Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Makes Matt/Daredevil into a real character in a good
story
Cons: Long prolog,
parts of the soundtrack
The Bottom Line:
Dark superhero
Creates a real character
And tells good story
On a Second Viewing, I Still Don't Get the Complaints about Daredevil
The main reason I went to see Daredevil when it was in the
theaters in 2003 was because of Jennifer Garner. This was in the middle of her run on Alias,
and I will admit to having a crush on her.
I remembered enjoying it at the time, but I've heard complaints about it
since. So when I decided to watch it
again, I thought I might see those issues.
Honestly, I still enjoyed it.
The movie tells the story of Matt Murdock. As a boy (Scott Terra) he is blinded in an
accident involving toxic waste. But the toxins
make the rest of his senses super strong, so he is more than able to
compensate. He can even use sound
vibrations to "see" what is around him. As an adult (Ben Affleck), he becomes a
lawyer, fighting for justice. And when
justice doesn't happen in the courts, he takes matters into his own hands as
Daredevil, a masked superhero/vigilante.
Things get really interesting when he meets Elektra Natchios
(Jennifer Garner). Through her, he winds
up facing off against crime boss Kingpin (Michael Duncan Clark) and he hired
assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell). Who
will be left standing in the aftermath?
Now I'm not saying this movie is perfect. The prolog, while important to the overall
story and the character arc, certainly takes a long time. This is part origin tale and part regular
story, and that makes the pace slower than it should be.
Frankly, I also didn't care much for the soundtrack most of
the time. In keeping with the darker,
gritty feel they were going for, there is plenty of rap and hip hop, genres I
can't stand. That was annoying at times,
but usually the songs weren't on for very long.
Now maybe it's because I know nothing about the characters
portrayed here, but I liked the story overall.
Even when we have the extended flashback to Matt Murdock's youth, I was
pulled into the story. The entire movie
kept me engaged, even though I remembered the broad outline of the plot.
The character growth for Matt as we watch him from beginning
to end is actually rather amazing. I
don't much care for him at times at the beginning, but by the end I actually do
like his character and how he's matured.
The acting is really what anchors things. I found Ben Affleck believable as
Matt/Daredevil. Fanboy that I am, I will
admit that a scene or two from Jennifer Garner doesn't quite ring true, but I
found most of her performance believable.
And Colin Farrell is appropriately creepy as Bullseye. Michael Duncan Clark isn't given much to do
as Kingpin, but he makes the most of his scenes as well.
They actually created the "images" that Matt can
see based on sound, and it's pretty well done.
I can believe that this is what it would actually be like. And those images also create one of the most
emotionally powerful scenes involving Elektra and Matt.
Frankly, I found all the effects to be believable, although
I wasn't paying close attention to them.
Maybe that's the highest praise I can give - they didn't get in the way
at all. I also enjoyed the stunts. At times I had to turn off my brain and believe
the premise that a blind man could do everything we see Matt doing, but when I
did, I had fun. And there's a fight
scene in a playground that has to be the most fun I've ever seen.
The tone of this one is darker than many superheroes. For some reason, I found that darkness to
make the film even more intriguing.
I honestly don't get how this is considered so much worse
than much of today's superhero movies.
It was certainly one of the darker films in the genre for that era, but
in the days of Batman Begins and especially The Dark Knight, I don't find it as
dark as I did originally. In many ways,
I think it laid the foundation for those films by showing us a darker
superhero.
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