Daredevil Season 1 Review

Daredevil season one is a 13 episode gritty crime drama with a movie quality feel that has a well articulated slow burning story that does not over stay its welcome.

Back in 2015 April 10, Netflix released their first Marvel series. After the bad taste the 2003 Daredevil 20th Century Fox left in people's mouths, this could go two ways. It could be that after the failures of the film, no-one will want to bother with the series. Or due to the success of Marvel movies and Netflix having strong original content that this could be a hit. Thankfully, it was the latter and they totally redeemed the name Daredevil, as a matter of fact, it was announced  to have been picked up for a season 2 on April 21st.
​To summarise the plot, Daredevil is not a superhero show (well it kind of is), it's a crime show about a blind lawyer, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) who happens to strongly believe in justice. So much so, putting criminals away legally just isn't enough that he has to wear a mask and at night with the aid of his heightened senses, he finds and brutally beats criminals with his martial art prowess. It's not long into Matt's first case that he learns of a head crime figure referred to as 'The Kingpin' (Vincent D'Onofrio) and now as a lawyer has to prove the Kingpin's existence and as Daredevil carry on following the leads that remain too dangerous for a blind lawyer.
The season refuses to rush through its story and balances the vigilante violence and lawyer identity better than most shows and movies centred around a superhero. The pace is steady and not mundane, when not progressing the story, it builds on the characters. Unlike the Marvel movies which this is canon too, this is darker with a realistic tone. It only ever makes small references to the films, keeping itself distanced to help the more grounded aspects of the show. The characters are a large aspect to the story as every character is given a slight focus and relevant to the unfolding of the plot. Flashbacks add layers to characters and bring an understanding to them whether it be the origins of Murdock or the Kingpin, those flashbacks add a level of sympathy to the characters.
The characters are more three dimensional than most, we see them struggle with moral choices and we see them deal with consequences from their actions. Its seeing the inner struggles with these characters which give this a more grounded tone.  Screen time seems well balanced around the characters and this helps balance out the story and its pacing.
The dialogue helps personify characters, it's rather obvious who is on which side of the law from the words the writers have carefully chosen. The dialogue is also organic, it feels real of these people to say what they say and nothing ever seems out of character or corny. Again, it's very common of a crime drama to be this way but not a superhero adaptation.
The choreography of the fights in this have the finesse found in most Asian martial arts films and the brutality of urban crime films. Daredevil is a hero we see take a beating as much as give one. This reminds us despite his ability, he is new to this but it also shows consequence of action and again, that more grounded, gritty tone the movies don't have.
The directing of the episodes are less superhero too, no power shots of Daredevil looking flashy and powerful while shrouded in light. Instead, the colours are mostly dark and everything looks like what you're familiar to seeing in crime films. That is unless you watch the fights, they're influenced by Asian violent crime movies such as Oldboy and the blend works so natural and really helps keep this superhero adaptation dark and real.
The acting in Daredevil is the strongest point in this show, the characters are portrayed in a real way. Nothing feels as theatrical as other superhero adaptations and fits more to what you would find in a Micheal Mann or Martin Scorsese movie. Everyone in this show is astounding but credit has to be given to  D'Onofrio for having the audience feel sympathy towards his menacing antagonist. 
To see Marvel working with Netflix deliver something unlike the Marvel movies is really enlightening. Daredevil is gritty and violent but most importantly, it is sophisticated and on that, it not only creates one of the best comic book adaptations to date but one of the best shows to date. I look forward to there upcoming shows such as there latest release, Iron Fist (Trailer can be found at the bottom of this article) which is due out March 17th.
I, unlike what seems to be most of the internet, loved the film starring Ben Affleck (especially the directors cut) and only disliked the infamous park scene. I was looking forward to this show at the time but I had my doubts it would be better or equal too the movie back in 2003. 

Mr. Cynic rates this a 9/10

To see where I rate the 2003 movie, you would have to #Request a review via social media.

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Netflix and Marvel's Iron Fist trailer