REVIEW: ‘Daredevil: Born Again Episodes 1–2

It is clear mere minutes into Daredevil Born Again Episodes 1–2 that this revival is a mistake. The two-episode series premiere inspires disappointment and even embarrassment for the creative team involved, who found an easy cash grab with no creative integrity to make it worthwhile. They’re playing the greatest hits of the Netflix series (itself already riddled with diminishing returns the longer it went on) and dulling the effect. The close-quarters hallway fights, callbacks to other MCU properties from Spider-Man to Echo, and some genuinely great exchanges between Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). All of it lacks soul.

Daredevil Born Again needs a hero and is incapable of delivering one. Unwilling, even. Because the series sees itself as a conduit for prestige television—political intrigue and crime drama. But its silliness is too loud, too rampant to take that self-seriousness well, seriously. Created by Dario Scardapane, Matt Corman, and Chris Ord, the writing and direction suffer from forced drama, character assassination (both literal and personality-wise), and a failure to capture what made the original Daredevil Netflix series so initially endlessly entertaining.

Matt is an interesting character due to how his two sides manifest. His Catholic guilt is sated by his profession as a lawyer, serving the underrepresented and working to fight police corruption. Meanwhile, his darkness is found in his alter-ego as the vigilante Daredevil, a creature who utilizes bloody and violent retribution. It’s a fact that Matt himself admits in Daredevil Born Again Episode 2. He is a believer in both the light and the dark. And yet that complexity is absent in Episodes 1–2, no matter how hard they try and sell us on it.

The most significant, unnecessary misfire happens before the title drop. Foggy (Elden Henson) is shot dead after trying to protect someone he was defending, in part to keep Matt away from jumping behind his suit and cowl. It’s a throwaway death. No matter how aggravating the character could be in the original series (and lord could he), how his death is handled is laughable. There’s no emotion tied to it, regardless of the committed performances from Cox and Deborah Ann Woll. Because, as is the case with most Marvel series, if you haven’t seen what came before, what happens in the current episode doesn’t matter.

Foggy’s death is mere fodder to launch into this new storyline era. Karen is written away with little fanfare, her and Matt’s falling out happening off-screen. This screams rewrites and reshoots because there’s no comprehensible reason why the two wouldn’t talk it out or, rather, why Matt wouldn’t avoid her onscreen. Matt doesn’t mourn at all, aside from throwing Foggy’s assailant ruthlessly off a building after a furious pursuit.

Daredevil Born Again Episodes 1–2 merely mimics the best of the Netflix series.

This, in large part, speaks to the greatest issue of the series so far. Without Matt’s friends to tether him and without his vigilantism to guide him, what exactly is this character’s point? To simply resist darkness or to succumb to it? The show jumps one year later, he’s hung up his suit and is more successful, working in a corporate law office. He’s got a new love interest! And maybe the series is saving the angst for later episodes to let him stew before he breaks. But currently, the jump between tragedy and the current day is jarring.

Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson are undeniably talented directors capable of delivering indie darlings that work within budgetary confines while delivering genuine thrills and surprises. And for the most part, they’ve created a strong bridge between indie and studio fare, from Something in the Dirt to their episodes in Moon Knight. Despite Marvel’s intent to strip personalities from indie filmmakers, they maintain their individuality. But the direction in Episode 1, “Heaven’s Half Hour,” is listless. The editing causes the episode to flounder more than the direction, though.

It’s most notable in the first major confrontation between Matt and Fisk. There’s no impact or anticipatory acceleration. Instead, one moment, we’re in Matt’s kitchen, and the next, on the street as the two stand in front of one another. That, plus weak fight scenes that lack the grit, grime, and weight of the original series and tragic CGI effects, make for a visually dull premiere. It verges on parody when, in two separate scenes, Fisk and Matt stand at the edge of a balcony, looking down at Hell’s Kitchen, and both look like the same set in the same soundstage rather than possessing any sense of place or time.

Episode 2, “Optics,” tries to introduce a more compelling storyline with the introduction of Hector, aka White Tiger (Kamar de los Reyes), yet even that is fumbled. He’s a sympathetic character stuck in a reductive, regressive storyline that weathers the series’ ongoing goal to both sides of the story of police corruption. And despite his acts of heroism, we’re only shown footage of his actions while Matt is given the cathartic moment in getting to stand up to the corrupt cops who put Hector away in the first place. Hector doesn’t get to be the hero of his own story.

The best scene of Daredevil Born Again Episodes 1–2 is the confrontation between Matt and Fisk, mainly due to the performances from Cox and D’Onofrio. Cox imbues Matt with the right amount of easy charisma, while D’Onofrio is imposing without being overbearing. The two have tremendous chemistry, but it works because it’s the most accurate callback to the original series. The characters and the fight sequences are what made the Netflix series work, and Daredevil: Born Again only briefly remembers that fact.

Perhaps the series will get better once it gains some traction and establishes a new sense of self. But it’s a rocky start. Daredevil Born Again Episodes 1–2 is an unfortunate at best, dire at worst return for the character. While Charlie Cox remains a charismatic screen presence, there’s no thrill in watching the revival that, despite its flickers of bloodshed, is a sanded-down version of a more worthwhile iteration.

There’s no growth in the Disney+ series or signs of a creative team looking to push the boundaries of its predecessor. Instead, it’s playing things safe, proving what’s already been proven countless times in the past few years. Marvel needs to take a beat. If you’re looking for Daredevil content and the comics aren’t your thing, just revisit Season 1 of the Netflix series. It’s your best bet.

Daredevil: Born Again Episodes 1–2 are streaming now, exclusively on Disney+.