TV: Daredevil

I don't think the Bennifer-era adaptation of Daredevil is as bad as people make it out to be, though it definitely has more than its fair share of cringe-inducing camp (a playground fight? really?). However, for those who always wanted a darker, grittier, Frank Miller-ier version of Matt Murdock, Marvel has delivered in a big way:



The 13 episode Netflix series follows a fledgling Daredevil as he battles New York's criminal underworld and comes to grips with his unique powers. The early stories depict Matt's double life as a costumed vigilante and a lawyer, focusing on his relationships with his friends Karen Page and Foggy Nelson. The series takes some neat twists and turns from there, though, eventually devoting quite a bit of time to Daredevil's nemesis, Wilson Fisk (played with award-worthy aplomb by Vincent D'Onofrio).

It's an easy show to like. The performances are excellent, and the production values are incredible - most scenes have the moody lighting you'd expect from a big screen crime drama, not a superhero web series. The dialogue can get fairly clunky (characters constantly reference "Hell's Kitchen" and "my city," to the point where it's become a meme), but the fight scenes pick up the slack nicely: