DareDevil Review: Welcome to the Underworld of the MCU

The man without fear is back, and now well accommodated within the sacred walls of Marvel Entertainment he’s ditched the leather fetish and been brought back down to the real, harsh world with an almighty and spectacular bang.
 

The story of this 13 episode revival of the “devil of hell’s kitchen” shows the early days of Mr Murdock’s foray into the world of attorney law and kicking ass with vigilante justice as he aims to cleanse his city of the rampant organised crime that is plaguing the streets of Hells Kitchen thanks to a new terrifying and mysterious king of crime that has forced his way onto the scene.

There could be a fear that this singular story is not enough to confidently fill the wide breadth of 13 episodes but through clever scripting that infuses genuinely intriguing mysteries, chess game like manoeuvring from characters, a more moral ambiguous conflict than seen in other Marvel Cinematic Universe products, and twists that while aren’t always completely unexpected are always entertaining as hell to watch play out, this plot is more than enough to satisfyingly fill these 13 episodes of gold. And to top it all off the current dishevelled circumstances of the setting seamlessly integrates into the past events of the MCU making the plot even more substantial and intriguing for fans with even some hints throughout that further tie DareDevil into future, MCU shaking developments.

Having a singular plot focus for this series also allows for great pace throughout. While there are certainly heart racing, explosive action sequences precisely sprinkled throughout there is also plenty of room for great character developing sections that really add to the emotional connection and understanding between the audience and the beloved characters on screen, a factor that could have been sorely missing if DareDevil was in another format. Every minute of these hour long episodes is utilised to its fullest, never wasting its precious screen time as even the sub plots of the various secondary characters and well placed flash back sequences are as interesting and impactful as the main thread of the series. Making this newest Marvel production not just another bombastic superhero escapade with little substance to it, as films such as Thor: The Dark World could be perceived as, but a tremendous, and a lot of the time intense, superhero drama exploring the street level war that has been vastly lacking from the MCU thus far.

This highly dramatic approach to the telling the origin of the DareDevil we all know and love wouldn’t have been nearly as successful if the acting wasn’t up to scratch and I’m happy to say that not only is the acting up to scratch, but phenomenal. While within the opening episodes of the series some characters acting didn’t seem to quite click with the rest of the series, or just plain wasn’t very good, such as the initially annoying Foggy (played by Elden Henson), as time went on these characters grow on you; transforming from the annoying side disturbances to valued members of the show.

Outside of these minor and short lived dips in acting quality the cast is truly amazing. From the believable and badass depiction of DareDevil aka Matthew Murdock from Charlie Cox, who throughout never broke the illusion of his ‘disability’ and had me convinced throughout; to the surprisingly deep and tragic depiction of the infamous Wilson Fisk, or Kingpin from Vincent D'Onofrio. This amazing portrayal takes the easily stereotyped character of the Kingpin and puts a deeply empathetic spin on the character while still maintaining his terrifyingly brutal streak as a beast in a three piece suit ready to strike a devastating blow at any moment. In short every single member of this great cast brings vast layers and believability to every character put on screen, which makes the perfectly written interactions between them even better to watch.  

Speaking of a brutal streak this show marks the birth of a new and definitely more mature aspect of the MCU and no where is this more clear than the heart pounding action. These expertly choreographed sequences are one of the shows greatest strengths as we get to see just why DareDevil is such a badass character as he displays his ninja like tactics of how to mercilessly take down the scum of Hells Kitchen, utilising his unique set of toxic waste produced skills, in an all too satisfyingly brutal way; showing just how real, breathing and diverse the MCU is.

In-fact the show does a great job of effectively showing the more obscure abilities that DareDevil has at his disposal. Through clever and subtle sequences that show actions sometimes do speak louder than words and greatly written explanations that don’t feel as forced or pandering as other hero ability showcases have in the past not only allows the audience to fully understand the extent of DareDevil’s powers but also helps put the watcher into the bloodied shoes of the masked vigilante. This is innovatively done in a number of ways such as the heightened sound that accompanies the many fantastic fight scenes of the show. The natural noise of the scene is enhanced with perfect clarity with mostly no background music to take away form the inventive affect that makes the fights not only feel more real but also helps the audience further understand and connect to the ass kicking hero.   

This brutal style of combat allows for the series to take a much more grounded and realistic tone as we really get to see the literal bone breaking costs of standing up for your city. This realistic tone is felt throughout from the tamer story that instead of the usual alien infused fanfare that is in other Marvel shows such as Agents of Shield, DareDevil tells a much smaller scaled story with very different but a lot more personal stakes. To harrowing injuries sustained that other shows or films would see the apparently indestructible protagonist simply jump up and brush off with a shrug and murmur about his family, but instead we see the devastating effects a battle against 10 men can do to a man without fear.

This very realistic tone also shines through in the aesthetic of the show. New York City is a much darker and scary place than depicted in other shows or films, taking up a sinister life of its own as every dark, sickly yellow lit alley way most definitely has a deadly danger lurking down it. And DareDevil’s costume is a much more grounded and believable construct that cleverly evolves throughout the show, with each addition to the boldly simply design making it that much more badass and true to the character.  

Overall Marvel has done it again, they’ve produced another thrilling, action packed, fandom pleasing piece of entertainment that brings a new and refreshing darkness to the MCU. Not only that the acting is phenomenal and the characters given the justice they deserve in a dramatic and engrossing 13 episode run that I couldn’t stop watching and left me clambering for more.

DareDevil = 9.5/10