Movie Review: Daredevil (2003)
Daredevil (2003)
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau
Directed By: Mark Steven Johnson
Kim and I were watching DVDs last night, and decided, somewhat randomly, to watch Daredevil. It's a short action movie that seemed to be the best choice for 2:00 AM viewing. First off, I should state that I'm a big fan of the character of Daredevil. Including comics from both volumes of Daredevil and collected trades, I have the equivalent of maybe 50 or more Daredevil comics in my collection. The focus of my collection is the seminal Frank Miller issues of the 80's and the early volume two works of Kevin Smith, Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack. I also have a smattering of Ann Nocetti issues.
The purpose of this geek bravado is to show that I'm pretty well versed in the character of Daredevil, and thus went into seeing the movie with different biases than the average viewer. When I first saw it in theatre, I loved the movie. I was really excited to see the character respected on the big screen, and popped for all the nods to the comic geeks in the audience. What was particularly satisfying was seeing the death of Elektra played out almost panel for panel with issue 181 of the original Daredevil series. So I left the theatre having a great time and happy that comic book movies were continuing their upward trajectory.
Last night was probably the fifth or sixth time I've seen the movie and I must sadly state that the film doesn't hold up to repeated viewing. I always recognised that it was a flawed film, flaws I mainly blamed the studio's insistence that the film not exceed an hour and a half. I still have hope that the forthcoming Director's Cut will deliver a much better film, but I can no longer consider the theatrical release as a great movie. Now that the glow of seeing a live-action Daredevil has passed, the flaws of the movie are too glaring to overlook.
It begins with the first shot of the movie, where they show a CGI rat splashing around a dark alley. This movie already didn't have a huge budget, why they spend CGI money on a fake rat? They couldn't have sent a real rat out to walk across the screen? They couldn't have skipped that altogether? This frivolous shot is a perfect example of how this film went wrong. This might be what happens when you hand a potential blockbuster franchise over to screenwriter turned director, whose only previous experience directing a movie was Simon Birch. There are several instances in the film went it becomes apparent that Mark Steven Johnson was more concerned with capturing a cool shot than worrying whether or not said shot furthers the plot along, or even makes sense. The biggest example was the burning Daredevil shot that was obviously used to help the marketing of the film, not the story. Why would a vigilante who was trying to prevent his existence from becoming common knowledge take the time to draw his logo in lighter fluid on a crime scene, in the hopes that some reporter would throw his cigarette down to light it for all to see? Where did he even get the lighter fluid? Worse, how does a blind guy draw such a perfect logo with lighter fluid?
There are countless examples of inconsistencies in the film that don't hold up to critical scrutiny, that I'm not going to discuss here, for brevities sake (but I will discuss them at length in comments if anyone asks). Sadly, these are little things that a better creative team could have prevented in what could have been a much better story. The character of Daredevil is one of the better ones that the industry has to offer, so making a great movie should have been easy. The other trappings are there- excellent wire-works action scenes (that do sometimes violate principles such as gravity, but in a better film you'd allow for it and suspend disbelief), a more-than serviceable cast with Ben Affleck doing a good job in the lead, Michael Clarke Duncan doing a decent job as the Kingpin, Jennifer Garner doing a very good job with the little she was given as Elektra, and Colin Farrell stealing every scene he's in as Bullseye. They even managed some very cool CGI by showing the audience Daredevil's "radar sense".
Sadly, the movie itself isn't very good. It's fun, and definitely worth a viewing if one is in the mood for some action fare. However, it isn't much better than your standard action fare. I get the feeling that if the movie was placed in better hands, it could have been something special. As it is, I don't see there being a sequel (other than the spin-off Elektra film set to be released in January of 2005), even though the film tries to set up one. That's too bad, because X2: X-Men United and Spider-Man 2 have proven that comic book movie sequels have the potential to exceed it's predecessor by not being bogged down with origin stories, and in the hands of a better director, the character could do something special. Upon first viewing, I probably would have given Daredevil a 3.5 or 4 out of 5 stars, but seeing it now with a clear head, I've gotta give a 2.5.
2.5/5
Related:
Fantastic Four (2005)
The Punisher (2004)
Top Five Marvel Comics Characters