Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Marvel's Daredevil: The Show Without Fear

Marvel has done it again. They took on the superhero movie genre by storm and went where no movie has gone before with The Avengers, and now they boldly go where no superhero TV has gone before with Daredevil. This is a work of art, this is pioneering work. Genre breaking, groundbreaking stuff. If the superhero TV programs go from good to great one day, we can all look back and say THIS is where it all started.

This is the Game of Thrones, The Wire, The Dexter, the Battlestar Galactica of superhero TV. They got everything right. The tone, the characters, the story, the grit, the empathy, everything. The journey of Matt Murdock from concerned citizen to masked vigilante is perfectly captured. The love for the source material permeates the series. Every time Daredevil takes on a boxing stance, you remember his father Battling Jack Murdock. Every cut, every wound you feel is a lesson that will one day complete the education of Matt's journey to the epic personality he will become.

I cannot thank the people at Marvel enough for this. There are a lot of passionate, dedicated and talented people at Marvel working on these gems and I have to say Kevin Feige, as their leader, is a godsend to us comic fans. He truly gets what makes each of these characters special to us fans, and more importantly understands that what makes it special to fans is what will make it special to people who have no clue about this character.

The casting is perfect. The characters are all fleshed out beautifully. Marvel understood that you cannot tell a compelling story without a great villain, and Vincent D'Onofrio gives a tremendous performance as Wilson Fisk. Because this is not just the journey of Matt from citizen to Daredevil, it is also the journey of Wilson Fisk from conflicted mob boss to Kingpin.

With Daredevil, Marvel has thrown the gauntlet to all other creators. There are no more boundaries. No more treading softly. It's time for big bold steps. Lets hope Daredevil can show the others how to make a show without fear.


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