Synopsis: A man blinded by radioactive waste which also enhanced his remaining senses fights crime as an acrobatic martial arts superhero.

Now for the Zone's Eye View:

By Scott Maravilla

Director: Mark Steven Johnson

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau

Daredevil is director Mark Steven Johnson’s Faustian bargain with Big Hollywood to make his dream project a reality.  The result is a flawed, yet enjoyable, film which we as an audience are better off having been made than not.  With the sequel greenlit, we can hope that Johnson gets carte blanche to build upon the film’s strengths unencumbered by the obligatory superhero’s origin storyline which here impedes the film’s more interesting central storyline.

The first part of the film plays out like The Champ.  Young Matt Murdock is blinded when he’s accidentally hit by an industrial container of toxic waste where his remaining senses become superhuman.  His father (played by David Keith who I now always picture with Pamela Anderson after his stint in Raw Justice), a washed up ex-boxer, feels responsible for the accident because Matt was running away from him after finding out that he’s an enforcer for the local mafia thug.  After the accident, “The Devil” Murdock (because he fights like the devil) goes out on the boxing comeback trail only to find out that his former boss has been fixing all of his fights and now it’s his turn to take a dive.  Instead, he wins the match only to be murdered anonymously but obviously by Wilson Fiske, the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) in a plot point ripped off of the first Batman film.  Matt Murdock grows up to become a lawyer for the down trodden by day and uncontrollably violent hero Daredevil by night.  When he falls in love with the beautiful Elektra Nachios (Jennifer Garner), a Greek heiress and target along with her father of the Kingpin and his hired assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell), he finds himself in a dark place. 

The problem with Daredevil is that the film’s pacing is awkward throughout.  It just never feels right.  The earlier part of the film spends way too much time with the young Matt Murdock then spends a little too much time introducing the vigilante to the audience.  As a result, the main storyline of Elektra-Bullseye-Kingpin is very rushed, seemingly almost an after thought.  The second problem is that instead of going for the best actors for the parts like the successful Spider-man, Daredevil goes with name actors with near disastrous results.  Ben Affleck sleepwalks through this role as does Jennifer Garner who basically reprises her role on Alias.  Michael Clarke Duncan is under-utilized in this film given only nice suits and cheesey lines of dialogue.  The final weak link is Bullseye.  Colin Farrell gets to play the assassin over the top taunting the hero much like Stephen Dorf did with Wesley Snipes in Blade and Snipes with Stallone in Demolition Man.  However, the problem with Bullseye is more with how he is portrayed in the film.  He kills a man in a pub for insulting his Irish heritage, he kills an old lady on a plane for talking too much and one of the Kingpin’s guards just for the hell of it.  Ok, we get it.  Bullseye likes to kill people.  We don’t need to see him kill people ad nauseum to get that point.  We’re also subjected to a superfluous cameo by director Kevin Smith, and Joe Pantiolona does not seem to add much to the overall story as a New York Post reporter.  I also did not like the way daredevil can “see” people when rain falls on them.

Another problem I had with the film was when Daredevil kills a rapist cohort of the Kingpin’s after his alter-ego fails to convict the man in court.  I am reminded of Vito Corleone’s comment in The Godfather, “that is not justice, your daughter is still alive.”  It seems as if this guy should have done worse to merit death at the hands of Daredevil.  In his defense, however, he only indirectly kills him.  Moreover, in the court room scene just mentioned, it appears that Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau) are the prosecutors.  Yet, they run their own private firm in Hell’s Kitchen and are not assistant district attorneys.  After decades of lawyer shows on TV, I think the audience will feel uncomfortable with the loose way the legal profession is portrayed.

Despite these flaws, the film achieves its stated goal of gritty urban realism that Batman can only dream of achieving.  Daredevil is not a happy go lucky superhero, he’s real, he bleeds, and he feels loss and sorrow.  After his first excursion, we see Murdock’s body covered in scars as he takes a shower.  He picks at his bloody mouth and pulls out a tooth which he nonchalantly tosses to the floor. 

Also, this is an adaptation of Frank Miller’s ground breaking storyline from the pages of the early 1980s comic of the same title.  Fans will love seeing this uncompromisingly brought to life.  It felt like Sam Raimi was trying to tone down Spider-man for a more general audience by nixing the death of Gwen Stacey storyline.  Instead, the Green Goblin drops Mary Jane Watson and Spider-man is able to save both her and the trolley full of people.  From a dramatic point of view, Peter Parker has not had to make a major decision and suffer a deep loss.  That is not the case with daredevil.  Johnson does not pull his punches.  Daredevil must make tough decisions and face things he otherwise would not want to.

The film reminds me a lot of the Blade series in tone and cinematographic style.  It is a dark film, not for those who enjoyed Batman and Robin for some strange reason.  I think it’s one of those films that will produce superior sequels when unencumbered by the obligation to tell the hero’s origin story.  I give this film a gentleman’s 5.