Superheroes and live action TV shows have never worked together — it is too expensive to show cool stuff audiences may want to see, and superheroes ultimately end up lackluster. The hero, Daredevil, however, is perfect for television. He doesn’t change shape, shoot laser beams or fly — he is a blind man whose power is that he can kind of see — and was trained by a ninja. Having developed a savior complex for the decrepit part of New York he grew up in, Daredevil runs around protecting potential victims from street criminals using his super senses. He is a person — like you and I — which not only makes him compelling, but easy and cheap to film.
The other thing that superheroes in film and television often miss the mark on is appealing to adults. This is why Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” films were so well received and is probably the biggest reason for what works about “Daredevil.” This is no coincidence that the same man, Frank Miller, wrote both the comics Nolan’s films were based on and the “Daredevil: The Man Without Fear,” the short series that “Daredevil” was based on.
Both of these problems — the ease of production and the appeal to adults — are dealt with by Netflix’s foray into comics. “Daredevil” is dark and gritty from the get go, and there is plenty of cringing to go around in his callous treatment of criminals in order to “fix his city.” The show’s style is heavily influenced by various earlier works — the second episode begins with a great bit of psychometry beautifully directed like Tarantino, most of the Ben Urich scenes would fit snugly in an episode of “The Wire,” it becomes increasingly willing to dispatch seemingly key characters as the show progresses a la “Game of Thrones,” and of course its similarities to Christopher Nolan’s Gotham are evident. The semi-shameless plagiarizing could be looked down upon, but who really cares? It’s a superhero show, it’s supposed to be fun, and the directorial choices like this just make the end product more pleasant.
The show does a really good job of varying the style and focus of its episodes, making the Netflix-binge a much better experience. Episodes can swing between legal dramas, beat-em-up super hero romps, a bottle episode between the titular hero and Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple, or dog-with-a-bone detective stories with Vondie Curtis-Hall’s great grizzled Ben Urich. Vincent D’Onofrio is out of this world as the phenomenal Wilson Fisk, the big bad of the series and the kingpin of crime. His relationship Ayelet Zurer’s Vanessa is not only the show’s most compelling one, but maybe the most compelling yet on television.
Charlie Cox is great at displaying the charisma and eloquence of Daredevil’s alter ego Matt Murdock and convincing as the morally confused vigilante. However, Cox’s great performance is wasted beside Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson, Murdock’s best friend. Henson’s Foggy is bad. It is hard to see the character through the painful attempts at comedy and overplayed affability. Midseason, a fight with Matt should have given his and Matt’s relationship an emotional weight and leveled out their relationship, but instead came off as a temper tantrum when performed next to Cox’s coolheaded explanations and apologies. It is not all Henson’s fault though — he isn’t given a great character to begin with, especially in this medium. The adaptation of Foggy from the son of a wealthy but demanding Manhattan lawyer to a poor kid from Hell’s Kitchen doesn’t add much across from Matt’s better-acted and similar upbringing and only serves to remove texture from their relationship.
As a show, “Daredevil” is just fine — but as a superhero show, it is tremendous. It balances complex themes like religion, relationships and the law in a way that a show with a man in skintight clothing jumping over rooftops should not be able to. It is mostly well cast, excellently produced, and the writing that starts a little ham-handed improves dramatically when the show decides that the audience is well-versed enough to stop over-explaining things. It even handles flashbacks well and makes a good decision to skip the origin story.
There are more shows coming from Netflix starring some of Marvel’s lesser known properties, and they are something to look forward to if “Daredevil” is any indication. Someone finally did TV superheroes right and that’s a really good thing.
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