Don't have much free time anymore and I just don't have time to catch up with my friends on Ciao. I...
Don't have much free time anymore and I just don't have time to catch up with my friends on Ciao. I will try pop back when I can, but for now I'll just have to be the silent member of the site. Take care everyone and good reviewing!
Member since:02.07.2003
Reviews:50
Members who trust:20
I was feeling a bit bored last night so I decided to pop to my local video shop and pick up Daredevil for the boyfriend, who has wanted to watch it since it was on at the cinema a few months back. I personally wasn’t keen on watching it, but thought I’d give it a go as it has the lovely Colin Farrell in it, and also starts Ben Affleck who seems to have made more good movies than bad. Now I wish I hadn’t bothered, as I actually feel slightly stupider for watching it.
THE PLOT: What plot?? Daredevil is based on a Marvel comic featuring the exploits of a mysterious superhero called, naturally, Daredevil. By day, Daredevil is better known as Matt Murdock. We are first introduced to him as he lies beaten and bloody on the floor of a church, and are told he is blind. We then get a flashback that informs us that his dad used to be a boxer named the Devil (hence Daredevil presumably) and one day young Matt spotted his dad beating up someone in an attempt to get money for a Mob boss he claimed he didn’t work for. Matt runs away shocked, and just happens to get in the way of a forklift, which spins to avoid him and pierces a barrel of toxic waste, which Matt gets in the face.
Waking up in hospital he discovers he is now blind, but somehow his hearing has increased to the point where he can actually “see” a wavery image of objects. We don’t get any explanation of how this has happened. Using this to his advantage he begins to train himself to use all his senses to the full. When his dad is murdered for refusing to take a fall during a boxing match, Matt vows to fight for justice, both legally as a lawyer and illegally as Daredevil.
This bit of the plot was actually very interesting to watch, and it looked like it was going to be quite a good movie, but after the first half hour it went rapidly downhill. Matt grows up to become a lawyer, fighting for those who can’t afford legal representation. He meets and romances Elektra Natchios, who is the daughter of
a billionaire who is the Kingpin’s right hand man – the Kingpin being a shady crime boss. Elektra’s father is murdered; she believes him to have been killed by Daredevil and vows revenge. And that’s pretty much the entire plot.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS: Ben Affleck, who makes the most of a bad character, plays Daredevil. I realise the character is based on the comic book, but felt they could have given him a bit more of a personality. Murdock spends most of the film as a mean and moody character intent on forcing his own view of justice onto people, perfectly happy to kill whenever he feels it necessary. And yet at the same time he goes to church to confess his sins. The two images don’t sit well together, and although at the beginning of the movie I found myself feeling sympathy for the young Matt Murdock (played by Scott Terra who is convincingly pitiful,) by the end I frankly didn’t care anymore. I also found the “love” scenes painful to watch as there is no spark whatsoever between Affleck and Garner and a lot of the time I felt I was just watching two people woodenly reciting the words they’d memorised. A total lack of emotion left me feeling very disappointed with this character.
Elektra Natchios, the female lead, is played by Jennifer Garner and is about as far from a usual comic book female as you can get. Usually they’re quite pathetic and dependent upon the superhero to save them (think Lois Lane, or Mary-Jane from Spiderman.) Elektra however is a feisty, independent character, strangely skilled in various martial arts, which she claims her father made her start learning at age 5. When Murdock first meets her and asks for her name, she decides to make him fight her for it. Slightly odd – who in their right mind would challenge a blind man to a martial art style fight in the middle of a playground? When her father is murdered she immediately vows vengeance and seeks out the killer, complete with ninja weapons. I found her to be a refreshing change from the usual superhero style female, but highly unrealistic all the same, and just as unemotionally portrayed as Affleck’s character, there was no real sign of emotion even when her father was murdered in front of her.
Kingpin is played by Michael Clark Duncan (Marcellus from Pulp Fiction) who fails appallingly in the role. I’ve never read the comic so don’t know for sure, but I’m pretty certain that the Kingpin is meant to be a terrifying figure on a par with the Godfather, a man with a good head for business who doesn’t mind resorting to violence to get his own way and would, in fact, often prefer violence to negotiation. I didn’t get any sense of this from the movie Kingpin however. He seemed more like a big kid playing a game. When he orders the hit on Elektra’s father there’s no sense that he’s doing it for a reason, more that he feels like it might be fun. He doesn’t seem to take anything seriously and is not a menacing character at all. In fact, during his battle scene with Daredevil he gives in almost immediately. In real life, this Kingpin would have been overthrown long ago!
And now the character that it pains me most to criticise, as the role is played by the stunning Colin Farrell, usually an actor of incredible abilities. He plays a hitman named Bullseye, whose only talent appears to be the ability to hit whatever he aims for, whether it be with a dart, a knife or a blind mans cane. Bullseye COULD have been a good character, but instead he has been turned into a two dimensional photocopy of every badly acted, corny movie villain there has ever been. For some unexplainable reason the character has a scar in the pattern of a target on his head and frankly this is the most interesting thing about him. Ok so he had a couple of funny scenes including one on an airplane when he permanently shuts up a gossiping old woman by choking her with a peanut. But the rest of his scenes are clichéd and boring. Definitely more laughable than intimidating.
OTHER CHARACTERS: None of the other characters are really interesting enough to mention. Suffice it to say that the bad guys are very bad, the good guys are very good and that’s really all there is to say about them. None of them have any notable characteristics, and seem to be there just to give the main characters a break occasionally, like Murdock’s best friend whose only line seems to be “as your attorney I advise you to accept / decline” and who doesn’t add anything to the movie apart from a sense of irritation and cliché, being the stereotypical put upon best friend.
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Some not too bad special effects are really the only redeeming feature of the movie. The fight scenes are brilliantly choreographed, especially the scene where Elektra works off her rage over the death of her father by chopping several hanging bags of flour to pieces. The overall feel of the movie was dark and gloomy, (think Batman before it dropped to a PG) which didn’t go too well with the hilarity of characters such as Kingpin and Bullseye.
THE SOUNDTRACK: Some not too bad songs, like the new one by Evanescence, but on the whole the soundtrack was irritating and overdone. Every tiny hint of danger or action brought on a blaring rock song, which half the time was unnecessary and did nothing but distract from what was happening. Could have been a lot subtler and added to the overall darkness of the movie, rather than detracting from it.
OVERALL: Overall, a big thumbs down. Not only is the plot so thin you could step straight through it, there’s been no thought put into the characters or their backgrounds whatsoever. Ok, we know Daredevil’s dad was murdered, but how did he go from that to suddenly becoming a murdering vigilante? How does he jump from a building, plunge hundreds of feet and land on a window cleaner’s platform without breaking his legs? He’s blind, but can make sure all his clothes are perfectly co-ordinated, so why on earth is his hair always such a mess? Why don’t people seem more surprised when he does something a blind man shouldn’t be able to do? For example, after their fighting scene, Elektra asks if he’s really blind. He replies yes, and she just accepts it. Personally, I’d say, “well then how the hell did you do what you did?” Maybe she’s just more willing to accept answers than most. Also, I’m intrigued to know how she can jump tall buildings matrix style, and why exactly her father made her learn martial arts from the age of 5.
The characters are emotionless and wooden, with nowhere near enough background to make them interesting, the plot is unengaging and the acting is over the top and unbelievable. If you’re a die-hard comic fan and want to watch a good comic book adaptation, stick to Batman or Spiderman. Watch this, and you may never want to read a comic book again!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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Hi. Great op. Wasn't to keen on this film myself. The plot was very weak and, like you, I thought the soundtrack was a bit overdone. Take care, love, Stace.x
Dardalius 25.07.2003 11:27
It's a shame, I loved the comic but now we're on a rollarcoaster of pure interpretations, the hulk looks very bad. Great op, thanks
LostWitness 18.07.2003 15:35
I wasn't fantastically impressed with the film but I DID like Bullseye - I thought he was fab - and so sexy too! :O)
Whether or not one likesDaredevilthe movie probably has a lot to do with whether or not ... more
one likesDaredevilthe comic book. To its credit (or, depending upon your perspective, its detriment),Daredevilis one of the most faithful comic-book adaptations to ...
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Whether or not one likesDaredevilthe movie probably has a lot to do with whether or not ... more
one likesDaredevilthe comic book. To its credit (or, depending upon your perspective, its detriment),Daredevilis one of the most faithful comic-book adaptations to ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Ben Affleck is Matt Murdock a.k.a Daredevil. As a young boy he lost his sight in a ... more
chemical accident which left him with his other senses superhumanly enhanced (and some incredible acrobatic skills). Flash forward and Matt is working by day as a pro ...
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Jul 17th, 2003
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