Daredevil: Born Again

The pressure on “Born Again” was immense. But rather than simply meeting expectations, it surpasses them.

With a cast entirely at ease in their characters’ skins, and a darker tone, the series is a breathtaking example of what it means to revisit a known hero while offering him new reasons to fight for justice.

Born Again’s most important achievement is the canny way it continues everything that worked about the original Daredevil series, with some notable improvements across the board elsewhere.

Frankly, I'm annoyed I have to wait another year for Daredevil: Born Again season 2. That's how good it is. It's clever enough to pull its punches, bold enough to deliver huge blows, and packed with enough "holy sh*t" moments that fans of the original - and fans of good TV - will be delighted with it.

Everyone on this show has come back at the top of their games. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are particularly good as their characters and slip back into them as if they stopped playing them yesterday, not several years ago.

You should be here for it, season two of ‘Born Again,’ that is, because ‘Daredevil’ season one gives you every captivating reason to watch this worthy resurrection.

Born Again feels more like a sprightly season one than a dutiful season four, more indebted to the relatively recent comic runs of Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Charles Soule, and Stefano Landini than anything else.

There are many other new characters, all well-defined, along with plenty of cameos and references to other Marvel folks. But although they only have one extended scene together, Cox and D’Onofrio once again dominate the narrative.

What a relief to have Hell's Kitchen’s finest back. Cox and D’Onofrio power a strong season that feels — more or less — like the Daredevil we know and love.

A worthy follow-up to its predecessor, “Born Again” is a violent crime thriller by way of courtroom drama that’s for adults only. Gritty but polished, it marks a sea change for Marvel, giving it a serious project that finally caters to prestige TV-watching grown-ups and not “Deadpool”-loving teenagers.

Cox remains a magnetic lead, although perhaps less so than D’Onofrio who, for all the points discussed here, is the main reason to watch.

A little tightening up would have heightened the tension. But as a snapshot of the state of the world right here and now it’s remarkably visionary. They must have seen it coming.

It knows its characters well and puts real effort into finding inventive uses for Matt Murdock's multisensory superpowers. Opening with a dramatic and fast-paced debut episode, it makes a persuasive case for Marvel's most popular small-screen hero.

Fans of the original Daredevil series should enjoy Daredevil: Born Again, because it continues the original series’ story and its dark tone, with a story that’s feels like it’s going to build to an exciting climax.

The show captures the signature drama and brutality of Netflix’s Daredevil series while taking the story of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk in a bold (and surprisingly topical) new direction.

Daredevil: Born Again is a bloody delight and a worthy successor to the Netflix show. While it’s not perfect, it certainly sets up a thrilling future for the character.

Cox slides back into playing the “really good lawyer” like he never left. .... Fisk’s own arc is notably slower, and both are fairly obvious, but they intertwine while making engaging detours.

This wildly entertaining new series is exactly the sort of smaller, self-contained victory that Matt and his friends are always striving for.

What saves Born Again from drudgery, though, are the same things that made Daredevil so beloved to begin with. One is D’Onofrio, who has not missed a step as Fisk. .... The other is Cox.

Marvel has struggled the last few years, but the company has still made several large fortunes for Disney. Scrapping everything the fired creative team did would have been costly in the short term, but would have been much better over the long haul for Matt Murdock and friends.

The show is at its most potent when Murdock is very visibly struggling to solve a problem the right way when the easy one — being Daredevil — is right there. Its commitment to brutal action remains intact, with intricate fights that feel like genuine life-or-death struggles. But Born Again definitely loses something as it strays from the ethical dilemmas of its more episodic first half, and indulges in the catharsis of a more action-packed second half.

Murdock and Fisk – or Cox and D’Onofrio if you prefer – are great in key scenes together, the former fleet and dancing, the latter giving off a dark, heavy energy that has you backing away from the screen as you watch. .... Whether the MCU team has done enough to take the comic adaptation crown from its current holder, DC’s dark, clever, critically acclaimed ratings smash The Penguin, however, remains to be seen.

“Daredevil: Born Again” is uneven, but the ambitious nine-part series lands plenty of punches if you go in knowing that it positions comic-book fare not as escapist entertainment but as bloody, political commentary.

Too often draggy and predictable, this Disney+ endeavor, premiering March 4, appears to have learned little from its prior missteps.

Though this series proves more eager to address social issues than typical MCU projects, such as the flaws of prison incarceration or rampant police brutality, very little of it adds up to more than a passing thought. As well-intentioned as these storylines are and as entertaining as they can be in the moment, the haphazard construction of these nine episodes (all of which were screened for critics ahead of time) constantly holds them back.

The result is a show that’s fitfully stylish and broadly watchable while never totally coherent.

"Born Again" can't find that greatness. In the producers' desire to replicate something beloved they have ended up plagiarizing themselves: Too much of "Born Again" feels like something we've already seen.

Daredevil: Born Again starts to hit its stride about eight episodes in. That’s a problem, because this is a nine episode season. .... Approach it with patience and maybe you’ll stick around long enough to see it work out its issues. That’s a lot to ask of an audience, though—maybe too much.

Daredevil: Born Again is a hodgepodge of ideas. Whether it's too many cooks in the kitchen due to its production woes or a desperation to recapture lightning in a bottle, in trying to revive Daredevil, all Disney accomplishes is giving us a watered-down Matt Murdock who neatly fits into the mold of all MCU stories.

It has some exciting moments, and strong performances from Cox and several other Netflix alums, including Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin of crime, and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, aka the Punisher. But as a whole, it’s a Frankenstein monster of a season, with various parts stitched together in ungainly fashion.

The lack of narrative shaping takes away any force the themes of vigilantism might have had, reducing them to limp excuses for the sometimes stomach-turning violence. Among the cast, Bernthal is about the only performer who demonstrates a real pulse.