A little disappointing but still entertaining
Summary
Daredevil: Born Again is more about Matt Murdock rather than Daredevil, taking too long before we see him after the first episode. There is still plenty of graphic violence and but there aren’t the truly epic fight scenes that the Netflix show had which is disappointing. The cast are all still phenomenal with Vincent D’Onforio once again stealing every scene as Wilson Fisk.
Plot: Matt Murdock finds himself on a collision course with Wilson Fisk when their past identities begin to emerge.
Review: I’ve been looking forward to Daredevil: Born Again since it was announced a few years ago; the Netflix Daredevil series remains the pinnacle of Marvel for me with the best fight scenes of the MCU. I’m avoiding story details and spoilers here which is why this is quite a vague review, but I hope you get the idea.
Born Again is a semi-reboot with the original cast returning and yet it feels a little different; most of the series takes place during the day and Daredevil is barely in the show. He is used sparingly which admittedly makes it more exciting when we do see him, but for some reason I just found this series doesn’t quite gel the way the Netflix one does and I cant put my finger on it.
The cast are all fantastic with Charlie Cox returning as Matt Murdock AKA Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio once again stealing every moment he is on screen. It still has the graphic violence we’ve come to expect and yet despite plenty of brutal scenes we don’t really get any memorable fight scenes like the one take stairwell fight from the Netflix show.
The first few episodes are quite talky and slow burn and seeing Wilson Fisk as the Mayor is less interesting that watching him run his criminal empire with ruthless efficiency. This series is really about trying to suppress our true, violent natures with Murdock and Fisk quite similar in that they both have serious rage issues.
Jon Bernthal returns briefly as Frank Castle AKA The Punisher and it’s really the final episode where he gets to shine; I do still love the way he has a primal roar whenever he is taking out the trash and Castle remains my favourite Marvel character.
I just get frustrated that nothing is really wrapped up in true MCU style where by the end of the 9 episodes it’s setting everything up for Season 2.
The Newton Brothers are on scoring duties and update the Daredevil theme to perfection; the music is one of the show’s highlights and I’m glad they didn’t change it too much.
It helps if you’ve seen Ms. Marvel (I haven’t), Echo and Hawkeye as it references characters and events from them, but you can still work out what’s going on if you haven’t seen them.
Overall, Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again needed more Daredevil and less talky courtroom drama, but it still has enough violence and excellent performances to be a mostly successful reboot. I wish it had more memorable fight scenes as there aren’t too many action sequences that really stood out for me the way the Netflix show did, but it has its moments.