REVIEW: From Hell’s Kitchen without love in 'Daredevil: Born Again'
Warning: This article contains minor spoilers.
There’s a good reason that Daredevil: Born Again is currently rated at 92% on the Tomato Meter, with just a majority of the critic previews based on two episodes. I’m glad to report that I’ve finished all nine episodes and while the middle of the pack (in particular, Episodes 5 to 7) sag a bit in quality, pace, and expanding character dimension, the arc as a whole is miles above the regular MCU and Disney+ plethora of spin-offs and standalones.
In a nutshell—and sans any major spoilers—DD: Born Again goes back to what made the comic books great in the first place: a crime thriller set in the grime and majesty of New York City, with a hero that’s only moderately powered, carrying a giant chip on his shoulder and a burning, almost holy crusade against bad guys.
Officially, DD: Born Again is what they call a “soft reboot.” It still functions as a continuation of the events from DD Season 3 and a new direction where original creator and showrunner Dario Scardapane is heading the show, but with huge creative veto powers by new lead directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Both Benson and Moorhead were part of an overhaul by executives in late September 2023, where they kicked out plenty of staff in a surprise move and replaced them with the two guys who did the majority of the episodes on another MCU series, Loki.
The timeline of the first season begins years after the events featured in Daredevil’s third season. Roughly a year after, Matt Murdock halted all his hunting as his masked alter ego.
In the debut episode, we find that Murdock, a blind lawyer, is a grieving man. After a traumatic event where someone close to him dies, he decides to hang up his horned red costume and Billy Clubs to concentrate on fighting crime within the system, effectively retiring.
The first episode, actually a double-episode premier, opens with a bang and plenty of blood, setting up DD’s unofficial retirement and the lifting up of former mob boss and DD rival Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin in his bid to go legit.
Trying to leave the reek of the NYC crime world behind, Fisk is now gearing up for a huge power grab. He wants to become Mayor Fisk. Seeing as DD: Born Again leans towards the genre trappings of noir and thriller, a criminal boss gunning for elected office is one of the biggest prizes here. Murdock is, of course, keen to prevent that.
The chemistry of Charlie Cox as Murdock/Dardevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin/Fisk acting together on opposing sides is one of the special sauces that made the Daredevil series exquisite in the first place. Now, their conflict has strayed far from the dim alleys and underground dealings they’re used to, spilling into the spotlight of the headlines and mundane life.
At first, the longtime rivals try to move past their dark histories and agree to serve in tolerance for the good of New York. A scene where Fisk and Murdoch verbally spar over breakfast at a diner is one of the best-acted events in the whole MCU TV world. The thing deserves an award. It gave me goosebumps. Comparable almost to that scene in No Country for Old Men where Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) and Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) debate mortality and killing in a tense, philosophical exchange.
Of course, their vigilante and criminal pasts can’t help but resurface. One of Fisk’s running electoral policies is to heighten the ban on masked vigilantes. He even personally took time to threaten Matt, warning him against going back to his extrajudicial ways at their copacetic diner meet. Murdock soon finds himself on a collision course with Fisk when he’s elected mayor and Murdoch must resurrect his Daredevil mask.
That’s the whole premise of Born Again. No matter how much you think you’ve sworn off the horns and the stick, something always pulls you back in.
The narrative train runs smoothly and with confident intent, compelling and well written up until eepisode 5, where they tease the return of everyone’s favorite unhinged ex-soldier, The Punisher. John Bernthal is, of course, a thespian force of nature as Frank Castle. He always adds spice and unpredictable chaos to the proceedings, especially when interacting with Matt and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll)—he has strong, competing emotions about both of them, if you watched the previous DD seasons.
From episodes 5 to 8, a general decline in plot and stakes happens. The side stories of Murdock and Fisk take their own turns but rarely meet even as Matt successfully lawyers and saves a masked vigilante known as White Tiger.
A landmark case proves masks are good guys and actually help the, gasp, crime rates go down. Fisk tries to grab more power with a landmark dockside project but is thwarted by the usual power players. Then, a serial killer called the Muse figures in the proceedings for his unique graffiti. But frankly, he’s a non-villain. What’s more interesting, even though it drags in places, is how the political and social maneuvering between Fisk and Murdock pans out, especially in the milieu that is NYC's low and high society.
There's way too much lawyering sometimes and not enough actual daring heroism. So much so that the low points feel less like being born again than rote stuff taken from crime soap. It might as well be DD: Law and Order or DD: Special Victims Unit.
When action and combat do happen, though, they’re adeptly, thoughtfully delivered. The melees are gritty and never one-sided. DD does take significant hits; his “superpowers” of being fearless and acute of hearing never get in the way of a good scrap. The broken bones, impact against walls, and exit of bullets smack of excellent crime and action cinematography. The stuntmen and action coordinators have earned their stripes on this series.
Without going into any spoilers, episode 9 makes for an outstanding finale. Not only does a surprise team-up they’ve been teasing throughout the season happen, but Fisk also changes the game by anteing up the stakes, revealing the true heights of his ambition as mayor. A long and intense battle between Dardevil and Fisk’s forces also delivers the goods with expected fanfare and blood, and then Kingpin’s gamble ably sets up the next season.
What I really liked about DD: Born Again isn’t just the combo of thriller and noir, but also the attention to detail like a very cool soundtrack (by John Paesano), the Easter Eggs that will true nerds (how about those MCU events references in Time Square?), and the character building that expands the emotive range and dimension of almost every major character in the series.
Most of all, you can drop in on the first episode and have only a vague recall of the last DD season from seven years ago and still be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of DD’s Hell’s Kitchen with enough relish.
Daredevil: Born Again is now streaming on Disney+.
