Movie Info

Daredevil - "He is the man without fear."

Jennifer Garner. That was the main reason I went to see Daredevil. Well actually, my buddy Mark's main reason. So we went to see the movie during the afternoon to take advantage of the 'cheaper' ticket prices. Overall, the movie was decent but lacked the punch that Spiderman had. Anyways, here is a quick synopsis and review of the movie.

If you haven't read the Daredevil comic books, then you're missing some fine reading (complete with pictures!). The screenplay is pretty close to the original storyline. Matt Murdock was a normal kid until an accident took his eyesight and bestowed upon him enhances senses and a 'radar' sight. This allowed Matt to eventually become the vigilante known as Daredevil. During the day, Matt is a lawyer who fights for the under-privileged.

Matt's fight against crime leads directly to the Kingpin (aka Wilson Fisk) and this brings in Elecktra and Bullseye. Elecktra is the daughter of one of Kingpin's associates and Bullseye is an assassin for hire. This is where the storyline deviates a little from the comic book and it works onscreen. The plot is a little more complicated than what I've written here, but I'll leave the rest up to the viewers.

As much as I dislike Ben Affleck, he was a good choice for playing Matt Murdock. Getting Jennifer Garner for Elektra was good too as she's one of the more popular action actresses around (of Alias fame). Though Garner doesn't really pass completely as the alluring and exotic Greek assassin, she plays her part well. Michael Clarke Duncan plays an excellent Kingpin and though the Kingpin is white in the comic books, Duncan's portrayal is convincing enough. The only beef I had with casting was Colin Farrell. This pretty Boy Scout should never have been cast in the role of a cold-blooded killer. In my mind, Farrell was trying way too hard to act tough and the result was pure cheese. One other beef I had with Bullseye was his stupid target on his forehead. In the comic book, Bullseye had a costume with the target on the hood of the costume, not etched into his skin. The movie version just looked silly and pointless and just cemented the overall silliness of Bullseye.

As this was a Marvel movie, I compared it to Marvel's other box office hits. Very similar to X-men, Daredevil's cut scenes were horrible. While watching the movie, the scenes jumped from one to another with no real relevancy. This movie also suffered from the 'Batman' syndrome of too many principle characters. Though this particular storyline is key in the life of Daredevil, it shouldn't have been the first plot-line. There was too much information to fit into just one movie. It's a shame because if this was done properly, Daredevil could have been an excellent franchise to build upon.

Overall, I found Daredevil to be entertaining but I must admit my background in comic books really helped in this regard. If I was a normal movie-goer, Daredevil would have been a low to middle class action movie with too many special effects and a plot with too much information. So I can understand why the movie got so many bad reviews when released. As for recommending this movie to people, I would to other super-hero fans, but if you're looking for some entertainment, go watch Old School instead. Well, if you wanna see Jennifer Garner kick a little butt, go see it (only during matinees!).

Dragoncrypt