|
DAREDEVIL Rating:  Director: Mark Steven Johnson Producers: Avi Arad, Gary Foster, Arnon Milchan Writer: Mark Steven Johnson Director of Photography: Ericson Core Cast: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Jon Favreau Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
 Click on the photo to buy merchandise from Daredevil |
Review by: Ryan
Kugler
2/13/03
The first real blockbuster (if you don't count Kangaroo Jack) of 2003 has arrived (three months earlier than these things usually do) and if you go in with the kind of low expectations that I went in with (hell, even if you're greatly anticipating this thing), I'm willing to bet (since I bet on everything) that you'll enjoy it. It's true, Daredevil (starring Ben Affleck, whose usually pretty bad when Kevin Smith isn't involved, and directed by the guy responsible for Simon Birch) doesn't suck at all. In fact, it's fast-paced, exciting and an all-around entertaining comic book adaptation (that doesn't take itself too seriously, like these things sometimes can). Everyone involved in the production (except the music department) should be proud to know that their movie can stand toe-to-toe with the likes of X-Men and Spiderman (though it doesn't touch Donner's Superman or Burton's Batman).
I consider myself a movie geek (with a special affinity for movies based on comic books), but I'm not really a comic book geek. I've never read an issue of The Fantastic Four or The Hulk, and I had never heard of Daredevil prior to the announcement of the movie. Needless to say, I went into this pretty cold.
My first thought when I walked out of the theater was that Daredevil just might be the strangest superhero ever created (thanks to Marvel maven Stan Lee), but probably the most original. I mean, this guy is a blind lawyer by day and a blind crime fighter by night. How weird is that?
This stylish and handsome looking movie (I said the movie was handsome, not the star) opens with a nearly destroyed Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Ben-Lo) seeking shelter in an old, gothic church (the kind only found in the movies). The camera moves right into his eyes and when it pulls back, we're looking at a young Matt. Since this is a comic book movie, we know that some kind of radiation or chemical will come into play and it does on the day that Matt goes to visit his father (David Keith) at work. Matt is disheartened when he finds his father roughing up one of the dockworkers and tries to hightail it out of there before his father can see him. Before Matt has a chance to react, an out-of-control forklift rams into a barrel of something dangerous (because there's a big danger sign on it), which is pierced, causing the contents to gush all over him. Blind, but not out, Matt learns (with the help of his father) to use his other senses (all extraordinary) to make the best of his tragic situation.
Like the death of Bruce Wayne's parents in Batman, the incident that triggers Matt's inner superhero comes with the death of a loved one. It's at this moment that the boy realizes his destiny and it's only a matter of time before he's outfitted in a devil-red suit, wielding the most badass cane ever created and running and swooping all over the city (in scenes that are a little too reminiscent of Spiderman), in attempts to catch and punish criminals that the system, which he works for by day, lets go.
As origin stories go, the one at the heart of this isn't quite as compelling as the ones that opened Superman and Spiderman, but it works all the same. As far as I'm concerned, the only movie that really captured the origin of a superhero perfectly was Unbreakable (though that wasn't based on an actual comic book).
The rest of the movie follows Matt as he shoots the breeze with a fellow lawyer and best friend (Jon Favreau, providing some good zingers), hooks up and falls for Elektra (the super hot Jennifer Garner) and tries to avenge the murder of his father.
Now that we've met the hero (a role that Affleck nails) and heroine (yep, Elektra is a sort of superhero as well), how are the villains (the true touchstone of a good comic book movie)? Part of the problem that I had with X-Men and Spiderman was that we were given some pretty weak and boring bad guys. Luckily, we get a nice turn by the laid back, but cool as ice Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin, the so-called ruler of the city and a fun, over-the-top performance by Irish bad boy (who actually gets to use his true accent for the first time) Colin Farrell as Bullseye, a guy that can kill anyone with any object (from a paper clip to a peanut). These two actors are obviously having a ball and the movie crackles whenever either of them appears on screen.
Seeing how most everyone involved got so much right in the production, the things that they got wrong are pretty glaring and disappointing. My biggest problem has to do with the lack of a traditional score (there probably is one, but I can't remember it). Instead, we get one pop/rock song after another and it's quite distracting. It ends up turning the movie into a long commercial for the soundtrack (something that I'm sure the Fox marketing people would agree with). Especially out-of-place is the song played over a key funeral scene (a scene that demanded a strong score, not a syrupy ballad). For a moment, I thought I was watching an episode of Dawson's Creek, rather than a dark (though not as dark and angst ridden as some) superhero saga.
I know that this isn't a true story and it's probably best not to ask too many questions, but I didn't really get why Matt sleeps in a coffin-full of water (is he Daredevil or Michael Jackson?) or how he's able to leap (in true videogame fashion) around the rooftops of the city (since he doesn't shoot spider webs out of his wrists) as smoothly as he does.
Besides the music issue and some of the unexplained phenomena, I was quite impressed with Daredevil. As for my Kevin Smith theory, the director is featured in a 3-minute cameo, so it stands.
(A 20th Century Fox release. Opens
wide on February 14, 2003.)
Share your thoughts about the film on the message boards.
|
|
|
|
|