Daredevil

Rating

Director

Mark Steven Johnson

Screenplay

Mark Steven Johnson

Length

103 min.

Starring

Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau, Scott Terra, Ellen Pompeo, Joe Pantoliano

MPAA Rating

PG-13 (For action/violence and some sensuality)

Review

A childhood chemical accident turns an orphan into a blind super hero in Marvel’s Daredevil.

Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck), a blind, mild-mannered lawyer whose father was killed by a mysterious underworld figure after he refused to throw a boxing match, has spent his life fighting crime as the Daredevil. Using his using his supersonic hearing to help him navigate and fight effectively, Daredevil seeks out criminals by the dark of the night to punish them for their transgressions. When he falls for a beautiful woman named Elektra (Jennifer Garner), his world is colored by his affection and he must balance his anti-crime vengeance with his love for her.

After thwarting several plans, Wilson Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan), also known as The Kingpin, arranges to pin the murder of Elektra’s father on Daredevil. In doing so, he enlists the assistance of a villainous crack shot named Bullseye (Colin Farrell). The trouble escalates as Elektra believes Daredevil to be the murderer and her love for Matt dwindles as a result.

Affleck and Garner have an amazing chemistry on the screen. While their individual performances are stuck in the two-dimensional world of the comic book, they do everything in their power to give their characters life. Together, they provide the best comic-book-into-movie love affair seen to date. With the rash of big-budget movies based on Marvel comics, Daredevil bears little to no originality compared to previous outings. This film does take a new low in the Marvel franchise surpassing Spider-Man as the worst

Director and screenwriter Mark Steven Johnson has created an interesting story that has some distinctive twists and turns but lacks significant execution. The film’s plot takes the viewer on the trail of a love story with explosions and fight scenes that make emotion secondary. The film uses many conventional storytelling techniques, including the obligatory superhero conclusion where a hero or villain is thought dead but there’s a clue placed indicating they are still alive. This, along with other practices, delivers a sometimes bland, often-predictable motion picture.

The technical merits of the film are neither impressive nor original. The film takes an editing approach thought long-abandoned in filmmaking. It is too frenetic to get detail, but not stylish enough to earn praise. Much like the haphazard editing in the comic book movie Spawn , Daredevil tries to keep its audience entertained with flashy cuts and confusing battle sequences that only serve to bewilder the viewers. The visual effects aren’t as impressive as other films in the genre but are better than those in the amateurish Spider-Man. The graphics are sufficient to suspend disbelief and easily blend into the background of the film, which helps keep the film from bogging down into its own faux creativity like the aforementioned Spawn.

The first of four Marvel movies in 2003 alone, Daredevil doesn’t yield much hope that the remaining few films, X2 , The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Hulk , will offer much in the way of exceptional filmmaking. Audiences will be drawn to this type of film being one of romance and special effects, regardless of any notable deficiencies.

Review Written

May 8, 2003