Daredevil

Year: 2003 (USA)
Genre: Superhero Movie
Directed: Mark Steven Johnson
Stars: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau, Scott Terra, Ellen Pompeo, Joe Pantoliano, Erick Avari
Production: Marvel Enterprises

From the director of Grumpy Old Men (1993), starring the guy who would go on to direct Argo (2012) and including the guy who directed Iron Man (2008), Daredevil (2003) is very much a movie of could haves and almosts. Much like the oft scorned Catwoman (2004) and the goofy but good-natured Fantastic Four (2005), Ben Affleck’s red leathered superhero suffers from a studio system not yet convinced of the viability of superhero films but still in the business of making money.


Affleck is Matt Murdock a trial lawyer by day and a masked vigilante by night. While still in grade school, Murdock was blinded by an accident involving toxic chemicals. While unable to see like you or I, he develops heightened senses including sonar-type hearing that helps him hunt for lowlifes and thugs. The thug Daredevil most wants to put an end to is the aptly named Kingpin aka Wilson Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan), who runs the criminal syndicate in not-Batman’s neighborhood and huge swath of the city.


And part of New Jersey

Also in the mix is Colin Farrell playing a goofily dressed assassin, Joe Pantoliano as a New York Post reporter and debutante Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) whose billionaire father (Erick Avari) has some shady business dealing with Kingpin he isn’t too proud of. A skilled fighter herself, she gets in on the action while simultaneously forming a bond with Matt.


Thus comes the part fanboys seem the most fussy about, the love story. In this writer’s opinion, the romance was laudable if flat and one-dimensional. The problem comes when a B-story of such flacid ordinariness becomes a larger focus than the capes and masks that inhabit the world of Daredevil. Just because both the lovers are semi-superheroes, it doesn’t make the romance any more interesting. You need more than schoolyard acrobatics, you need fun characters, good chemistry and dialogue that doesn’t sound like it was written by a gifted teenager.

He's a manic, maniac on the floor...

Though for me, the reason this film is ultimately placed in the bargain bin Daredevil-Elektra (2005) two-pack is because of it’s “been there, done that,” quality. Most of the inspirational moments in the movie are lifted from greater superhero films like Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002). Anything original is done sloppily which includes some laughable physics from Colin Farrell’s Bulleye character. There’s really only one creative scene that doesn’t feel like déjà vu; when Matt kisses Elektra in the rain so the droplets can create a consistent image of her face for him. It was romantic, inventive and genuine.

Daredevil ultimately fails because it attempts to tell a dark tale that isn’t dark enough, a romance that isn’t romantic enough and a hero story that isn’t heroic enough. All the ideas in it are unoriginal retreads from other films and the direction is too rudimentary to really be mentioned. While doing background for this review I became privy to a director’s cut version of the film which includes a subplot involving Coolio. Detractors have been silenced by this new version so I’m slightly curious as to its allure. Curious, but not curious enough to watch the guy from Mallrats (1995) and the third billed starlet from Juno (2007); get silly on a seesaw again.

Seriously? Can't you two stop fighting just once?

Final Grade: D+