Better The Devil You Know.
13 Episodes. Starring: Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Joanne Whalley, Jay Ali, Stephen Rider, Wilson Bethel & Vincent D'Onofrio.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. But to be Frank, even from his Castle walls, The Punisher couldn't hit a Bullseye quite like this. And how do you one up collecting skulls? Well how about a Fisk-full of taking it back to the Kingpin? Yeah...we said his name Candyman. Time to iron out that iconic white suit because Wilson's wardrobe looks like Batman's right now. And with the vigilante taking it back to bandana black for 'Daredevil' Season 3, this feels like 'The Dark Knight's' bloodied to a pulp, no kill code all the way down to the Zimmer-ing cut score. As this devil may care is 'Born Again' like an iconic graphic novel for this comic-book serial. And just when you thought 'The Defender' could no longer stand the heat in Hells Kitchen. Turns out it was the now sadly cancelled, powered down team of heroes for hire, Luke Cage and Iron Fist who were told to get out like 'Black Panther' star Daniel Kaluuya. Despite these superheroes having stellar, star-studded sophomore seasons, no slump. Too many cooks and all that some may say. Not me. Perhaps there's too much salt in this Netflix broth. Want to sign my petition to keep these beautifully nuanced Marvel street-level shows that have more gutter depth than their big movie M.C.U. brothers, despite being kicked to the curb? Did you not see their Wu-Tang Clan, Patty-Cake team-up in 'Luke Cage' Season 2? Fist to palm that had wallop packing potential for the ultimate comic crossover collabo. But now they're the ones who are really dead in a year where every 'Defender' gets a second season starting with 'Jessica Jones', but evidently not a second chance. Everyone except for 'Daredevil' that is, who to end the year gets a surprising third season. But this won't be a trilogy conclusion as the horns still lead the way in the defence of the concrete jungle level of a post-"incident" New York. Looks like this Netflix Avenger and son of a boxer, fighting back could even survive a Thanos golden glove, thumbs down snap. Even without half his click. And after taking on the B.I.G.(gest) mob boss, anti-hero with a bullet and the valentine lover and fighter with the sewer teen turtle, sai swords, this lawyer by day is being targeted like a summons by another iconic 'Daredevil' villain. Not to mention the king of them.
And the most iconic one shot yet in this lucky 13 episodes (not getting trimmed to ten like 'Iron Fist's' swan song). Forget your 'Birdman' superhero Michael Keaton. Or 'The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance'. Another D.D. season, another classic action sequence with one continuous camera for your binge watch hit back 30 seconds more times than you can count loop. Now if you thought that punchy hallway scrap from the first season could only be beat by that lightbulb smashing, biker gang corridor rip-through that heads down the whole apartments staircase and right into the lobby. Then just you wait until you see this epic prison riot one shot from the cells to the block. Even rolling some dynamic dialogue inbetween all the baton to orange is the new black beat downs as the camera rotates. And this single take lasts a whopping, a## whupping 11 minutes of classic and compellingly cohesive chereography. As we have the most dynamic direction in all of the M.C.U. and a one shot that can rival McConaughey's biker gang hostage, escape out the hood in 'True Detective'. Or the two epic, violent first-person shooter scenes that start and finish, bookmark the South Korean smash, 'The Villainess'. The devil really is in the details. And there's plenty more amazing, hand-to-hand action where that came from. From the rooftops, to the parking lots. Or a Daredevil of a baton throwing doppelganger hitting everything in sight. Going toe to mirror reflection toe and postal in a New York newspaper office, read all about it bulletin board. Or nailing more targets than the scope of Jon Bernthal's Punisher character in a roadside hit and run play for the Godfather gone disrespectfully bad. Like a blind leading the "blind" gridlocked shootout. Showing there is so much action here in each episode that it almost may be taken for granted in this binge age stream of right now and then forget about it. Before bringing wild to a church congregation like 'Kingsman' Colin Firth from the pew to the pulpit. Speaking of original sin in this art of war, you might want to take solace or communion in the confessional booth (especially if its been months since your last one) before this devil reads you last rights in the lords house.
Sink into the Kitchen Satan's skin and you'll see that the blind lawyer is red, no matter who tries to suit up as Matt Murdock's night alias. There's only one man to play him. And I'm sorry Ben Affleck...or should we say, or hope, Batman? But that's Charlie Cox. The only cast member in the old legend of Michael Caine and Ray Winstone's 'King Of Thieves' right now whose not balancing that budget against drawing out his pension plan. The 'Boardwalk Empire' and 'Theory Of Everything' star brings eyes are the soul depth and haunting darkness to Murdock. A blind man whose other senses are as dialled up to 11 as his empathy and guilt that go hand in hand with his conflicted combat that sees his trade really go rogue as he exchanges blows this time. The hospital over the morgue. He hits someone and they get back up unlike The Punisher's "STAY DOWN". But does he ever get back up? Especially after falling so hard. His crisis of faith confessions with father figure and perfect preist Peter McRobbie are as compelling as they are our real world, all encompassing. And it's a good job his more than reliable as ever best friend would follow him off a cliff. Even if they look like they are being pushed. As this season Elden Henson's floppy Foggy Nelson has passed the bar and is now running for D.A. like Harvey Dent. In again a series that has so much shades of 'The Dark Knight' someone even makes a dent in Two-Face's "the night is always darkest" speech before they get interrupted by someone doing their best party crashing Joker impression. But it's Deborah Allen Woll's journalist character Karen who just may be the best thing about this series. Taking a page out of the addictive substance of darkness and the brutal backstory of this broken but pieced back together character from the comic books history. Her 'Karen' episode is what these groundbreaking, down to earth Netflix superhero dramas are all about. No Eleven, extra nine, strange 'Stranger Things' diversion backstory. The big-three attorneys of law headline a billboard cast that includes a class FBI agent in a conflicted bureau in Jay Ali. 'Willow', Joanne Whalley's nun character who is more familiar than your average sister. And 'Safe House' cop turned detective on series crossover patrol, Stephen Rider. But it's Vincent D'Onofrio pinning down his Wilson Fisk crime lord who would be king of New York. Out on bond in a halfway Penthouse arrest that shows he still stalks this city from an up on Empire like high, with a puppet-string, Corleone state of mind. Judging from a fight night poster Easter Egg too we would love to see this Kingpin owned by Vincent find his far away homecoming in Spider-Man's universe uptown, seens as he is just as iconic a formidable foe to the web crawler as he is to the man without fear. And if his crimes don't make up for a lack of punishment we saw from Frank Castle (whose series cameo that birthed his own season and made for the second chapter of 'Daredevil' being the best Marvel/Netflix series yet), then how about someone who treats shooting ranges like dartboards? And instead of Bernthal, Bethel's Agent Poindexter swats up on another classic Marvel character as the baton is passed. The young 'Harley and the Davidsons' actor revs up his career as an agent of Wilson Fisk as Wilson Bethel hits the spot like any target shot. O.K. we don't want to give the game that's already sold away (you have Google and your timelines for that), but this guy even throws a stapler for crying out loud. Get it? Piece it all together and you have a devil reborn and one hell of a heaven sent season. As all this brimstone turns the pressure cooker of New York's Hells Kitchen into an inferno. Now how do you like that Dante? TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'The Defenders', 'Luke Cage', 'Iron Fist'.
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