It is clear “Daredevil: Born Once more” administrators Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who beforehand labored with Marvel on “Moon Knight” and “Loki” season 2, did their homework when it got here to this specific homage. The blocking, setting, and normal vibe of their scene is similar to Mann’s masterpiece, and it is thrilling to listen to Murdock and Fisk verbally spar and set the desk for what’s certain to be an epic conflict because the season progresses.
However as charged because the “Born Once more” diner scene is, it could’t maintain a candle to the “Warmth” confrontation. To be honest to “Daredevil,” the “Warmth” scene is … properly, calling it “one of many biggest film moments of all time” would possibly trigger a few of you to roll your eyes, and to some extent, I perceive that, as a result of “Warmth” has change into an obsession for movie bros of a sure age. But it surely’s in all probability within the dialog. Wouldn’t it make the highest 5? Undoubtedly not. However the prime 50? High 100? A case may very well be made.
There’s an power to Hanna and McCauley’s connection, a crackling electrical energy that comes from them being nose to nose at a key second of their story. A part of it’s that this was the primary time two performing legends, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, had really been in a scene collectively, regardless of having appeared in “The Godfather Half II” many years earlier. With respect to Cox and D’Onofrio, though they’ve extra shared on-screen historical past, they don’t seem to be in the identical ballpark as Pacino and De Niro, who’re among the many biggest American actors of all time.
The opposite factor that elevates the scene is the mixture of top-tier writing and the magic Pacino and De Niro carry to it: These characters are like two animals, poking and prodding and feeling one another out, and the performances are so good it typically looks like the 2 males are bodily circling one another though they continue to be seated the complete time. However whereas there’s a little bit little bit of posturing occurring, there is a tangible vulnerability there, too. Every alpha male is aware of he is discovered his equal and is subsequently prepared to share a little bit of himself that he would not be caught lifeless telling anybody else, even these closest to him. Pacino, specifically, is lights out on this scene. There is a palpable disappointment and exhaustion that he brings to Vincent Hanna, however you possibly can inform by the micro-expressions on his face — the tiny sparkles of a smile that he suppresses a number of instances throughout their chat — that he is having fun with himself, and that he genuinely respects McCauley’s self-discipline.
Cox and D’Onofrio do not get pleasure from working from a script as layered as Mann’s, however to be clear, they’re each excellent of their diner scene. You’ll be able to inform feelings are boiling slightly below the floor for each characters, they usually have sufficient of a historical past to know push the opposite’s buttons with out fairly crossing a line they will not have the ability to uncross. If “Daredevil: Born Once more” goes to pay homage to beloved moments from cinema historical past, there are definitely worse motion pictures than “Warmth” to nod to.
