image courtesy of Imp Awards
Rating:
7
Year of release: 2003
Company: 20th Century Fox
Genre: action
Running time: 96 min.
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Action directors: Jeff Imada, Yuen Cheung-Yan
Script: Brian Helgeland, Mark Steven Johnson
Producer: Avi Arad
Cinematography: Ericson Core
Editors: Armen Minasian, Dennis Virkler
Music: Graeme Revell
Stars: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrel, Michael Clarke Duncan, Joe Pantoliano, Jon Favreau, David Keith
Rated PG-13 for violence and langauge
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Daredevil
Ben Affleck. Image courtesy of IMDB and Fox.
Have we reached over-saturation in the comic book movie genre? After the success of X-Men, companies seem intent on pumping out more celluoid adapatations of paper heroes than ever before. If the results are something like this, rather than the sappy and over-rated Spider-Man, then I say "keep them coming". Daredevil is a fast-paced movie with plenty of action and a smattering of pathos and romance -- just like any good comic book movie should be.
Daredevil is about a blind man named Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck) whose other senses have become hyper-sensitive. He uses these powers to take out criminals that he can't put away in his day job as a lawyer. Daredevil is successful in keeping the crime rate down, but like most superheroes, lives a lonely life until he meets up with the fetching Elektra (Jennifer Garner). Elektra's father is a billionaire who tries to cut his ties with a crime boss called the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan), only to have an insane assassin known as Bullseye (Colin Farrell) try and kill him. When Daredevil tries to save the day, he is framed for the murder of Elektra's father, and is made the target of her revenge. He must then try and clear his name by bringing down the Kingpin while avoiding being killed by Elektra in the process.
Jennifer Garner and Colin Farrell. Image courtesy of IMDB and Fox.
I wasn't too hyped about seeing Daredevil. He isn't exactly one of my favorite superheroes, and Ben Affleck as an action star was a foogy proposition to say the least. But director Mark Steven Johnson manages to make J-Lo's bitch seem like a tough guy. You're not going to confuse him with Van Damme or anything like that, but he does look good in the fight scenes. The film used both a Chinese and Japanese action director, and the mix of styles works very well. The more hard-hitting hand-to-hand (the Japanese style) bits work well, and are bolstered by some high-flying wire-fu courtesy of Yuen Cheung-Yan. Like Blade II, the CGI used in these parts sometimes looks cheesy, but overall, the effect works and makes the fights exciting and interesting to watch.
The rest of the movie is solid, also. The acting could have used some more polish (Colin Farrell seems to be the only actor to really relish his part), and I felt the Kingpin's character was a bit underwritten, given his importance in the story. However, there is a thankful lack of overblown drama and romance which usually derails movies of this type. Yes, there is a good deal of romantic fluff, and there are several "get out the hankie" tear-jerker bits, but the film never goes overboard with them, and it moves much better for it. Daredevil, unlike most recent movies, acutally tried to appeal to the hard-core action/comic book fan, rather than teenage girls, and I applaud it for that.
