This review is long and rife with spoilers. Readers Beware!
Opening statement: GOOD flick.
Like many already have, I would say this is the movie hard-core fans of
Batman wanted their movies to be (though most of them had positive aspects in
their own right).
From the Daredevil fan's perspective, though?
......
....Ah say gott DAYAMN this is a good movie.
Dark, dramatic, intense, maybe even a little disturbing in places! And at
the same time, poignant, redeeming, and a lot of fun!
This movie is definitely NOT Spiderman's little brother (though its running
time makes it seem so). If anything, this is Spiderman's older, scruffier,
meaner brother, who likes to flip around rooftops, hanging out with his
buddies, Batman, Punisher, and the Crow.
The action was fun (while questionable in one or two areas), the story was
well rounded and well scripted, and all the performances were solid.
If you're a comic book fan, see this movie. If you're an action fan, see
this movie. If you're a fan of dark, dramatic movies, SEE THIS MOVIE.
Now for some points worth mentioning...
Daredevil: While his characterization at first caught many offguard
(including, to a lesser degree, myself), it was not only affective, but
surprisingly faithful! Now is when you should get used to the mantra I'll be
repeating throughout this review... Affleck did it. Now, I'd always thought
Affleck should be in a comic book movie. He's just perfect to play a
superhero! Strong chin, broad shoulders, and a good actor (you heard me).
BUT, I never would have guessed (or wanted) him playing DD. The casting
baffled me..! But dammit, Affleck DID it! See, the thing that sets DD apart
from most superheroes is Passion. Spidey hides behind wisecracks, Batman
hides behind that intimidating silence, Superman hides behind that stoic self
importance. Even Wolverine hides his passion behind grunts, growls, grim
confidence, or plain rage! But DD? This is the guy that grabs a criminal by
his collar, grimacing in anger, and says things like "I hate you and
everything you stand for." He has more passion than almost any other hero,
and he isn't afraid to show it to his enemies. He's not afraid of anything!
He's the man without fear! He expresses himself! That was something I worried
about... HOW would they be able to balance that persona without making him
Too Batman brooding or Too Spiderman joking? They did it. Affleck did it.
Daredevil smiled, frowned, grimaced and smirked. His voice growled through
gritted teeth, resonated with dark satisfaction when badguys met their fate,
and rang with incredulity when defending his actions to a frightened child.
The costume was a masterpiece... Realistic, yet faithful. Intimidating and
appropriate for a man who goes out every night and puts his life (and more
immediately, his body) on the line. Two small touches I really liked: A)
Metal knuckles on the gloves. 2) They kept his eyes disguised. This was
what I was the most afraid of, costume-wise. DD is intimidating because even
under a mask, he looks PISSED. It's scary! All you can go on is his facial
expression, because you can't see his eyes. It's eerie! Losing expression in
(or through) the mask by going the easy route and covering his eyes blindfold
style would have been a mistake. Instead of the mystery of "Is he looking at
me, or through my soul..??" would become "How does he see through that
blindfold??" Yet at the same time, they couldn't just give him open
eyeslits, because that would seriously lower the intimidation factor as well.
So, they didn't. So, Daredevil? ::thumbs up::
Matt Murdock: All together now... Affleck did it. He became Matt. People
are saying this is the best performance of his career. While I still say
Dogma was his true shining moment, I'd have to say this comes in a close
second. He was serious and impersonal to the world, until he was with people
he knew, when his sly sense of humor and true personality shone through.
THIS is Matt Murdock! The world usually likes to keep the disabled at arms
length, because they don't know how to relate to them. Same goes for Matt.
He feels so isolated and alone in his disability (ability?) and his mission
that the only ones he can relate to are those who are open minded enough to
relate to him. Speaking of being disabled... Affleck DID it! He not only
LOOKED like a blind man (right down to the eyes sort of roaming individual of
each other for their lack of ability to focus), but he was able to somehow
pull off the movements of a man who is blind... but isn't. Everything from
his posture to the slight tilt of his head made his performance believable
and involving. The first time we see his face in the movie was the one and
only time I registered "Oh yeah, that's Ben Affleck." After that, he was
Matt Murdock. Or Daredevil.
The Subway Scene: I mention this scene here because it will round off my
analysis of the Daredevil character himself. This was a scene that stunned
many fans of the ol' horn head because we all know that, in the comics, DD
puts a very high value on human life. He's saddened by death, even the death
of a criminal. In the movie, however, this is a very different DD we're
looking at. The scene is probably the most shocking of the movie, therefor
setting the tone of the story. (Ironically, it provides probably the best
line of the movie as well. "You see that light at the end of the tunnel,
Quesada? That's not Heaven. It's the C train.") So... Why would a
self-professed hard-core DD fan have our hero kill a man in the first act?
The answer is simple. Character arch. It's why Peter decides he can't allow
himself to be with Mary Jane. It's why Batman decides h--- well..... It's why
Logan decides to finally pick a side and join the team when they go to stop
Magneto. And, it's why Matt decides not to kill the Kingpin. When we first
see him, Matt is a person who has lost all faith and balance in his life.
He's lost sight of what his true goal is, and because of that, he takes
drastic measures to realize it. Then, DD beats a man unconscious in his own
home, and realizes, after the rush of it all, that the man's son watched the
whole thing. The kid is terrified and DD tries to defend his actions. "Kid,
I'm not the badguy..!" But it sticks with him. Is he really seeking justice?
Or vengeance? It's clarified for him when Elektra sets out on the same
mission, this time pinning HIM as the target. What's the result? Her death.
This leads him to his final showdown with the Kingpin, where, given the
chance to finally take true revenge for his father's murder, he opts against
killing the man. And why? "I'm not the badguy." Originally, I was afraid
that the death of that first criminal would make DD a character I was
unfamiliar with, but in the end, it was (for lack of a better term)
justified.
Bullseye: See... THIS should've been the study guide X-Men used when they
were developing their villains. Bullseye got little screentime, and fewer
lines, but he was perfectly developed in that short timespan, unlike
Sabertooth, Toad, and Mystique in X-Men. Colin Farrel is awesome in the role
because of how over-the-top he is. He plays up the "psychotic" Bullseye angle
SO incredibly well! Even moreso than most of the writers or artists in the
comics could! He's got an almost religious devotion to that target on his
head, which makes his obsession with DD completely understandable, because...
"He made me miss." Great (while unexpected) bit of casting and performance
there.
Kingpin: Interesting thing about the Kingpin... I was one of the staunchest
supporters of Michael Clark Duncan's casting in the role. And I still
believe he was the absolutely best choice! Yet...... The Kingpin didn't work
for me..! Not entirely. And here's the irony... He wasn't BIG enough! Now,
MCD is a BIG friggin man... That's why he got the job. But the camera work
around him just did NOTHING to display this for the audience. And that's as
important as casting a good actor! Kingpin has to be massive and
intimidating, yet every shot of him is long and wide, with most other
characters standing far away from him. How are we supposed to get a sense
for how huge the guy is if just about every scene with him shows him standing
by himself on camera? Where's the compare and contrast? Another problem I
had... Enough with the shots of him looking out the window and smoking his
cigar already! Once was enough! After that, it gets boring! You start
wondering "What, do they have nothing else for him to be doing right now?!
They gotta kill time with him looking like the Notorious B.I.G. on his way to
mouth cancer?"
There WERE two scenes in the movie where he just WAS the Kingpin, though. One
was the scene in the ballroom, where Matt and Foggy are talking to him. He
towers over everyone's heads in such close quarters and you really get a feel
for the presence this man exudes. The other is the final showdown with DD in
his office. The suit jacket comes off, and underneath is the bulging muscle
that the Kingpin SHOULD have. That entire fight scene is great. I was sitting
there, watching Daredevil and the Kingpin go at it. Absolutely phenomenal.
Another problem I had with the Kingpin, on second thought, is that his status
as Kingpin Of Crime never really seemed like a secret until the end where DD
says "Wilson Fisk is the Kingpin?" and I'm going "What... he didn't KNOW
that..??" As a reader of the comics, admittedly, that was probably my own
bias working against me, but when I think about it, there's really very
little that implies that Fisk's title is a secret.
Elektra: Jennifer Garner was great! Another case of the actor BECOMING the
character, regardless of how they looked. While she wasn't quite what most
fans would have wanted, she still had that exotic quality about her, and
those expressive eyes that proved that she was right for the job. We really
got a sense of how she and Matt were kindred spirits. Both closed themselves
off to the world, but opened up to each other because of the challenges and
surprises each presented to the other. And her handling of the sais..? Mucho
impressive. NONE of that was CGI or stunt doubles, people. She LEARNED
those mothers for the movie.
Foggy: Jon Favreau, aside from having a name that is impossible to spell,
did a great job as Foggy. He made him quirky, lovable and slightly goofy,
without making him a complete bumbling foo'. Foggy in the movie, while being
gullible and scatterbrained, was still an intelligent professional who's good
at his job. Not unlike Favreau himself. ^_^ The rapport between he and
Matt was great. Though we know Matt's second life is a secret from Foggy,
they play off of that extra sixth sense of Matt's the way only two best
friends could, showing that while Foggy doesn't know everything, he's come to
know and accept that his partner is special. My only misgiving was that
Foggy's moral barometer leaned a little further toward Typical Lawyer than I
would have liked. In the comics, Foggy and Matt went into business together
because they wanted to be serve the law with clean consciences. I realize
that giving Foggy and Matt those contrasting opinions in the movie opened a
conversation that could establish more of who Matt is, but the purist in me
wonders if maybe there was a better way to do this without compromising
Foggy's character. STILL! I ain't complainin'. Foggy was damn good.
Jack Murdock: Matt's father was spot-on perfect. I dunno what else I can
say... His characterization was exactly as it is in the comics, and the movie
made me care MORE about him than the comics ever did! More of that emotional
impact I was talking about.
Ben Urich: Again! Spot-on perfect! Did he look anything like the comics?
Not at all. Well... except for the glasses... But Joe Pantoliano did an
awesome job in the scenes he was given. SEQUEL!
Karen Page: Wow. Now, I haven't seen Ellen Pompeo in any other movies
(though, I hear she's good in Moonlight Mile).... (Midnight Mile..?).... but
she was absolutely perfect for Karen Page. She had the smile, the eyes and
the charisma to bring that character to life for me. And with only TWO lines
of dialogue? That's saying something. Again, I repeat... SEQUEL!
Kevin Smith: He cracked me up. ^_^ That's my boyee!! Seriously, though, he
really did a good job. He's actually not a bad actor (proven even moreso in
the movie "Vulgar")! Anyway, his was just one of a MILLION cameos, both
visual and verbal, that we got to see in the movie. Just about every
non-character who has a name is named after the creators that have worked on
the comics over the years. Also, Stan "The Man" Lee puts in his best
performance EVER as a befuddled pedestrian saved from the path of a speeding
bus by a younger blind Matt Murdock. The look on his face was classic.
Which also brings me too...!
Young Matt: The kid did a surprisingly excellent job! See... After Haley
Joel Osment, I can't help but pick apart the performances of every child
actor I see. Osment just raised the bar! But Scott Terra really did an
awesome job as Matt, especially in the blind sequences! He had plenty of
chances to ham it up and over act, but he didn't. Kid's good.
The Playground Scene: Ugh... People and this scene. Not only did I have NO
problem with the playground fight, I actually LIKED it! Very much! Why?
Because it was *supposed* to be hammy. Supposed to be funny! Did no one else
see the *smiles* on the character's faces? I mean... Okay, look at it like
this. We just finished watching DD kill a man in cold blood. Isn't it a
good idea to show another side of the character? A lighter side? And how do
you do that? Put him in a fun scene. That's exactly what they did. And it
WAS fun! And, most importantly, nobody broke their character for it to be
fun. It all seemed natural. Even the (purposefully!) hammy parts of it.
The Radar: Unbelievable. Even if people like nothing else about this movie,
they will find this effect a total masterpiece. The way they've developed
his sixth sense into a sort of visual sonar was a stroke of brilliance. It
added an extra visual edge to a movie that had a precious few of them. The
effect stands out especially in the first subway scene, when the trains pass
by and throw his hearing off balance, so he thwacks the railing with his
billyclub to send one clear sound flowing across the platform, using that to
pick out his quarry in the otherwise chaotic landscape of his mind. And how
can one go without mentioning the amazing rain effect. The way its described
in dialogue, and then visually realized, proves the true vision of the
storyteller when he wrote the script. It also provides plenty of cool little
details, such as Matt/DD's habit of touching things as he walks by them, or
flipping his billyclub in his hand as he prowls the rooftops, each eliciting
a faint sound that helps him better define his surroundings. It's also
especially effective in his loss to Elektra toward the end of the second act.
He can't draw a clear bead on her when she attacks him in the midst of the
clotheslines because the sheets are brushing against both of them and
flapping in the wind. Too much uncontrolled sound coming from too many places
at once. Its no wonder she was able to so quickly "pin" him. Pun fully
intended. ^_^
The Story: Holy crap. I dunno how MSJ did it... But he managed to fit at
LEAST four different DD storylines into one well-rounded movie. And my
complaint? It was too SHORT! But, I'll save that for later. The story
really was well done. From the very beginning, you can tell this movie will
be unique from other super hero films, because the first thing we get is a
bruised and bleeding Daredevil, coming fresh off of the final battle in the
tale we're about to be told. From there, we're treated to The Origin, which
was pulled off very well, I thought! At first I was wary of the changes made
to the comic book origin, having Matt lose his sight after he spies his
father working as a mob enforcer and, being distraught, running into the path
of an oncoming fork-lift, which swerves and punches a hole in a barrel drum
filled with toxic waste, spraying Matt in the eyes, instead of having him
knock a blind man from the path of an oncoming truck. (And that, boys and
girls, is how you create a run-on sentence.) But, as the story progressed, I
saw what Johnson was trying to do. Since its his father's lie that causes
Matt's blindness, that trauma drives the father and son closer together as
they help each other overcome their obstacles (Matt's blindness, and Jack's
boxing slump). It gives a very specific cause for Jack's refusal to throw the
final boxing match, and the emotional impact on Matt when his father is
killed is amplified tenfold from the comics by the way they'd grown closer as
a result of the tragedy. It perfectly sets up Matt's "revenge vs. justice"
dilemma for the rest of the film. Another fear of mine was that Elektra and
Matt's romance would be waaayyyy too short-lived for two people to plausibly
fall in love. Though it all did happen in a short timespan, the filmmakers
made love-at-first-sight absolutely believable! Something else I liked about
this movie was that every aspect of the plot was connected to another, as
evidenced in the Kingpin's final revelation as the man who killed Matt's
father. One event led smoothly to another. There are no scenes here that did
not contribute directly to the overall plotline. While this made the movie a
bit too short, it was still tight, nonetheless.
Special FX: For the most part, the FX were pretty well done! For the total
film budget they were working under (about the size of Spiderman's sole FX
budget =P) I think they did an EXTREMELY good job with the CGI. Much better
than X-Men did, I'd say (don't get me wrong... I LIKED X-Men! But its strong
points were its writing and acting, not so much the FX and action). While
some CGI shots were obviously CGI, it was the movements that did it, not a
Fake Look (which, oddly enough, Spiderman suffered from in one or two
scenes). The CGI shortcomings that existed were, in my opinion, easily
overlooked, as none of them lasted long enough to be distracting. The smart
move on their part (or maybe it was simple convenience) was in placing most
of the CGI FX shots in the shadows.
Action: The action scenes were well done! For the most part... There were
approximately two areas of discontent for me. First off... The opening fight
scene. Now... There's some pretty damn cool stuff going on in that bar
scene! Unfortunately, you'd never know that unless you paid close attention
to the trailers. The camera work in the film is WAY too fast to really get a
bead on anything DD is doing, other than the vague idea of "Okay, so he's
beating them..." And once the lights go out..? Oysh. It's no secret that
MSJ's favorite comic movie (and mine) is the Crow, and it's obvious he was
trying to pay homage to that great flashing light action sequence from that
film. Notice I say *flashing*... Not *strobing*. The strobe lighting for the
rest of the fight makes it damn near impossible to follow *anything* that's
going on. Which is too bad! Because this could have been the best fight of
the whole movie. As it is, after a few rewatches, I'll probably grow to
accept it and name it as the best fight in the movie. The first impression,
though, isn't all that great. My second point of contention for me arose
right around the time Elektra came into action. Up until this point, I'd
seen the areas were wires were *used*, but I hadn't thought to myself "Oh,
that's so obvious!" Then, suddenly, we have her drop 10 feet and hit the
ground like a ballerina... Or run up a wall and turn on a perfect axis before
dropping. OR superjump to a ledge. DD does another superjump in the church
sequence, but that's thankfully the only one apparent there. As much as this
movie is based in reality, it really was distracting to see physics tossed
out the window instead of letting DD use his grappling hook, or giving
Elektra a little more slack on the wire so she could appropriately crouch
before moving on. All in all, though, I was pleased with the action. I'd been
terrified when I heard the Charlie's Angel's guy was doing the action for
this movie, but apparently, he learned from his mistakes... Mostly.
The Music: Now, we already know I love the soundtrack. How was the score,
though..? I'm not sure..! I was honestly paying too close attention to the
movie to notice the score. The opening credits had pretty decent music, but
it'll be my second viewing that makes it all clear in my head. What was a
pleasant surprise, though, was the use of the soundtrack songs as a MAIN part
of the movie! Almost all of them were used in the absolute perfect places.
Especially if you pay attention to the lyrics. Matt's bonding with his father
after he goes blind is set to a Hoobastank tune that talks about growing up
and learning. Matt drowns out the sounds of the city with a Seether song
that screams "I gave my life away." The two best placements of songs in this
film are, by far, the Kingpin's introduction ("I'm an outlaw!") and the final
moment of the movie, where Matt speaks his last thoughts before diving over
the edge of a building and shooting a line out to the STRONG opening of
Fuel's song "Wont Back Down." Some great stuff. But... Not all of it was
that good. Two areas in particular had me more distracted than excited. Oddly
enough, both were the Evanescence songs. Admittedly, I simply wasn't
expecting "My Immortal" during the funeral scene, so it distracted me at
first, making me ask "Does this fit here..?" The one that most certainly did
*not* fit, though, was "Bring Me To Life" as Elektra and DD both prepare for
the coming encounter. The music would have fit MUCH better without the
lyrics, which really have no bearing on the scene at all, and are clear
enough that you can't really avoid them. The only places where the lyrics do
seem to fit -- "All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see" as Matt is
putting on his mask, and then switching back to Elektra as the male and
female vocalists duel -- came off more cheesy than satisfying, I'm sorry to
say.
Other cool little tidbits:
-Many of the scenes were taken directly from the comic book imagery.
Especially that opening shot of DD slung over the crucifix. Also, the Elektra
stab, and the last shot of Jack Murdock falling to the ground are exact
translations of panels from the comics.
-Heather Glenn, one of Matt's comic girlfriends, breaking up with him over
the answering machine. I never did like Heather...
-The billyclub. How friggin cool was that??? An IMPROVEMENT on the one from
the comics. I just wish there was more ricocheting going on.
-The scars around Matt's eyes. A nice touch.
-The sensory deprivation tank. A stroke of genius, even if it did seem a
little too Batman at first.
-Matt folding his dollar bills in different ways so he can tell them apart.
Another nice little touch.
Largest Flaw: The running time. At 97 minutes, this movie is TOO DAMN
SHORT!!! The story was complete, and there were little to no plot holes, but
GUH! I would have loved to see MORE! Spiderman had so much it got tired
around the middle, but they couldn't give us more DD?? I'm hoping the R
rated director's cut puts more into it. As it is, this movie it GOOD. With
more to flesh it out, though? It could have been GREAT.
So... There you have it. My Daredevil Essay. Hope everyone else enjoys the
movie as much as I did... And if you didn't? ::shrug:: To each his own.
