A Daredevil by any other name would be just as sweet, as this homage to the Hell’s Kitchen native proves. With such a brief travel time, Devil Sees Red able to establish itself as many things. It’s a love letter to Daredevil, a homage to the streets of New York fit for superhero action, and a film-noir/B-movie story a few blind lawyer who takes the law into his own hands. A blind lawyer who literally takes back the night, one punch at a time. We witness his birth as a street level criminal after a late night stroll down the dark allied street leads to a mugging. From then on we see John putting everything else about his life aside to focus on his newfound purpose and revenge.
It seems implied that John had exiled those who lived long before the robbery, as implied by our hero’s opening shot, which has him standing in the dark waiting for his train. We see him right before getting revenge on the people who robbed him, sent his girlfriend home, and then made him leave. His partner rightfully leaves John with some tough decisions to make about their struggling law firm. Throughout the film John is connected with only one other character, his assistant Amanda, who seems to share his need for vigilante justice on the cutthroat streets of the Big Apple.
About two-thirds of the short story John tells his partner (interestingly enough named Frank Urich), it is a revival and that is precisely what the film portrays. John had been asleep for a long time, and that assault was the incident that made him finally wake up and fight for what he thought was justice. The tone of the two action sequences reminds me of the movie Super, with John’s extreme actions against those who take advantage of innocent people. In the final fight, John beats one man so badly that an unidentified man screams that he called the police, sending John fleeing. In the end, we are left wanting more. We’d love to see John continue his journey towards one day becoming something more than simply a low-level thug-beating-up guy, and maybe one day blossoming into a fearless man, although absolutely not a fearless “man” (now you cannot sue, Marvel ).
While nothing is anywhere near perfect, I would really like more information about the incident that blindsided John, and why his partner feels so guilty about it, but this is possibly more as a result of the short processing time than the rest. Regardless, it is worth a try. If you are done watching the new Netflix series, or like the character Daredevil, I would absolutely recommend this B-movie tribute to the red devils who roam the city streets that never sleep. FYI, be sure you stick around to the end for the end credits scene.
B+
See below:
