Quote:
Originally Posted by addabox
See, the fight scenes struck me as exactly the opposite of Matrix style wire work and quick cuts, which is why they're so compelling. I actually think the fight scenes are the center of the series, in a way.
They tend to play out in extended single cuts, with Daredevil's skills limited to plausibly human martial arts spins and kicks, parkour-style use of whatever's about to get strategic position, and (most of all) just sheer fucking endurance. The show's theme could be "it's not how you go down but how you get up", and when Daredevil fights, he goes down a lot. Probably because he's typically fighting 6 or more guys, who have this irritating habit of failing to cinematically lose consciousness the first time they're punched. Or the second or third time for that matter. DD just has to keep pounding away, taking damage all the while, and it takes a surprisingly long time to get all of his opponents on the deck for good.
The net effect, for me anyway, is that these fights feel real in a way superhero fights never do. It's like you happened across a brawl in an alley, and you can tell one guy is a really good fighter, but he's also really outnumbered, so the outcome is a tossup. And then you think, Jesus, that guy can really take a lot of punishment. It's like "taking punishment and getting back up" is DD's actual superpower.
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I definitely agree with you that they feel more geniune than Matrix fights (which is what I meant by "minus the uber-FX"). And the abuse he takes definitely lends authenticity. However some fights are very... Kung-fu-y sort of fights that happen very fast and though I understand he's supposed to have heightened senses, blind is blind ya know? Some of the moves he pulls, I can't get there. It's pretty close to distracting. Maybe if he lost a fight here or there, you know maybe accidentally punches a wall and breaks a couple knuckles and has to retreat or something (cuz let's face it -- that would happen to him fairly often), and did fewer super-spinny-I'm-blind-but-I'm-gonna-break-dance-and-kick-your-teeth-out type moves, maybe... but it's not so bad that I would stop watching. I just think they're a bit over the top for who he is supposed to be.
That and sorry man... blind guy against 6 guys. Unless the 6 guys are all completely retarded / unable to think their way out of a paper bag, he's going to lose that fight. The only exception I can find to that was when he broke into that kidnapper safe house and caught those guys off guard and sorta used the bottlenecks of the doors to his advantage so they couldn't all close on him at the same time (not more than 2 at a time essentially). That was a very cool fight scene and about as believable as you can get for the powers he's supposed to have. Anything beyond that stretches the limits of plausibility even for a super hero.