Jedi by Knight

*Spoilers for Daredevil and Avengers: Age of Ultron*

In a city that I drive through on my commute, there’s a man named Wilson who’s running for city council.  I see lots of navy signs in yards with “Wilson” in big classic white letters, and every time my heart does a little jump of panic, until I remember that “Wilson” is his last name, not his first, and his last name is not Fisk.

I started watching Daredevil the day it came out on Netflix; I got through 3 episodes that night.  The first was good, the second had that beautiful hallway fight scene, and by the third I knew I was hooked because I was talking to the TV and calling the main character “Matty.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect beforehand, but what I saw was a better version of Arrow, which is itself a good Batman TV show.  This is the story not of a superhero, but of a vigilante.  I was surprised by the level of graphic violence (and my cats hated the sudden yelling and gunfire every 20 min).  The characters (and the Catholicism) feel real.  The acting was engaging.  It passes the Mako Mori test with flying colors.

Yet even as Daredevil pulls you into despair with copious glasses of alcohol, serious bodily injury, and investigative journalism paranoia, it gives you an odious character named Marci and then scolds you for hating her, because people can choose to do good as well as evil, and people can change.  I still hope Foggy dumps her.

My few complaints: needs more Stick et al., and Rosario Dawson’s character Claire kinda got dropped in the middle.  The sound mixing on the fight scenes was weird, but I liked it because it gave the illusion of heightened senses.

There will be a second season, and I foresee Vanessa becoming very, very scary.

***

Avengers: Age of Ultron was only my 2nd most anticipated movie this year.  (But that’s not saying much as the 1st is Star Wars.)  In short, it neither exceeded nor fell short of my expectations.  It was pretty much exactly what I expected: a big story that was highly entertaining.

I found this movie darker than the first Avengers because villain is actually coming from within (specifically from within Tony Stark).  I loved Ultron’s quips, but he suffers slightly compared to Loki, because Loki already had a whole movie of character development before Avengers, and Ultron isn’t even “alive” when Avengers 2 starts.

The dialogue was sufficiently witty to keep me smiling the whole way.  (“Language!” is the new “On your left!” in our house.)  In only time I felt this work against the movie was Ultron’s “Oh, man” as he falls from the jet at the end; it’s right after Quicksilver’s death, and we’ve barely had time to process that before we’re having smart-ass remarks thrown in our face again.  The movie in general could have used some more to breathe; I daresay we’re all awaiting the director’s cut on Blu-ray.

My highlight: this was the best Scarlet Witch I could have asked for in the MCU.  Loved her look, her character arc, and her accent wasn’t even atrocious.

This movie had a lot of work to do with setting up future movies for Phase 3 of the MCU, and honestly it did a great job of it; I am excited for CA3: Civil War and Black Panther especially.

My lingering question: where the f was Nick Fury hiding a goddamn hellicarrier?