MOVIE - DAREDEVIL - Review Rating $$$$$ $$$ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING -Ben Affleck (Matt Murdock/Daredevil), Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Jon Favreau, Joe Pantoliano, David Keith & Scott Terra (young Matt).
Director/Writer - Mark Steven Johnson (Simon Birch)
Based on the Marvel comic book character.
Marvel comics, and Stan Lee, have recently started to cash in on the popularity of their comic heroes. Spiderman, despite being an absolutely awful movie, was a mega-blockbuster last summer. I was fully prepared to be as disappointed by Daredevil, as I was about Spiderman, but left the theatre impressed instead.
So what impressed me about Daredevil? Well, like the first Batman, the setting is stark, dark and somewhat gothic. It helps set the stage for the morality play that is about to unfold. Daredevil is also a hero who actually occasionally reflects on the moral quagmire that vengeful justice presents. The movie isn't afraid to stop long enough to attempt to provide insight into its character's motivation either. Admittedly, the depth of Daredevil's personal introspection and the character development are on the light side, but considering the genre its still noteworthy.
The special effects are very well done for the most part. Daredevil, being blind, has to rely on his other four senses to survive. Those senses, in the comic book tradition, are supernatural in nature. His radar like sense of touch and enhanced hearing are uniquely and convincingly portrayed. It was crucial to the film's credibility that they were. The action/fight scenes are of the standard variety. The special effects depicting Daredevil leaping tall buildings, as in Spiderman, were less convincing. I'm not sure why it is so hard to do these special effects well but these type of scenes demonstrate the limit of today's current technology.
The performances were also very good. Affleck injects the proper amount of somberness into his performance and resists the temptation to ham things up. In many ways his portrayal of Daredevil is very similar to Michael Keaton's portrayal of Batman. Jennifer Garner (the star of T.V.'s Alias) was relatively unknown when she was cast as Elektra. Both her beauty and her performance are impressive. Despite limited time spent developing the relationship between Elektra and Daredevil there is definite on-screen chemistry between Garner and Affleck. The roof/rain scene is actually touching. The scene where they get to know each other in a school yard is priceless.
It was also nice to see David Keith (An Officer and a Gentleman) on the big screen again. He's a quality actor that needs a better agent. Michael Clark Duncan (Green Mile), the mob boss Kingpin, does a good job with limited material and Joe Pantoliano is a convincing tabloid reporter. Colin Farrell is okay as Bulleye but not great.
Daredevil has it's share of plot holes that you could drive a truck through. Most notable is the almost complete abandonment of the story line involving producing a fake paper trail to implicate Elektra's father as the Kingpin. On a few other occasions one is left to wonder if it wouldn't have been easier for Daredevil to take a cab. Its a testament to how enjoyable the movie is, overall, that the viewer is willing to forgive these lapses.
Daredevil, as did Spiderman, deviates substantially from the original comic book story. Not being familiar with the comic book the deviations didn't bother me as much as they did in Spiderman. True fans of the comic book may be somewhat disappointed (See .
Daredevil should also have ended when you will think it has. The extra few moments, the setup for future adventures, were unnecessary and anti-climatic. We all know our hero is going to continue to fight injustice we didn't need to have it spelled-out.
If the justice that Daredevil seeks, truly existed, it would do better at the box-office than Spiderman. It is a much better movie. Good enough that it will no doubt spawn inevitable sequels that won't be as good. Daredevil is the first movie of 2003 worth the price of admission.
Alternative Reviews:
Roger Ebert's Review
Peter Travers/Rolling Stone Review
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews
Official Website for Daredevil
Official Comic book site
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© Copyright
2003
David Schwartz.
Last update:
8/9/03; 11:07:19 PM.
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