Daredevil S1 (2015) Review

 

Daredevil S1 (2015)

Daredevil Season 1 follows Matthew Murdoch, a blind lawyer by day and a vigilante by night, who takes it upon himself to stop Wilson Fisk and save Hell’s Kitchen.

The first season of Daredevil was something special because it added a gritty realism to the world of Marvel and to superhero shows that we hadn’t yet seen before. It was a focused story, lacking filler or distraction, and keeping us focused on the rise of Wilson Fisk, the relationships of our characters, and showing the seedy, crime filled underbelly of New York.

The fight choreography was stellar, with Daredevil using a mixture of what looked like street boxing and Wing-Chun, including the now infamous 5 minute hallway one-take fight scene that put the show on the map. That quality, paired with Matt’s very human exhaustion made all of those scenes feel unique and awesome in their own ways.

We also get a beautiful blend of story that seamlessly meshes Matt’s backstory, the relationship between Matt and Foggy, Fisk’s haunting rise to power, and the legal and ethical challenges Matt, Foggy, and Karen faced in bringing Fisk down. It brought a fresh and dark story to life in a way that we hadn’t thought was possibly from Marvel yet.

The cast was also nothing short of phenomenal, including Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll, Toby Leonard Moore, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Charlie Cox. Cox was absolutely stunning as Matt Murdoch/Daredevil and he was extremely convincing as a blind lawyer, but also as a vigilante badass who runs around Hell’s Kitchen. D’Onofrio was also menacingly scary as such a philosophical villain, something that made him frightening at all times. Lastly, Curtis-Hall was one of my favorites this season and it’s a shame his Ben Urich won’t be back.

Season 1 of Daredevil, heavily inspired by the Frank Miller run on the character, showed you didn’t need massive CGI battles and a huge budget to make a gripping, gritty, and powerful superhero show. But they pulled it off, blending the real aspects of law and order, with a kickass, blind superhero that is violent & amazing in its’ action, story, and moral ambiguity within becoming what you hate.

9.7/10