Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
”A man without fear is a man without hope.
—Father Everett, Daredevil
Matt Murdock is trying to make a difference, especially for those who live in the slums of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. He works as a lawyer to help those in need and to right that is wrong using the law as his weapon in the courtroom. But sometimes battles cannot be won with words and prosecutions. Sometimes, extreme measures need to take place. Sometimes, the devil has to have his due when the side of angels turns a blind eye towards justice.
But even though Matt is blind, thanks to an unfortunate radioactive accident that cost him his sight, his sense of justice isn’t; he sees things more clearly. Injustice, oppression and corruption has taken on many forms but he still fights them head on as both Matt Murdock, Esquire, and the vigilante known as Daredevil, The Man Without Fear.
Daredevil, a 2003 film featuring the urban superhero from Marvel Comics, takes a look the protector of Hell’s Kitchen and his upward battle against the various atrocities that surround his environment. And everyone knows that all criminal activity leads to the Kingpin of Crime.
Blind Justice or Blinded with Vengeance?
Jack Murdock wanted his son to have a better life than he, and still strived to get Matt out of Hell’s Kitchen even after Matt’s accident. But Jack couldn’t escape Hell’s Kitchen’s shadow and paid for it with his life at the hands of the Kingpin. Young Matt still remembers this and makes a promise to avenge his father. His accident may have robbed him of his sight but his four other senses were heightened to superhuman levels as a result.
Matt eventually fights against injustice as a lawyer and as the vigilante known as Daredevil. His ultimate goal is to take down the Kingpin but he hits a snag on his way there… he falls in love. Elektra Natchios enters his life and makes a huge impact, but she also harbors a secret, something Matt discovers when her father is murdered at the hands of Bullseye, Kingpin’s assassin. A three-way dance ensues between them and not everyone will walk away alive. Even if Daredevil survives, there is the mysterious Kingpin who still awaits his arrival.
The culmination of Matt’s entire life comes into question and the implications of what he has done as Daredevil comes under moral scrutiny. Has Matt’s quest for vengeance finally led him to a path that he cannot possibly return from in the end?
“They say that right before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. That's true, even for a blind man.”
—Matt Murdock, Daredevil
Making a Pact with the Devil
Mark Steven Johnson brought Daredevil to fruition with his screenplay and directing, and followed the path laid out by previous Marvel movies: Blade, X-Men, The Hulk and Spider-Man. He adapted a tone developed in the comic books by influential Daredevil writer and artist Frank Miller, and used part of his storyline concerning Elektra and Bullseye in the film.
Colin Farrell brings a nice, psychotic flair to Bullseye and makes him quite maniacal in nature. There were times I thought he was a bit over the top and there were times he was humourous. I guess all of these balance each other out, but for some reason I felt he didn’t get enough screen time. This could be a case where there were too many cooks in the kitchen and Farrell’s role was, really besides being one of the villains, used as comic relief. That’s if comic relief could even save this movie.
The whole story had problems with pacing, execution, and delivery, but two things come into question concerning Daredevil. I can understand suspending some disbelief when it comes to comic book movies. That’s an underlying given. However, you cannot convince me, no matter how good the costume looks on him, that Ben Affleck was perfect for this role. I didn’t feel his performance to be earnest at all, and that becomes a problem when trying to take in the rest of the movie; Affleck becomes a distraction and a liability.
The other thing was how Daredevil was portrayed. Granted, he gets no respect being compared as a second-rate Spider-Man and a third-rate Batman. I actually like Daredevil as a character because there is moral fiber in his being. What I didn’t appreciate is his justification for taking life, any life, in the name of justice. This “hero” has no qualms about executing criminals who escape the justice system. This isn’t Daredevil, even if his life hits rock bottom. I blame Johnson for taking such a cop-out route. Making a dark film doesn’t mean resorting to this especially when it concerns the hero. Daredevil isn’t the Punisher.
And just because Ben Affleck likes the character doesn’t mean he’s perfectly suited to play him. Nicholas Cage loves Superman and was slated to play the Man of Steel at one point. How do you think that would have fared? Case closed.
Jennifer Garner’s selection as Elektra didn’t work for me as well, though I wasn’t as annoyed with her as I was with Affleck. Still, I don’t think she brought the right temperament for this character. Garner is too cutesy, too much of that girl-next-door look surrounding her. Elektra needed to be mysterious and exotic in nature. I didn’t feel any of that from Garner’s performance. She is a talented actress and I understand why she was chosen based on her work from the television series Alias. Granted, this is an Elektra who is still not completely in cold-hearted assassin mode just yet, but I just didn’t see the edge that was needed to pull off a complex character like Elektra.
Michael Clarke Duncan was the dark horse in this entire film. Just his role as the Kingpin already caused controversy as he is usually portrayed as a Caucasian. Having an African-American selection instead was going against the norm. But I didn’t have a problem with the ethnicity of the role. What bugged me was the conviction. Duncan is powerfully built and his physical stature cannot be argued with at all. But like the problems with the rest of this film, his delivery felt off to me, like he was trying too hard to convince people that he was a villain.
I know director Mark Steven Johnson is familiar with the comic book to some degree, but his direction is off a bit. It was like he was caught between showing a PG-13 and R-rated film, the former winning out in the end. The Director’s Cut DVD showcased 30 minutes of footage that wasn’t seen in the original theatrical version. It actually made the story better than what it was and it’s a shame that this wasn’t the version shown in the theatres.
As usual there were many, many Easter eggs for the hardcore comic book fan shown throughout the movie, such as another Stan Lee cameo, references to comic book creators (John Romita, Jr., Joe Quesada, Frank Miller, David Mack, Brain Michael Bendis), and a scene with Kevin Smith (who also wrote Daredevil) who’s character is called Kirby (named after comic book legend Jack Kirby).
Daredevil could have been so much better than what it was and a lot had to do with the portrayal of the main character. If Matt Murdock is believable, if Affleck made us believe in him, then everything else could have probably worked out. Instead, between Johnson and Affleck, it was the blind leading the blind into an abysmal darkness of forgetfulness.
By day, blind attorney Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck) toils for justice in Hell s Kitchen. By night, he s Daredevil, The Man Without Fear -- a powerful, m...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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