Daredevil

Mad Dog you need to actually read my comments rather than just scanning them and you would see I agree with your last sentence (but not the first two).

<<1) Very well done indeed. I thought the production, look, and feel of the show was 100% grimy New York.>>

Not all that relevant unless you happen to live or have lived in New York. Yes, the sets were grimy.

<<2) The translation of Dare Devil from comic book to screen was fantastic. As seen with the movie, handled poorly the results can be terrible.>>

This doesn't even rate as a relevant comment to me. I just don't care enough.

<<3) There is a great deal of violence. All of it quite brutal. I would not recommend this show for children nor was it ever meant for children. That being said, the fight scenes are great. They were choreographed with skill, shot with imagination and no shakey cam/rapid close up edit bullshit. That is a very difficult thing to do and whoever is responsible deserves an award. Many Hollywood types should watch and learn.>>

Back to violence. I get torture porn, I really do, but it doesn't make a good movie for me. This is more sophisticated torture porn (yeah, hear those bones crack, see that blood flow, see that open wound etc). You can justify your fascination with ultra violence in lots of ways (it's a superhero movie you HAVE to have violence, come on it's only like cartoons and they're violent, come on life is violent, come on it's only a movie, come on it's not like children will watch it). You know what, violence for pure entertainment has a nasty taste to it and the promotion of torture porn for 'arts' sake is sick.

<<4) I thought the acting was good if not great. Donofrio was probably the best as a dangerous and capable Kingpin. He's always good at playing the slightly off center creepy dude.>>

Now to the actual quality of the show. I thought the main guy and main villain were very good. Foggy was awful, just did not believe him at all. Ben was OK.

I found there were long pieces of boredom, bordering on tediousness (looking at you, scenes of talking to Madame Gau with boring language changes and boring, long drawn out, topics of conversation). Not an exciting show that drew you in until you had no choice but to watch the next one (at least not for me). Americana through and through.

Can't comment on costumes as I haven't finished it yet.

ThirstyMan wrote: Children, BTW, are quite capable of distinguishing between pretend violence and real violence. So no. Looking for excuses to show this to your 10 yr old? There aren't any.

Yeah, tell that to the morons that are breeding and being born everyday.

I agree though, and I think I very poorly worded my post, looking back. It was more meant to convey the message that there is so much violence in western media, especially american, that when you see several hundred people being injured, losing life, then there should be impact. Not "oh, another guy fell on the ground". The portrayal of violence is so whitewashed that I honestly dont think many kids, let alone people know what actual violence looks like.

People think its okay to go into a fight with a baseball bat, for chrissakes. And act all surprised when they are sent to prison for murder when in the movies they can take at least 10 hits before they pass out from a bat beating. People die from a single punch to the head all the damn time. Fighting is deadly. This is not portrayed honestly in media.

I am not for kids watching anything like this. At all. Ever. But if you're going to expose your kids to violence, like western culture encourages you to, then be honest about it, is all I am saying.

Eastern media out of Japan and China is way more violent than western, imo.

It's a good show.. not amazing or genre defining. But it's on par with Agent Carter ... although I prefer Carter because I don't already know that story or those characters. DD is just a re-hash of a story I already know, I always give points for originality.

I like the fight scenes... but I don't think they're brilliant. DD, to me, was always much more acrobatic and elegant in his movements. He would swing off of lamp posts and make his way up buildings, he could drop a bad guy from a building - jump down catch him and bring him back up... there was something vaguely super heroic about how he moved and fought, even though it wasn't. I liked that style but I suppose it's a personal choice to go grittier with the fight scenes, more realistic, less super heroic - easier to sell to none fans... Not a huge knock or anything but something I wanted more from and didn't get. As is, the fight scenes are ok.. I've seen it done before. Brilliant is Drunken Master 2 or Dragons Forever... this is competent.

The acting is ok as well. I actually like Foggy and have been impressed with his shitty comedy, they nailed that. Kingpin is great too, although a little too melancholy... which I suppose is the point. I like how slowly they bring him and how the first few scenes with him are calm and completely non-violent... that helps build character for him.

Rosario Dawson finding him in the trash and bringing him home... really fucking stupid. The sexiest woman in the world does not do that... but whatever, it's a super hero show so I cut it some slack. Still dumb as fuck though, even if I do really like her.

The whole show is mixed with these brilliant and dumb moments... like any super hero show is forced to do I guess. Overall I really like it and can't wait for season two and whatever else Netflix has in store...

As for super hero's being for kids, that's just silly and Thirsty knows it. Especially on a site where adults talk about fucking boardgames.

Mad Dog wrote: Eastern media out of Japan and China is way more violent than western, imo.

Still doesn't make glorification of violence right though, whatever country created it.

Glorification of sex is a far more important idea. The puritanism of the US is well known as is the puritanism of the Middle East. Both are happy to show violence on screen but never sex and we all know this and have discussed it before.

JonJacob wrote: Rosario Dawson finding him in the trash and bringing him home... really fucking stupid. The sexiest woman in the world does not do that... but whatever, it's a super hero show so I cut it some slack. Still dumb as fuck though, even if I do really like her.

At least they eventually explain why she decided to help a stranger the way she did, and I found it genuine. Also, I have nothing against beautiful women or believing they can be just as smart or capable as the next average Joe, but damn fellas. The comments that these actors are more "real" than the ones on CW shows is ludicrous. Claire and Karen are both gorgeous and could easily be the eye candy we get on other prime time programming.

Green Lantern wrote:

JonJacob wrote: Rosario Dawson finding him in the trash and bringing him home... really fucking stupid. The sexiest woman in the world does not do that... but whatever, it's a super hero show so I cut it some slack. Still dumb as fuck though, even if I do really like her.

At least they eventually explain why she decided to help a stranger the way she did, and I found it genuine. Also, I have nothing against beautiful women or believing they can be just as smart or capable as the next average Joe, but damn fellas. The comments that these actors are more "real" than the ones on CW shows is ludicrous. Claire and Karen are both gorgeous and could easily be the eye candy we get on other prime time programming.

You got me, I do have a problem with everyone on TV being beautiful and that is a bias on my part. It's one thing for anyone to pull a man out of the trash (why not call 911), it's another for it to be a nurse, it's even crazier that it's some super good looking lady... and yet her looks shouldn't matter at all and neither should her gender... yet it bugs me for some reason. That's one of my many character flaws.

I find Karen distracting too. It's no coincidence that they're both hot of course, that's how TV works, but I do find it distracting. I wish there were more normal looking people on TV, or at least in the type of TV that I enjoy watching.

LOL! No worries, JJ. I wasn't singling you out. There are plenty of folks that bash CW for only hiring models or some shit like that. It's become trope to bust on those shows for some reason but other programming or "serious" material gets a pass when they are just as guilty. Now, if anyone wants to argue that the actresses portraying Claire and Karen can act circles around the CW actors and the mannequins on Agents of Shield I would concede that point.

Back to Daredevil. I finished up the series and have no complaints at all. My only minor gripe would be my preference for the simple ninja garb Matt wears up until the finale. Not that their take on the classic Daredevil costume was bad, it's just the simplicity of his original suit was bad ass. There was something intimidating about how he covered his eyes that made a powerful statement. I wish they would have kept that concept with his new suit. For some reason they exposed his eyes and I can't think of any reason why that would benefit a blind hero.

Here's to hoping we get more Stick in season 2! They are planning a season 2, right? Right!?

Finished it at last. Hope to god they don't do a Second season but I'm sure they will with all the hype.

Reminds me of Heroes except the first season was actually good.

Acting was mediocre throughout apart from the two main characters and possibly Ben. Others were not at all believable in their role. As always, just because they are good looking doesn't make them good actors/actresses.

Continuity sloppy. In the heroin factory DD was mobbed, next scene we are on the roof WTF? For the money they put into the show, obvious continuity and cut breaks should not be being made. It's like they made this for the slavering geek fan boys who won't complain as long as the original story is preserved.

Well, I don't care about that but I do care about quality drama. Is anyone actually going to make a decent drama where you are NOT embarrassed to talk about it with someone who is not a geek? BSG was close to this but this one is way out in the middle of geekfield central.

A really, really basic revenge story with no plot twists that would astound. Entirely predictable from episode 1. But guys, get in close now, it's got realistic violence, like open wounds and blood and stuff. WOW. At least Agents of Shield had a bloody plot twist.

This is one of the reasons I missed this place. This show wasn't even on my radar until I read it here. Definitely going to check it out though.

I'm finished now too... spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler...

So be warned.

I will miss Foggy's humorous and lighthearted non involvement in DD's world. Him knowing Matt's secret changes their dynamic drastically and I almost skipped several minutes of the show when he found out. The whole thing got bogged down in darkness and just wasn't enjoyable for a while. Ben dying was a really bad choice. He was one of the strongest in the show and his presence led credibility to the whole proceedings, his age felt necessary. He will be sorely missed in future episodes, they will need to bring Stick back a lot next season to make up for it.

The show is a little too dark for it's own good and I hope they can stop it from careening off the deep end. The last episode was probably my favorite mainly because DD was moving more how I want him too... still a little too gritty and a little too realistic but much better. The costume looks too manly but that's forgivable if they can get the tone right.

I didn't really notice the ultra violence that Thirsty is talking about.. I must be immune or something.

If I had to make a list of super hero shows for myself it may look like this:

Batman the animated series (plus the whole series of JLA's, Superman's ...) - still the best
Agent Carter
TMNT (the new series - this is almost perfect)
The Original Batman series with Adam West - it's aged surprisingly well
Daredevil
Flash/Constantine (both of them are honest with themselves and lighthearted enough to pull off what they're doing, I could even tie these with DD in some ways because they're less ambitious)
Agents of Shield... it has the most interesting plot of the bunch with lots of fun twists and turns and it makes following the Marvel Movies a little more fun.
Heroes - enjoyable enough but mostly just a silly homage to the real thing, worse acting than most people remember.

Something like this anyway. I may be forgetting something awesome.

I am only two episodes in, but it's a perfectly fine, fun show.

Why is it so freaking dark? It looks like crap on my crappy mcCrappity laptop.

But right now, I bet you can predict what will happen in the next god knows how many episodes, and you would be right on the money with 90% of it.

It's dark because he's blind. Are sure you're watching the right show?

ThirstyMan wrote: But right now, I bet you can predict what will happen in the next god knows how many episodes, and you would be right on the money with 90% of it.

It's dark because he's blind. Are sure you're watching the right show?

It's the movie with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, right?



I feel like I'm going blind watching this.

Ok, I just finished it.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I will miss Foggy's humorous and lighthearted non involvement in DD's world.

I saw this in a previous comment and immediately quit reading the rest of the passage, then spent like SIX EPISODES WAITING FOR FOGGY TO DIE. It was torturous. I just now read the rest of the comment and realized they were just talking about the relationship. which got all smoothed over in the last episode or so, along with Karen's guilt at having done that one thing that not even Matt would do. I think she was justified.

There were some great surprises and cool moments. I liked Madame Gau and will miss her. Also, Karen's response to Wesley. Wilson's background in all things Asian is interesting, and the appearance and disappearance of Nobu the ninja was cool. The Dark Sky--unexplained, weird and cool.

I agree that the show lays on too much violence, and that it is lazy writing at times. I kind of got tired of the fighting, to the point where it felt like they were using it to fill up dead spots in the script. Except for Nobu the ninja. That was fun. Agreed that Scott Glen was awesome, and the allusions to a portal, a secret world of ninjas, etc.

It was also interesting to see the changes in Fisk's girlfriend, as her need for power--importance--power, slowly transform her.

This was a perfectly fine, enjoyable superhero TV series. It's not The Americans, or even Justified, but it got me through 50 papers (36 left).