The Daredevil

Note on the MCU

If you’ve spent more than a few minutes in a conversation with me, you are likely to have heard something along the lines of: “There is no better time to be living as a comic book fan.” Nowadays, I cannot be more certain of this fact; the ageless rivalry between DC and Marvel is taking Hollywood by storm, every single hero – at least the ones that matter – are being picked up by networks and studios left, right, and centre, meanwhile I’m sitting here with a barrel of popcorn watching it all unfold. Although the approach taken by each of the two comic book giants is entirely unique, thus making a comparison slightly irrelevant, Marvel seems to have the whole interconnected story lines thing figured out. I do not intend on delving far into the realms of discourse regarding Marvel vs DC, (That is a topic for another time) both of them are companies with their own distinct way of operating – whether it be for print or on the silver screen – however I am definitely going to bring up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve mentioned the MCU, and – with the way it’s looking – it probably won’t be the last. The first thing I will tell you about the MCU is that it isn’t an easy venture. The plan was to collect super heroes from all over the Marvel mythos (only those that Disney owns the rights to, though), figure out a way to connect them through an overarching story, stay true to the comic book versions of the heroes, all the while preserving the production quality across different mediums. When it comes to Daredevil, it pretty much checks out on all of the above, although there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of tie-ins to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there were definitely enough of them to give you a sense of the implied interconnectivity.

The Review

Daredevil is one of the first installments in a series of Marvel TV productions to be showcased on California-based streaming service Netflix. It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences when I heard tidings of Daredevil being touted for a TV show ; the reason being that I was assailed by flashbacks from the monumentally bad Ben Affleck-led Hollywood adaptation, forcing me to break a sweat in an attempt to keep my lunch down. Thankfully, the nausea abated almost instantaneously when I learned that among the showrunners was Drew Goddard, who worked with Avengers: Age of Ultron writer/director Joss Whedon on a multitude of productions. I was confident that the show was in good hands.

A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist are all titles scheduled to appear on the network throughout this year and the next, with an undoubtedly magnificent crossover miniseries called Defenders to act as the capstone for the Netflix-exclusive line-up.

Beware: spoilers ahead

The series opens to a rather typical exposé of Daredevil’s origin story, much like its nausea-inducing predecessor did. This parallel was not entirely unwelcome as the opening scene of the movie wasn’t horrendous. Thankfully, the show does settle into a darker tone shortly after the opening sequence when the rest of the supporting cast is systematically introduced to the viewers, starting with a corpse, and another one. In case you didn’t catch that, that’s a reference to the astounding emotional range of Deborah Ann Woll as the enamored secretary Karen Page, although to be perfectly honest, I am not sure if her natural acting ability – or lack thereof – is to blame or the rather the poor dialogue she has. (To be fair, she does pull off the “startled deer” face better than anyone I’ve ever seen) Karen Page isn’t the only kink in the chain; one of the biggest problems I have with the show is how poorly written the female roles are. With the exception of the Rosario Dawson cameo, every single female character on the show felt lackluster in comparison to the male counterparts. Even the gorgeous Ayelet Zurer’s portrayal of Vanessa -who has a pivotal role in the story and is a major source of character development – left me wanting more. It may not entirely be Goddard’s or Zurer’s fault. It may just be the case that I simply could not notice her character over how awesome Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk was. It’s been a while since I was legitimately in awe of a character on any screen; the last time I felt this enthralled was watching Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) on Breaking Bad. I could write a sonnet and a half illustrating just how fantastic I thought Wilson Fisk was; throughout the entirety of the show, there wasn’t a dull moment involving Wilson Fisk, the fact that I’m able to say that given that Daredevil is essentially a 13-hour long movie is a testament to how well the character is written and depicted. (I know I said that Marvel vs. DC wouldn’t be brought up, but I guess I lied) There were some plot line directions that were taken by the showrunners that I definitely disagree with, most of them involve killing off characters that are somewhat important within the MCU as a whole; Ben Urich and Leland Owlsley come to mind. They both enjoy a relatively important role in the Marvel Universe within the comic books, and though the deaths serve to develop my favourite character on the show, it is unfortunate that they have been forever removed from the MCU. The other decision I disagree with was taking away from the comic book Matt Murdock by completely stifling his playboy personality on the show, I understand that you were going for dark and gritty, but is it too much to ask to display a little bit of that suave personality we know so well? The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been lacking a captivating villain to stimulate the other end of the morality spectrum, this is something DC has almost always had, whether it be Heath Ledger’s chaotic Joker, Jim Carrey’s psychotic Riddler, or Jesse Eisenberg’s upcoming Lex Luthor. In comparison Ultron was incredibly bland, Red Skull is nowhere to be seen, most of HYDRA is gone, Von Doom and Magneto belong to FOX, and Loki is just an insane demi-god who eventually bores you with his childlike antics. However, times have changed; Wilson Fisk has given the MCU something it has needed for the longest of times, a villain that just baffles you. It may be a little too hasty to call him the Joker of the MCU but that claim definitely isn’t too far off. I hope. Characters aside, the plot is a rather benign superhero vs. supervillain story with a few memorable scenes dotted throughout. That’s not to discredit just how memorable they were, taking the the fight scenes as an example. Daredevil’s fight scenes are some of the most entertaining I have seen in a long time, better than any other fight scenes in superhero/comic book inspired shows currently on TV. In particular, the one-take hallway scene in the end of the second episode elicited a lot of respect for the show; I was basically hooked after that. Add to those scenes with some haunting Tarantino-esque violence involving Wilson Fisk and you have yourself some excellent television. I would definitely recommend you take a day off work to binge the 13 hours, as it was meant to be watched.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Introduction to the MCU

Ah, the Avengers; the fruit of several years of labor and countless machinations to adapt the timeless comic book series to the big screen. Though this is only the second installment in the Avengers series, it feels as though it is the end of a proverbial era; an era where superhero movies were not connected by an intricate and sometimes overwhelming mythos, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Age of Ultron (AoU) is the penultimate installment in Disney-owned Marvel Studio’s so-called “Phase 2” of the MCU, to which Ant-Man will have the honor of being the closing act – which is tentatively set for a mid-July premiere. The extensive timeline of the MCU is designed to immerse viewers into this world of cosmic superheroes and planet-rending villains across multiple film franchises painstakingly collected by Disney’s herculean effort in the previous two decades, with the notable exclusion of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four franchises, both of which are owned by Fox studios. The latest franchise to be amalgamated into the MCU is our favorite web-slinging hero of New York (who was unexpectedly absent during the large-scale destruction wrought by a very large angry green man – we’ll talk more on this later).

If you’re completely lost, or struggle to remember some of the finer details then I suggest watching this video, it sums up the storyline of the MCU so far.

SPOILER WARNING: This review contains a multitude of spoilers for Avengers:Age of Ultron as well as many other Marvel Studios movies. If you have not seen the movie, I highly suggest you do so beforehand. Additionally, I do not claim ownership of any of the MCU movies or its characters or any of the images used below.

The Review

The movie opens immediately into the fray of battle; I personally felt like someone hit the fast forward button on the projector instead of play – anyhow, moving swiftly on. Right away, the experience that the Avengers have gleaned throughout their previous escapades showcases itself in a visually impressive multi-scene fight sequence –which even included a fantastic comic book-esque Team Avengers shot – throughout which the Avengers’ teamwork is at an all-time high.

Avengers Assemble!

The shining moment of the first act was when we were introduced to the next additions to the Avengers squad: The Sokovian-born Maximoff twins A.K.A. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (who were momentarily sojourning in villain-town). I believe their casting was spot-on, but Quicksilver could have had more dialogue than the sluice of quips and one-liners we were subjected to. Compare that to Days of Future Past’s Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters, who was more powerful, funnier, and better written, despite being less true to the comic books. Whereas Aaron Taylor Johnson’s Quicksilver felt hollow and difficult to relate to, the situation is entirely different with his twin sister the Scarlet Witch. Wanda Maximoff was a beautifully written character, portrayed to perfection by Elizabeth Olsen – I will add, with enough dialogue to allow for introspection into her deeply troubled psyche, while also preserving more or less the same amount of action as her lightning fast brother.

Now here comes the bombshell: James Spaders’ performance of Ultron was sometimes underwhelming. Yes, I said it. He was unable to incite enough fear within the Avengers (Scarlet Witch was awfully good at that though), he had an astonishing lack of reference-free dialogue, and despite his apocalyptic intentions it was hard to take him seriously. It didn’t really feel like it was the “Age of Ultron” I was promised.

Spader-tron disappoints

The following defeat of the Avengers at the hand of Ultron and the Maximoffs caused the team to lose faith in themselves, which conveniently allowed us for a brief insight into some backstories which were previously left entirely ambiguous. I enjoyed the psychosomatic flashbacks (particularly Black Widow’s) almost as much as I enjoyed the oncoming Nick Fury cameo; who served the role of “coach whipping the team back into shape in time for a second wind on round two”.

In lieu of it being a superhero movie, the team (sans Thunder God Thor) naturally rebounds for another shot at the title. No surprises there.

Vision is by far, and through no possible means of comparison, my favorite character to be presented to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, surpassing even Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. Paul Bettany was spotless in the execution of his role, his portrayal of the Mjolnir-wielding synthozoid Avenger The Vision was never off point; his introduction sequence was memorable, his dialogue was engaging and essential to the development of the plot, and he’s just really… really… cool…

So cool

From then on, the movie just kept getting better; Vision’s impact was almost instantaneous and resounding. His part in fight scene was quite pivotal to the story. Speaking of the “fight” scene, how cool was the “defend the base” sequence near the end of the movie? The one stale moment was the needless death of Quicksilver, I say needless not because his death was forced, but because his presence will be missed from future Avengers flicks. Though to be honest, it is a Whedon movie; someone had to die. It just couldn’t be Hawkeye, that would be cliche.

End note: The very last line of dialogue was “Whedoned” quite well, though I don’t know about you, I still yelled out “Assemble!”, and I wasn’t alone.

Conclusion

Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron does a good job of telling the tale of the Avengers at their best, and their worst. Though some of the dialogue can be a little off-putting, particularly when it came to the antagonist, the majority of it was solid writing. Moreover, the new characters were beautifully introduced and portrayed, kudos to Whedon. All in all, the movie is a great stepping stone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and performs fairly as its own standalone motion picture.