8 Brilliant Uses Of The Long Take In Movies & TV Shows

Capitalising on all that came before it, yet untethered from the rather firm aesthetic of the big-screen MCU, Drew Goddard’s Daredevil lets loose in all the right ways, set in a far darker New York than the one which Iron Man saved, and delivering Marvel’s anti-Batman in the form of blind lawyer Matt Murdock.

Directly referential to the famous and equally impressive hallway fight scene in Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, the first season of Daredevil presents us with an all-out action sequence, in which the camera never looks away, as the titular character works his way down a long corridor, punching, kicking and barging his way in and out of several rooms full of henchmen. Though this kind of shot has been recreated in each subsequent season, it is this scene in Cut Man – the show’s second ever episode – which really nails Oldboy’s subterranean style and flawless delivery, bringing this setup to a whole new generation of viewers.

Every punch is felt, and the viewer experiences Daredevil’s fatigue, strain and unwavering resilience in real-time. In a scene whose palette is mostly yellow, green and black, it is the long take that keeps us rooted in reality and raptly following every footstep of the titular anti-hero on one of the most important rungs of his journey towards redemption.