Comics have been around my family for as long as I can remember. We had hundreds of issues of 2000AD scattered around the house when I was a wee lad - my Dad had read and collected it religiously since its inception. He also occasionally bought a Marvel or DC book; now and then that book was Daredevil. I’ve read it ever since. I think the reason I liked it so much at first had to do with the fact that the alter-ego of the hero had the same first name as me, one of those bizarre things that makes something seem more personal to you when you’re a kid. I’ve read Daredevil now for as long as I care to remember, so when a film version was announced a few years ago, I was incredibly excited and looking forward to seeing Matt Murdoch and co. up on the big screen.
Hmm, but something wasn’t right. It wasn’t coming together – a bizarre range of casting decisions, a director/writer whose previous efforts included ‘Grumpy Old Men’, ‘Jack Frost’ and the classic ‘Grumpier Old Men’ (aka Grumpy old Men 2: Electric Boogaloo). On top of all that – the trailers were craptacular. There is only so much ‘Listen to the NU-METAL, Daredevil will ROCK!’ that you can take before it appears as if on February 14th, The Scorpion King in leather is going to be ‘unleashed’.
But whaddia know – it was really quite good!
A lot of comic book geeks are probably going to hate ‘Daredevil’. Unlike ‘Spider-Man’, this isn’t a 2 hour slush-fest that overdoes the ham fisted theatrics and bad CGI. Of course it’s over the top, it’s a comic book film, the whole premise is ridiculous – blinded by radioactive waste as a boy Matt Murdock’s (Ben Affleck) remaining senses are heightened to super-human sharpness. Years later, as a man he is a lawyer by day but at night dresses up in a skin tight suit and deals out his own brutal form of justice (a point hammered home by Affleck seemingly using the word in every sentence) on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. However, the strength of the comics and the strength of this film aren’t in the action and adventure side or the coolness of lycra among the superhumanly gifted. What makes comic books and this film great is the situations and characters the hero is involved with.
There is no real plot to speak of; it’s more about who Daredevil is and why he does what he does. We join the story towards the end of the film and the vast majority of it is told in flashback. What I liked about this was that we actually join the Daredevil story around 2 years after he began roaming the rooftops of Hell’s Kitchen. This means that the story is able to skip back and quickly skim over how Matt gained his powers and head right into the action. This is well done, although it could come across to those who are not familiar at all with the comics as rushed and without feeling. However, I prefer to see it as the detailed back-story is already there, if you want to find out more, go and get some of the comics, or do a little research on the net and you’ll get your deep and meaningfuls. Characters that play a part in Matt Murdock’s youth, such as Stick, are left out entirely. This does not damage the story though – as anything left out is really not needed within the context of the film. We know what we need to know.
At around 90 minutes, ‘Daredevil’ is seemingly too short to be able to establish 4 main characters that are integral to the film. Thankfully, this is not the case – what ‘Daredevil’ does so well is that nothing is established in great detail beyond what is important to the story of Matt Murdock– what we get is a mosaic of what his life is like and what he’s up against. The other characters fit in around him and build his personal story, which the Daredevil comics have always been about.
The little screen time that the supporting cast do get is used to great effect, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra is more than equal to Daredevil, the storyline between the two is not cheesy (apart from one supremely cringe worthy sequence in a park), feels honest and genuine and there isn’t a hint of ‘girl power’ in sight. Colin Farrell is fantastically over the top as Bullseye, his is the best performance in the film, and again, the time with his character is used perfectly. The fine details are missing, but we know what we need to know. The only character that really should have been given more to do is Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin (Michael Clarke-Duncan), he just doesn’t seem evil enough, he doesn’t really DO anything.
So we come to Ben Affleck. The first 20 minutes or so are all about him and this is when we really see his limits as an actor. However, as soon as the supporting cast get really involved – he becomes the focal point for everyone, it’s expertly handled and he comes across well. It’s a good performance thanks to the ‘mosaic effect’ that the story and other characters have on Affleck’s performance. A lot of people have had a gripe with how Affleck can’t play the ‘tortured soul’ that Matt Murdock is meant to be. Well, in al my years reading the comic – I never saw Matt Murdock as a tortured soul - he was a man who used his abilities to fight for good, his fathers death having a profound effect on him when he was a boy. I prefer to see Daredevil as a more mature, brutal version of Spider-Man.
A special mention must go to Jon Favreau, who plays Matt Murdock’s long time friend and partner in their law firm, Foggy Nelson. His is the performance that gives the film its heart, without Favreau, the film would fall apart at the seams. The scenes between Affleck and Favreau are warm, you understand the friendship between the two and the movie feels that little bit more human because of it.
The action scenes are well handled – in particular the ‘sonar sight’ that Matt Murdock has is perfectly perceived. The CG and wirework are not as obvious as in Spider-Man, however, it comes across as all a bit too Matrix-y at times, which is a shame as I feel that that whole jumping of walls and spinning around 6 times to kick someone is overused in these kind of films.
Two major gripes I have with the film are 1) The Soundtrack – why do all films nowadays have to have the ‘pumping’ Nu-Metal soundtrack to accompany it? It’s distracting, will ultimately date the film immensely and to put it bluntly - is really, really bad!
The second is just a minor point about the continuity - ok, so Daredevil is blind but all his other sense are heightened to super human sharpness, I can buy that. But since when does that give you the ability to jump 60 or 70 feet at a time?
All in all, I left the cinema this afternoon pleased. ‘Daredevil’ is a perfect introduction to those who aren’t familiar with the character and it shouldn’t disappoint those who read the comic religiously (although it will! Moaning fecking geeks!).
Go see it, then buy some of the comics.
-- Dapper Vinny Vegas
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