his way. The time the series spends delving into Fisk\u2019s psychology, as well as how is relationship with gallery worker Vanessa changes him, is really something unprecedented in Marvel\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Also, Bob Gunton (Warden Norton from \u201cThe Shawshank Redemption\u201d for any movie buffs) deserves a small shout-out for the relatively minor role of wisecracking criminal accountant Leland Owlsley. But despite my high hopes from when he first appeared, the writers saw fit to kill him off at the end of the season. It\u2019s disappointing, but I guess we won\u2019t be seeing Daredevil take on The Owl anytime soon.<\/p>\n

While all this is true, I still have a number of problems with Daredevil<\/em>. For one thing, are we sure that this is really in the Marvel universe? Granted, the fact that it\u2019s a Netflix show lets the producers get into all kinds of nasty, violent battle scenes that the family-friendly Marvel films really couldn\u2019t show, and I don\u2019t have a problem with that in principle. But the fact is that this just doesn\u2019t feel like a Marvel show. Where\u2019s the sense of humor and heart that has really defined the Marvel universe up until this point? It seems the writers were just so preoccupied with going somewhere they hadn\u2019t been before and exploring new territory that they forgot where they came from. As it is, Daredevil<\/em> feels more like a skeleton outline of a Marvel show than an actual entertainment piece. Frankly, I\u2019m sort of surprised a guy like Stan Lee signed off on a show like this.<\/p>\n

The show also lacks any tangible connection to the rest of Marvel\u2019s franchises, which further confuses the picture. Sure, the characters drop a few references here and there about the devastation of the Avengers\u2019 battle in New York or the existence of superhumans, but that\u2019s hardly a strong link. If only we could see these things they were talking about, then it might seem more real. And finally, despite the novelty of having a blind superhero–which is admittedly very cool–it just doesn\u2019t feel like Daredevil<\/em> did anything new to separate itself from the likes of Arrow<\/em> and similarly dark superhero dramas. Honestly, if you\u2019ve seen one fight between Murdock and some hapless criminals, you\u2019ve seen them all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My Rating: 3\/5<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m not disputing that Daredevil<\/em> is solid entertainment, or that it has a darker tone than most other Marvel properties up until now: that\u2019s not the issue here. My main problem is not that the show is breaking away from the pack, it\u2019s that 1) it didn\u2019t do enough to distinguish itself from other shows and 2) it just didn\u2019t jive at all with what we\u2019ve come to expect from Marvel up to this point, which was quite distracting. I don\u2019t have a problem with Marvel trying to explore new possibilities; I just think that they could have made a stronger effort than this. But who knows? Maybe season two will get better. We might even get really lucky and have Bullseye or The Punisher come along to give Daredevil some more things to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Channel Chaser is written by Kyle Robertson. You can check out more of his work on his\u00a0<\/span>website<\/a>. Check back every Wednesday\u00a0for new articles.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another edition of Channel Chaser! Because it seems that all I\u2019ve talked about recently is how great the shows out there right now based on DC Comics characters are, it\u2019s time to give Marvel another shot at the small screen, and the perfect opportunity has presented itself with Daredevil, the first Netflix-exclusive series [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions\/1791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}