Daredevil looked extremely corny in the trailers, and is quite corny, actually. But there's one thing to be said for marketing: For the most part, it lies.
Daredevil tells the tale of young Matt Murdock, teased by other children, always calling him "Daredevil" (why that's a good tease name, I don't know, but according to the script it is, so...). When Matt is blinded by radioactive waste that bounces off of a truck as he dutifully pushes a blind old man out of the way (creator Stan Lee in a fantastic cameo), he becomes blinded...but not without getting its benefits. Matt now has extra-sensory abilities, enabling him to "see" through sound and sense body heat, locations, etc. He begins to learn the ways of his powers, and when his father, Jack Murdock, is killed at the hands of some thug hitman, Matt vows to grow up to fight crime...and to become the only blind attorney that I've ever seen. He gets involved with a ninja assassin named Elektra, the Irish hitman Bullseye, and the crimelord Kingpin, in what I must say is a surprisingly good superhero film.
The acting, for the most part, is good. Ben Affleck makes for a nice Daredevil (surprise, surprise!), his childhood dream role. Not only does he act like Matt, but he looks good in a scarlet red leather jacket. Colin Farrell does a pretty good job as Bullseye, invoking menace and wacky humor at the same time, and as for Michael Clarke Duncan as Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin (in a controversial character skin color-changing decision)? Perfect. My only huge complaint here is that Jennifer Garner (of Alias fame), is not Elektra at all. Her black leather costume fits in nicely with the others' costumes, but totally abandons the original designs from the comics (I know, I know, so does Bullseye's, but the comic book costume never really looked that good). However, she still delivers a pretty good performance, and at least she's awesome with one of my favorite ninja weapons, the sais.
Some of the movie's fight scenes are very elaborately staged and quite thrilling, but others are as hokey as all get-out. For example, take the scene where Elektra and Matt fight each other in a playground (yes, a playground) as little children watch on. The moves look fake, and one thing really bugged me: Why are they fighting each other, in a playground, no less, and with an audience of small fries, when they've only known each other for barely five minutes? Oh well, at least that's the worst part of the movie. The major highlight in Daredevil is the fight between DD and Bullseye in a church. Absolutely amazing with stunningly fabulous special effects.
My biggest problem with Daredevil is that it's just too short. Whereas Spider-Man went on long enough to get everything resolved and to show the aftermath, DD gyps its viewers by ending quite abruptly, making it feel like the writer (not to mention director) Mark Steven Johnson, just got tired of writing. Overall, though, Daredevil is a superhero flick well worth seeing, as it manages to be both brutally realistic and incredibly wacky at the same time. And, another surprise, it works.
Rating: ***
Written 5-10-03
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