Daredevil (2003)

Having watched the Netflix version recently, I decided to go back and watch the Ben Affleck movie again.  My recollections were that it was okay.  This time around, I saw the directors cut.

The movie opens with a seriously wounded Daredevil falling into a church, crawling toward the altar, and narrating about how life flashes before your eyes as you die.  And so we go back to the days of his youth when he was bullied despite having a boxer for a father.  Once he is blinded, his other heightened senses grant him superhuman physical abilities and fighting prowess.  Huh?  Why would good hearing or keen sense of smell make you a good fighter; are dogs noteworthy martial artists?  I liked the way his radar vision was done, in fact the lack of it in the Netflix series is bothersome (I'm sure that is mostly budgetary).  The reason why Matt Murdock chose to don a costume and start stalking the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen are never explored.

 

First off: narrating.  Don't do it.  Show me, don't tell me.  This is a movie, not an audio book.  There was entirely too much narrating.  A little opening narration is fine to put the viewer in the setting but after that, show me.

 

The movie retains too much of the comic book format, not allowing it to fit well into the real world.  The costumes are handled well but the action scenes are not.  The playground martial arts dance was silly.  Yes, it is the boy meets girl bit that also shows they are both great fighters but it is also zany antics in a movie that has an otherwise serious mood.  Other action scenes are likewise over the top.  I found it really distracting when the camera would flip with Daredevil rather than stay level with the world; maybe that was a thing in 2003.

 

The movie makers seem not to know that bullets move faster than sound.  Therefore, even with his super keen hearing, Daredevil cannot hear a bullet coming until after it has already arrived.  His apparent dodging of oh so many bullets during his criminal assault on the biker bar was groan inducing.  Really, you just wanted to get Quesada, why are you beating up everyone in the bar?  Maybe there was a deleted scene that explained that everyone in the bar needed a beating.

 

Bullseye was just the sort of psychopath that a hero needs to fight.  Colin Farrell was suitably psychotic in the roll, perhaps too psychotic.  Again, some of the colors and emotions of comics need to be muted to work well in movies.  The characterizations of his talents and fighting were unsatisfying.  That he has uncanny accuracy with thrown objects is fine but the idea that he could penetrate someone's skull with a ball point pen by throwing it is silly.  Ditto having Daredevil's club stab into Elektra's father like it was a spear.  His big fight in the church was just one string of extreme and campy action.  Way overdone.

 

After Vincent D'Onofrio in Netflix, this Kingpin role is hollow and empty.  Michael Clark Duncan is big and heartless but the role is so small.  He is nothing but menace.  Worse, he comes off as a lightweight in the end.  Daredevil has been stabbed through the shoulder and battered by Bullseye but still is able to take down a man fresh to the fight.  Weak.  Disappointing.

 

Jennifer Garner was miscast as Elektra.  She belonged in a romantic comedy, not a superhero movie.  There was something about the tone of her voice or the expression on her face that made her feel very unserious.  When they had their first 'date' on the rooftop, it felt like she had never met a man who showed any interest in her.  She was a 13 year old girl who was giddy that a boy said 'hello.'  Elektra, both from Daredevil comics and Greek mythology, is defined by her desire for revenge and Garner is entirely unconvincing.  "Like, I'm out for revenge cuz I'm, like, really upset!"  Hard to pin down what exactly but she just didn't fit.

 

Ben Affleck is Batman... er... Daredevil.  It was funny to see the similarities in the characters.  Daredevil has a secret lair where he has his suits, masks, clubs, and even a sensory deprivation tank.  He spends most of his time brooding and pondering justice.  He lurks about the city at night to beat up thugs and criminals.  Then there is this Greek woman (Elektra or Diana) who attracts his attention and gets him to perk up a bit.

 

That Daredevil spared both Kingpin (who killed his father) and Bullseye (who killed Elektra) but tossed Quesada to his death on the subway tracks is nuts!    What have you done to the moral compass of this character?  The Netflix series makes much of Daredevil's refusal to kill.  Of course, Affleck also turned Batman into a killer in Batman vs. Superman so maybe it's just him.

 

As far as director's cut versus theatrical version, I don't recall the theatrical version well-enough to comment on the differences.  I think the Coolio subplot is fine and contributes to the overall story quite nicely but I can also see why it was cut for runtime and pacing.  Coolio offers some nice comic relief that fits into the movie better than the playground dance off.

It is not terrible but nor is it good.  With the exception of the radar sight effects, the movie doesn't hold a candle to the Netflix series.  That dramatic improvement in treatment that Marvel provides in the Netflix series gives hope that Fantastic Four could also enjoy a successful turnaround if only Marvel can get the rights back.