Daredevil, much like Spider-Man, is a grounded New York comic-book hero. He is measured, he is adjusted, and he strikes fear. Matt Murdock, on the other hand, is an excellent lawyer with a penchant for adorable clumsiness that gets him plenty of attention. Netflix got this right. Disney took it for a spin on its MCU merry-go-round, and now we are left with this deadpan college-level documentary that fails the wonderful story it set out to sell.
Don’t get me wrong... Season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again handles a complex story, hard-hitting and relevant. But it drops the ball in its presentation. Colour grading is horrendous, the cinematography—for the most part—is lazy, and the direction of some episodes is on par with those microdramas that pop up on your Instagram feed as ads.
The writing, however, is top-notch. Yet there is something about this new brand of Daredevil that seems off. It could also be the glaring plot holes that we, as the audience, somehow have to make peace with. Where is Punisher? Where is Spider-Man? Where are the rest of the Defenders? Where is She-Hulk? Where are the Sorcerer Supreme and the more-than-handful of Marvel superheroes who call New York their home? How much of "Disney movie world does not give rights to Disney TV world" do you need us to "empathetically understand" before it becomes boring?
Great story, shoddy presentation
This was a great chance for New York superheroes to come together, like in the comics. But what do we have here? A campus protest masquerading as a people’s movement? Are you telling me that the NYPD—the largest municipal police department in the United States—could not handle a pack of around 100 task force lunatics?
In fact, the story was so good, it felt like a crime to just sweep these under the carpet.
Daredevil: Born Again is lazy filmmaking with a great plot. It assumes the audience will just chalk it up. But that era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is over. Unless, in true Disney fashion, they find a way to insert Mickey Mouse, a prequel-Star Wars character lookalike, or Robert Downey Jr into its TV series, that is.
The talented Deborah Ann Woll seems out of place in this supposed-to-be-dark-but-looks-campy universe, unlike the Netflix adaptation. In fact, she did a far better job in the recent God of War title, and that was a video game!
Charlie Cox looks too tired to even portray that he is tired. Margarita Levieva and Michael Gandolfini, who are excellent actors, are wasted on almost inconsequential subplots. Vincent D'Onofrio delivers his best version of the Kingpin, but there is only so much lazy production he can tide over.
The claws of Disney are too apparent. It feels like they have policed everything—from colour correction, to editing, to setting the general tone of the series. Unlike Netflix, which found a way around the creative diktats of the MCU, the Disney+ version is dragged down by them. And this is too relevant because, as a viewer, you stop caring for the series. You love the characters, you love the premise, you like the story, but the presentation makes watching this a chore.
There are two ways Marvel can fix this: Either bring back the soul of Daredevil into a more grounded character for Season 3, or transition this seamlessly into movies, where there will be more responsible stakeholders doing better quality checks. Because Charlie Cox’s ‘Man Without Fear’ deserves it. And then, from the ashes, Daredevil will hopefully be Born Again.
Daredevil: Born Again Season 2
Rating: 2 out of 5 | ★★☆☆☆ | (4 out of 5 for the story)
Where to watch: JioHotstar
Cast: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, Wilson Bethel, Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini, Genneya Walton, Ayelet Zurer, Arty Froushan