Movie Review: "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" - In Snyder We Trust (SPOILERS)

Three years ago, I just graduated from college earning my bachelor's degree in English. Per some advice, I decided to start a blog where I would write what I want and hopefully gain the attention of some potential employers. While my personal life hasn't really changed that much since then, I believe I've grown to be a more competent writer and reviewer compared to when I first started. I honestly found some inspiration in watching Nostalgia Critic and Linkara review videos, and trying to copy their style; an honest and sometimes funny or brutal approach.
My first ever review on my blog was "Man of Steel", a film that overall had mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. Now here we are, three years later, and I am once again having to defend another installment of what has been established as the DC Extended Universe: "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice". Only this time, there is a disconnect between how the critics and audiences feel about this film, but I'll get more into that later.

Nearly a month after "Man of Steel" first released, the sequel was announced and that it would be the first ever team-up film between Superman and Batman. A month after that, Ben Affleck was cast as the new Dark Knight, and boy was there a fit to say the least. Ever since then, more and more came out about plans to build a DC movie universe to compete with Marvel's, eventually announcing a film slate through 2020. While I was excited about the prospect, I was worried too that they were trying too hard or just playing catch-up with Marvel. But once trailers and footage started coming, a lot of fans' worries were laid to rest. Which brings us to the film itself.

First off, the film is visually stunning. Director Zack Snyder does a brilliant job bringing a comic book to life, evident by the opening scene of Thomas and Martha Wayne's murders. Watching the pearls falling, a significant detail about this moment, was well done. And yeah, if you're not a fan of Zack Snyder's slow motion moments like he used in "300" and "Watchmen", it's in this movie too. But honestly, if you know Zack Snyder's style by now, you should know what to expect. Combined with the visual elements are the fight scenes, which are very well done, especially in the special effects slugfests between Superman and the armored Batman and the Trinity against Doomsday. But even without special effects, one of the shining moments of this film is Batman's mission to rescue Martha Kent. If you've played the Arkham video game series or at least seen footage, it's that Batman's fighting style brought to life. Never before have we seen a live action Batman more agile or more brutal. In my opinion, that was the moment Affleck proved himself to be THE Batman.

In my opinion, the tone of this film compared to "Man of Steel" is actually a lot more light-hearted. And in some ways, I view "Dawn of Justice" to actually redeem "Man of Steel" for those who didn't like it (unless you were overly critical of it; otherwise, it's more of the same). Now don't get me wrong, I still like "Man of Steel", and while "Dawn of Justice" does take it self very seriously and can get pretty dark, despite what some critics say, it definitely knows when to have fun as well, between the action and its character interactions, and yes, it has its share of laughs. When I think back to "Man of Steel", it was just an overall serious tone about Clark growing up and adapting to his powers and the people coming to terms that a being with such power exists, along with major destruction of Metropolis. I think this could be attributed to Christopher Nolan, who was a producer on the film following his success directing the Dark Knight trilogy. He was trying to bring that same feel to Superman, but I think it rubbed people the wrong way. It was probably a good thing he's no longer involved with DC films (as far as I know). Also, there's definitely a lot more color in "Dawn of Justice". I can actually see yellow in Superman's "S", compared to a gray filter seemingly used in "Man of Steel".

Let's move on to the cast, starting with the man who's faced much scrutiny in his casting: Ben Affleck as Batman. Like many, I was flabbergasted when I saw this announcement. But considering Affleck took the role even after saying he would never do a comic book movie again after "Daredevil", there had to be something about this film for him to come on board. As more trailers and footage came out featuring him as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, it seemed more and more people were becoming believers in the "Batfleck".
As I said before, Ben Affleck is the definitive and most accurate cinematic Bruce Wayne and Batman we've seen. It's like the DC Animated Universe Batman come to life.
Bruce goes on a very unique journey in the film. During the World Engine attack in Metropolis seen in "Man of Steel", we see that Bruce goes out of his way to make it to the city and help evacuate his Wayne Enterprises building stationed there, driving there in a mad rush while watching all the destruction unfold. But as Bruce gets to the building, Superman and Zod's battle has begun, and the half the building comes down. Bruce sees firsthand the destruction of Kryptonians, from an employee whose legs are crushed under a beam, and a little girl whose mother was in the building when it came down. Bruce looks up in anger to see Superman and Zod falling to Earth along with satellite debris continuing to destroy the city. This was a brilliant thing to do, showing how much collateral damage occurred in "Man of Steel" (which many people complained about). Hell, even I would be pissed at Superman after everything that happened.
Considering that Bruce in his time as Batman has only fought ordinary criminals, knowing that someone with as much power as Superman exists deals a great blow to him. It makes him feel like what he does doesn't make a difference anymore, and it results in even more brutal treatment of criminals like branding them with a bat symbol, something Alfred is even surprised by. By the end of the film though, Bruce, inspired by Superman, seems to realize that he needs to be better than he has been.
Wherever you have Batman though, Alfred is close behind, played now by Jeremy Irons. Ever since he was cast, I thought Irons was perfect for the role. He delivers the same wit you'd expect from the character and offers guidance to Bruce. Not only that, but he has a much more hands-on approach in Bruce's crusade, helping develop upgrades to his tech and even taking control of the Batwing via drone. I just wish he was in the film more than he was.

Moving on the Superman characters. Back in "Man of Steel", many complained about Henry Cavill's "wooden" performance. Well this time, I could tell that Cavill was delivering a much more profound performance as both Clark and Superman. It wasn't until my second viewing that I realized there was a bit more of a difference in Clark and Superman's looks. Not only does Clark have glasses, but his hair is a little more messy compared to Superman's slicked back look. I was wondering before how they would handle Clark's dual identities, and I was pleased with what I saw, especially since he doesn't act like such a goof like in the Reeves films. Come to think of it, this is another case where it's a DC animated universe version of a character brought to life.
Clark's arc in this movie is him acting like the Superman we know and is loved by a majority of people, but is still facing scrutiny from the public and politicians about his actions and what results from them. In a way, this makes Clark feel inadequate to the ideal his father(s) believed he could represent, and I feel like he projects some of this onto Batman, another hero who apparently just does as he pleases. But I think near the end, he realizes he can't do everything on his own, and this is going to play out further in future movies.
Since the last film, Clark has moved in with Lois Lane, played again by Amy Adams. First off, I really enjoyed watching the two together in a real relationship. Actually makes me miss the relationship in the comics. I have one more comment on that subject, but I'm saving that for later. Her character is just as involved as before, doing what she can to get to the bottom of a story and usually getting into trouble and needing to be rescued by Superman. You know, the usual shtick. But she's not just a damsel in distress, actually getting involved and trying to help in both the Batman/Superman and Doomsday fights.
Laurence Fishburne returns again as Daily Planet editor Perry White, and delivers a good, if not better performance than before. This ties in to what I said about the overall seriousness of "Man of Steel". Perry in "Dawn of Justice" feels more like the guy in charge of a newspaper. He kind of reminded me of J. Jonah Jameson. Take that how you will, but I see it as a positive.
And now we move onto the main villain of the movie, Lex Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg. When he was first cast, I was pretty skeptical. He just seemed pretty young, but it turns out he's actually the same age as Henry Cavill. Plus, he already showed he could play the CEO type as Mark Zuckerburg in "The Social Network". Eisenberg's Lex is very different from what we're used to. He's definitely a lot more eccentric, and while I assumed from the trailers that this would be more of a public facade, much like how Bruce acts like a party boy, some of his eccentricities translate over to his private side. Trust me though, this Lex is just as sadistic as we can expect, even going so far as to plant a bomb in a wheelchair he provided to the Wayne employee whose legs were crushed and amputated from before and blowing up a senate hearing attended by Superman. And much like Lois knowing Clark's identity in the first movie, I really like that Lex is able to figure out both Superman and Batman's identities and is able to manipulate them into fighting each other. Eisenberg's performance may split people down the middle, but you can't deny his presence is felt in every scene he's in.

And then we have the show stealer: Gal Gadot as Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman. Gadot's role is more of a glorified cameo similar to Black Widow in "Iron Man 2", but she's definitely interesting to watch both in and out of her armor. She first catches Bruce's eye at Lex's fundraiser, and the two meet up again later and have good interaction. My fingers are crossed that we saw the first signs of a "flirtationship" between two like in the Justice League animated series. When Wonder Woman arrives to the battle with Doomsday, my word does she make an impact, between her war cry and a smirk after taking a hit from the monster, it's very clear she's a born warrior. And people worried that Gal Gadot wouldn't be good in the role because she was "too skinny". It's got me even more pumped up for her solo movie next year.

But the Wonder Woman film isn't the only thing that's been built up here. The seeds have been laid out for the Justice League film, featuring cameos from Aquaman (in full costume), Cyborg, and Flash (who actually has two cameos). Now people are gonna be split on the necessity of these appearances. Personally, I don't think they were particularly necessary, but it was nice to get some teases. And while there may be some people who won't know who these characters are yet or what it's leading up to, I would like to think that if they're interested enough, they'll do their research.

Now I've been overwhelmingly praising this film, but I did however have some problems. Four to be exact.

1. Mercy Graves, played by Tao Okamoto (who some may recognize from "The Wolverine"), is a waste of a character. She had like three lines and was killed in the bomb that destroyed the Senate.
2. Bruce has some pretty weird dreams and hallucinations. It starts with him as a kid falling into a cave and he gets swarmed by bats, but it gets strange when the bats apparently lift him up. Later, he's visiting his parents in the mausoleum, but blood starts coming out his mother's crypt and then a giant bat bursts through a grabs him. And then we have the big "Knightmare" scene of a post-apocalyptic wasteland taken over by Superman. The strange thing about this dream is that it gets pretty prophetic, especially since we see Parademons, even though Bruce shouldn't know what they are yet. Oh, and these weird hallucinations even spill over to Clark, who after going off on his own after the Senate bombing, sees his father on the top of a mountain and even talks with him. It's actually a pretty good talk about how a special person can make help you through the bad things happening in your life, but the circumstances are still weird.
3. I've mentioned before how this is a more brutal Batman than we've seen before. Well I'll be honest, sometimes I did get a little uncomfortable, because in some cases, he is kind of killing criminals in this movie. After doing some thinking about this, I've come to the conclusion that while he may be responsible, he did not directly kill anyone. Think of the Arkham games. Some of the things he does while fighting and in the Batmobile look like they could kill people, but we're supposed to take it at face value that no one's dead. I can't really say the same thing about this Batman, but I don't believe that it's his intent to kill anyone. I mean, people cut the Michael Keaton Batman slack for straight up killing people (please try to justify the moment in "Batman Returns" where he gleefully straps a bomb to a guy). I'm willing to bet that the next time we see Affleck as Batman, he may be a little more restrained.
4. This is the big one. Much like in the comics, Superman and Doomsday do indeed die battling each other. While I admire they had the guys to do this, 1) Maybe it's a little too soon considering this is only the second movie of the franchise; and 2) it doesn't have much impact considering that not only does he come back in the comics, but we know he's coming back for the Justice League movie. But I think my biggest gripe about this move is that they're really kind of hammering in the Jesus metaphor. Think about it. We're introduced to this man with incredible power who will change the world ("Man of Steel") but is criticized because of this, and he ends up being killed, mourned by millions ("Dawn of Justice"), but he will soon rise again to save us from a coming evil ("Justice League"). (Wonder if it's a coincidence this came out on Easter weekend.) It was a little more subtle in "Man of Steel", but watching everything unfold in "Dawn of Justice", it did seem pretty obvious. And if Darkseid is the coming threat in "Justice League", Superman coming back to help defeat the God of Evil...well, I think I made my point. But on the positive front on this, we found out after his death that Clark was planning to propose to Lois (which is similar to the comics with the two being engaged before his death). In addition, director Zack Snyder says his reasoning for Superman's death was so that it would be Batman forming the Justice League, which would make it even more difficult, especially when they have to work together to defeat a powerful threat and that they'll need Superman. In my opinion, this is actually pretty damn brilliant.

Now I would like to address the critics who have viewed this film negatively. What the hell do you want? I mean, I don't want to sound like I'm attacking you for having your own opinion, but I really want to understand. Did you already have your minds up going in? Were you expecting a Marvel movie? Why can't the DC films have a different tone? And even if it does have a dark tone, why criticize this film for this but praise Daredevil and Jessica Jones for the same thing? Why praise Marvel for the references to the comics or setting up future movies but criticize DC doing this as well? And even if you didn't like the film, don't say it's boring or not fun; that's simply not true. Or maybe just like "Man of Steel", there are still preconceptions about these characters. I guess unlike the Marvel movie heroes, Batman and Superman have had plenty of exposure before this movie. But most of the time, characters aren't always the way we remember them growing up. They grow and change as well. And while a character like Superman can represent the ideals we strive for, he is not a perfect person. He makes mistakes and can be vulnerable in some ways. Even in this film, he tries to shake off what people say about him, but it shows to still have an affect on him.
Most of the fan reaction I've seen is very positive. Outside the internet, friends I've talked to who have seen the movie have said they loved it. Even one of my friends, who is more of a Marvel fan, has become a believer in Affleck's Batman and is excited for what DC has coming up.
My point is, it's crazy how polarizing this film is.
Now I address anyone at Warner Bros. who might read this: Stay the course. Don't let Zack Snyder go; he knows what he's doing. Don't postpone Justice League's filming start date in a few weeks. The characters you've given us and the actors cast to play them so far are perfect. Don't give in to the so called "critics" while the audiences these movies are made for are right behind you. $170 million in the U.S. $424 million worldwide. A 73% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. And Ben, stand tall. This isn't Daredevil again. You ARE the Batman.

To wrap this up, in my opinion, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is just short of a masterpiece and much like "The Avengers", this is a film I recommend everyone to see.

RATING: 9.5/10

TV Review: "Avengers: Ultron Revolution" Ep. 1 & 2 - Is This As Good As It's Gonna Get?

After the success of the first Avengers movie in 2012, Marvel was quick to capitalize. They cancelled their acclaimed current Avengers animated show "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and replaced it with a show more in line with the movie, "Avengers Assemble", featuring the same roster plus new member Falcon. However, fans were uneasy about this new Avengers series, considering that at the same time, Marvel was producing "Ultimate Spider-Man", a show that at the time was criticized for it's immature characters and Family Guy-esque cutaway gags. In addition, Marvel was also getting ready to launch "Hulk and the Agents of SMASH", featuring Hulk leading a team of other gamma powered heroes, living together and having confessionals ala the Real World. That was a show that I had absolutely zero interest and has since been cancelled. As for "Avengers Assemble", while it still had similar problems like the other two shows, it was something I could still take seriously and was the best of the three shows and had some shining moments, but was still not as good as "Earth's Mightiest Heroes".
Jumping to present day, it appeared that a creative shift had happened in the Marvel Animation Department. "Ultimate Spider-Man" has greatly improved starting in season three and the current season four has been consistently good so far. "Guardians of the Galaxy" debuted (and I wrote up a review of its series premiere) and succeeded where "Avengers Assemble" didn't by retaining the spirit of the film and its characters.
Which brings us to season three of "Avengers Assemble", which is using the tagline "Ultron Revolution". At the end of the second season, Tony was working on an Avengers expansion plan to take the team global, similar to Jonathan Hickman's run on the comic series, after the current members had some down time. Now this has a lot of potential and considering how good the Spider-Man and Guardians shows have been, surely the Avengers can improve with such a concept right? Well, prepare to be disappointed.

In the season premiere, "Adapting to Change", we open on Captain America fighting the Masters of Evil. Now those who played the "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" game may recognize that name as a large group of villains led by Dr. Doom, similar to the Legion of Doom from Superfriends. While "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" did a more comic accurate version of the team, the Masters of Evil we see here are C list villains Goliath, Beetle, and Screaming Mimi (I know, dumb name. But in the comics, she becomes the hero Songbird). But Cap is having trouble and calls in his Avengers teammates to successfully defeat them, and even Tony is kind of embarrassed that Cap called them in for this.
It's during this battle that we notice that some characters have undergone some design changes. Captain America, Black Widow, and Hulk now look similar to their appearances in "Avengers: Age of Ultron". And while I'm getting ahead of myself, when Ultron returns later on, he gets the same treatment. I actually liked that they did this, but I would have done it for the other members too. Tony's been rocking an Iron Man armor similar to the somewhat bulky MK III and IV since the beginning of the series while his armor in the movies has become sleeker and sleeker. It would have been nice for on the show get something like the Bleeding Edge. And then there's Falcon, who is still sporting his Gatchaman/G-Force look (anyone remember that show on Cartoon Network in the 90's?). I think it would have been cooler to see him in a suit similar to what he wore in "Age of Ultron" and "Ant-Man." He could still have energy wings that can be fired at enemies in lieu of guns.

After defeating the so-called Masters of Evil, the team convenes at Avengers Tower, where we learn through exposition that because things have been so quiet since defeating Thanos, they decided to hold off on the expansion plans and that Ant-Man has gone solo again. So much for that build up at the end of last season, huh? And Ant-Man had to leave too? Why?! Oh and not only that, but Tony has also replaced JARVIS with the FRIDAY AI that some will remember from "Age of Ultron". Question: WHY?! In "Age of Ultron", JARVIS had become the Vision, meaning Tony needed a new AI assistant with him, ala FRIDAY. In the show, it just happens. I know Vision is supposed to appear later in the season and will most likely be JARVIS, but right now these are unanswered questions. It's at this point it just seemed they were doing whatever they could to make this season feel like "Age of Ultron" to capitalize on that much like the first two seasons of this show did for the first movie.

Once the meeting's adjourned, Black Widow asks Cap and Falcon to join her on a secret mission to infiltrate an AIM facility. While there, they discover Hawkeye, Tony, and Thor have done the same thing. Oh, Bruce Banner was with them too, and he look A LOT like Mark Ruffalo compared to his first two appearances on the show. And this is another problem I've had with this series. Why is he Hulk all the time? In "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", we introduce Bruce as he was before, on the run and looking for a cure for the Hulk. Once breakouts occur at all the supervillain prisons, Bruce urges the Hulk to help Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, and Ant-Man defeat Graviton. Hulk agrees, but only if he can remain in control while Bruce takes a backseat in their mind. So while he's Hulk for most of the series, we still see Bruce quite a bit. In "Avengers Assemble", he's just Hulk all the time with no explanation. Would it be too much to have both Hulk and Bruce on the show, especially since the movie this show is based on does that too?
So while examining some AIM files, they discover that they acquired a piece of Ultron (even though they clearly should have seen it in a containment cylinder earlier). They wonder how they got such a thing, and I'm wondering the same thing, considering that the last time we saw Ultron on this show, he was THROWN INTO THE SUN!
Once the Avengers are found out, they battle upgraded versions of the Super Adaptoid, an android that can copy the moves and powers of their opponents, similar to the Amazo android that battles the Justice League. Honestly, the Super Adaptoid was overplayed back in season one and watching them battle it again, even if it is upgraded, is still kind of boring because we saw it too much in season one and we all know they figure out a way to outsmart and defeat it.

After the Adaptoids and AIM are defeated, the piece of Ultron they had appears, assimilates the Adaptoid tech and morphs into his movie form, which leads us into part two "The Ultimates". I'm not going into much detail on this episode like the other one. It opens with Ultron battling the Avengers, but getting away, and Tony starts to become obsessive about finding him (even though they never established that he was the one who created Ultron in this series). Ultron then unleashes android versions of the Avengers that he calls Ultimates, who repeatedly say "You are obsolete. You are to be replaced", and that gets old pretty quick. Ultron himself takes over some of Tony's armors, and says he plans to replace all of humanity with android copies. I'm sure it's coincidence, but this is pretty much Ultron's exact plan from the "Ultimates 3" series. If he decides to kill Scarlet Witch because he was in love with her and jealous of her incestuous relationship with Quicksilver, then we have a problem (and yes, that was in an actual comic). Actually there's still some problems. While the circumstances are different, Ultron did almost the exact same things last season. He took over Tony's armors in one episode, and in the final episode of his story arc, he unleashes a techno-virus that infects humans to become his servants.
The Avengers outsmart and defeat the Ultimates (much like they did to the Adaptoids previously), stop Ultron's plan to copy everyone in the world, even though he's still out there, and spout out some stuff about how you can't beat the originals. Blah, blah, blah. The end. And trust me, there's plenty of other problems I have with these episodes that I don't care to mention.

During the initial wave of this current Marvel animation era, I ranked the series "Avengers Assemble" first, "Ultimate Spider-Man" second, and "Hulk and the Agents of SMASH" last. At this point in this new wave, I rank them "Guardians of the Galaxy" first, "Ultimate Spider-Man" still second, and "Avengers: Ultron Revolution" last. I mean seriously, is this as good as this show is gonna get? It's still as mediocre as the first two seasons and the characters are still two dimension and/or immature. The worst part is it didn't have to be. Guardians and season four of "Ultimate Spider-Man" were a sign that things were improving, but these first two episodes of "Ultron Revolution" didn't seem any different from the first two Avengers seasons.
You know what would have improved it? Sure, have it so that Tony's expansion plans are still on hold but something happens that forces him to restart them. Have Ultron capture the Avengers except Tony, and he recruits heroes like Spider-Man, Black Panther, Ant-Man, and Captain Marvel to save his team. Or maybe something similar to the "New Avengers" episode of "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" where after the main team is defeated by Kang, JARVIS initiates Tony's New Avengers protocol to unite Spider-Man, Wolverine, War Machine, Thing, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist to, yes, avenge them. We were expecting something new, but got more of the same.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. I'm hoping this season gets better overtime, and I'm sure it'll still have some shining moments like the previous seasons, but it's not off to a good start.

TV Review: Daredevil Season Two - The Dark Before the Darker (?) (SPOILERS)

When Daredevil debuted on Netflix last year, it showed everyone that Marvel could bring a lot of darkness to its cinematic universe, bringing unique action and character development not seen before. They pushed the envelope further with Jessica Jones, showcasing characters with actual powers and even darker themes. And now we've come to season two of Daredevil, featuring the MCU debuts of fan favorite characters Elektra and the Punisher. Does the second season top the first? In some ways, yes. In some ways, no.

The definite theme for this season is escalation. The first episode starts with Matt now in his armored and comic-resembling suit, chasing after a group of robbers, taking them out one by one and in public as well. Matt has definitely honed his skills since the first season and is able to take down his enemies much quicker than before. The best example to compare the two seasons are the done-in-one-shot hallway fight scenes. Much like season one episode two, season two episode three takes it even further, and if you watched both scenes back to back, you really see how far Matt has come.  On one hand, it's great to see the hero as we're accustomed to. In fact, the whole season takes more cues from its comic book roots than the first one did, even bringing mystical themes with The Hand. However, it doesn't make feel as worried for Matt this season during his fights, considering how inexperienced and armorless he was in the first season. It doesn't mean the action isn't as good this season, but it doesn't have that edge.
In addition, there's a discussion of morality this season with the introduction of both Punisher and Elektra, who are much more inclined to kill, making Matt question whether his methods truly work, as well as if anyone can be redeemed. A good comparison to this season would be The Dark Knight (which sees Batman having to consider killing the Joker to stop him) and season two of Arrow (which sees Oliver changing his methods of not killing his enemies and being tested by this when Slade Wilson attacks the city (in addition, this season also felt more like a comic book compared to the first).
While the last season could be seen as more like Sopranos with all the mob bosses, this season definitely has more of a Law and Order feel, especially since a significant part of this season involves a trial, something I believe only done in one episode the first season, and exposing just how corruption goes in law enforcement and government.

What makes the Netflix Marvel series so strong are its characters, and this season is no different. The characters from last season are just as great this season and even better. Charlie Cox continues to shine as the Man Without Fear, and it's this season where his personal and vigilante lives start to conflict with each other, and it ends up costing him a lot.
Foggy Nelson continues to show his competence as a lawyer, even outshining Matt, as well as showing how much of a good person he is, like being able to talk two rival gang members from killing each other in a hospital with civilians.
Karen Page, played by Deborah Ann Woll, shines even more this season then before, even making a connection with Frank Castle. While it's not explicitly stated, you can tell that Karen is still reeling from having to kill Fisk's assistant Wesley last season. Aside from that, it's amazing just how much bad luck she gets involved in this season, usually by her own volition. It's not like Kirsten Dunsts' Mary Jane who ends up getting kidnapped by every villain.
As a surprise to me, Vincent D'Onofrio returns for a few episodes as Wilson Fisk, and he delivers a performance just as powerful as before. Even in prison, Fisk shows he has just as much power and behind bars as he did outside them. Something I didn't mention in my season one review was how quickly Fisk's demeanor can change on a dime, acting calm and collected one minute and turning as rabid as a dog the next. I'll talk more about Fisk when I get to my predictions for season three.

Moving on to the new characters.
Similar to my thoughts on Kingpin in the first season, this version of Frank Castle/Punisher, played by Jon Bernthal, is very different from what we've seen outside comics before. Much like Matt in the first season, Frank Castle isn't the "hero" we're accustomed to yet. This season is very much a journey for Frank to become the true Punisher. Much like how last season ended with Matt getting his Daredevil suit, this season ends with Frank painting the white skull on his body armor, as well as wearing the trench coat. In most media the Punisher has been shown in, Frank is very grim and not remorseful. This season, we actually have some emotional moments, and he actually cries. In episode four, Frank tells Daredevil his backstory, and my god is it heartbreaking. As I said before, he even makes a personal connection with Karen, but even he goes too far for her to relate to. And while I mentioned how the fight scenes with Matt lose their edge because of his body armor, Frank's fight scenes are just as brutal, and while he's skilled, he still takes a beating, but delivers it back even more. His best moment in my opinion is when he takes out a whole row of inmates in prison after being set-up by Fisk. While it did take me awhile to come to this conclusion, Jon Bernthal is even better than Thomas Jane, who was already pretty damn good in the role. Do I hope the Punisher gets his own spin-off on Netflix? Yes, but it's gotta be done well.

Much like how Cox made us forget about Affleck, Elodie Yung's portrayal as Elektra more than wipes out the 2003-05 version played by Jennifer Garner (who I've come to think is not that good of an actress). Elektra is introduced as an ex-girlfriend of Matt's who nearly derailed his life and comes back very different than he knew her, becoming a trained killer and knowing his identity as Daredevil. First off, I love how they actually cast a Greek to play her. It makes her more exotic, which is a big part of the character in my opinion. The relationship between her and Matt is one of the best things about this season. It's very similar to Batman and Catwoman. She wants to bring him to her side of things, and while he has his own code, he still cares for her very much.
Elektra has two costumes this season (the second of which can be partially seen in the first picture above), which are more practical for a ninja assassin and look pretty cool compared to her comics look.

Apparently Frank Miller, who created Elektra, decided not to watch season two because he didn't acknowledge the show's version as the Elektra he created. Forgive me, but Frank Miller's thoughts and opinions haven't meant much since he wrote Dark Knight Strikes Again, especially if I believe the reason he doesn't like this Elektra is because she's not overly sexualized like almost every female character he's come to write.
One of the things I didn't expect was for Elektra to die. But in the last episode when Matt tells Elektra that he'll leave New York with her once they finish their mission, that pretty much sealed her fate, much like how in Amazing Spider-Man 2 when Peter told Gwen he would come with her to London. Still, Elektra's death is well done, sacrificing herself and proving to herself that there is good in her. On the other hand, given my knowledge of the character, it's a given that she wouldn't stay dead, and they already set up her resurrection.

The season does end on an overall bitter note compared to last season. And so we look ahead to season three. If there's one thing I can predict, it's that it will be based on the famous "Born Again" storyline, which would have been the basis for a sequel to the 2003 film as well as the potential reboot while the rights were still with Fox. The last time we see Fisk this season, he's using his power in prison to request files on Matt. While Fisk is already planning his revenge on Nelson and Murdock for putting him in prison, this could very well lead to him finding out Matt is Daredevil. In addition, the season ends with Matt and Karen, who made an attempt at a relationship this season only to pretty much be ruined by Elektra, as he shows her his helmet and tells her that he's Daredevil. It ends before we get her full reaction, so that's something to look forward to. Will she be pissed? Will she take him back? Whatever happens, I got a feeling Matt's life is going to get turned upside down.
In addition, I would like my predictions from last year of Owlsley's son to arrive and become a more comic accurate Owl with Bullseye as his muscle. Plus, if we do get some adaptation of "Born Again", they could bring in Nuke/Will Simpson from Jessica Jones.

So to wrap this up, while season two is really damn good, I think I liked season one better, just because it got so down and dirty compared to everything else Marvel we saw at that point. But I do applaud season two for bringing more of a comic book feel forward, and I enjoy watching all these characters journeys and look forward to where they go next.

RATING: 9/10