Daredevil DVD > Reviews > Fallen Devil

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Disliked it
Story	Very ordinary
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Garner, Has its moments
Disadvantages:	its moments come few and far between

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Matt Murdock's life was defined by his boxing father, but when he was blinded by an accident involving radioactive waste his life was thrown into a spiral of pain and discovery. Because his sight has been stolen, his other senses become ultra refined; allowing his to achieve perfect awareness of his body and fine tuning his fighting abilities. When his father is killed unjustly, Murdock gets the need for revenge - becoming a lawyer and making criminals pay, whatever the cost. These unconventional methods give him a reputation as a villain by the local press. When he falls in love with a young daughter of an extremely rich businessman, and said father is killed, she instantly suspects him of being the murderer. Elektra who was brought up a warrior and has the abilities of a super hero herself and goes after Daredevil for revenge. Meanwhile the Kingpin -a hugely influential gangster- watches over the crime and punishment, meddling himself - with disastrous consequences.

Daredevil is a brave Hollywood comic-book hero movie; its darker and more adult than many of the others and wrestles with themes that a lot of action movies would shy away from, its fight scenes are gritty and realistic and the eventual outcome is moving in a glossy, overly sentimental way. But its just doesn't feel right. Its doesn't feel like a cinematic event, it doesn't have the grace or style of a Hollywood blockbuster and lacks the depth needed to truly engage an audience. Sadly the film is crippled by uneven pacing, it takes a very long time to get anywhere, and once it does it zooms to the finishing line without a moments contemplation or thought. For all its banging and clattering it offers very few thrills; because the action is so dreadfully paced that the audience has no idea what is going on and it lacks any emotional consequence.It also doesn't help that no-one on the cast are convincing as warriors -apart from the naturally athletic Garner- Affleck looks unconvincing and stilted and Farrell looks ridiculous doing wire work.Daredevil isn't weighted in any type of realism so it flees of the rails with reckless fantasy abandonment, feeling very much like a roller coaster that's going out of control. I agree that a comic book movie doesn't have to be realistic, but the crew try and put this character is a real place -New York City- and the mix of rampant escapism and such familiar images of The Big Apple constantly seem at odds.

Daredevil does have its nice moments. Most of them include the vibrant and beautiful Jennifer Garner- but I will come to her later-. Unlike many I quite enjoyed the central romance, it doesn't require too much investment but is still emotional enough to make an impact, both the romantic leads are believable as a couple and the script captures some beautiful moments. The most romantic sequence arises when Elektra takes the blind assassin up onto the roof, where it rains and the vibrations of said rain drops allow him to see her for the first time -it sounds corny here, but in the context of the film its quite sweet.-I am not a comic book reader but I used to enjoy the Elektra comics and she is not represented well here; where she should be dark and seductive she is soft and unthreatening. It isn't until her fathers death that the character really flourishes. Happily the romance doesn't lead to a predictable path and it resolution opens the film up for a unordinary finale. Daredevil also has its emotional scenes, namely the funeral of Elektra's father, where it rains again, but this time she holds up an umbrella so that Matt cant see her through the shimmering downpour. -couple this with Evanescence's My Immortal and some moody camera work and you have a surprisingly emotional hit.- Yes, Daredevil does have its moment of cinematic presence but they come few and far between.

Mark Steven Johnson has directed a film that should have been a television series, his creation just doesn't have the vision of a feature length film and its transition from comic book to fully fledged action movie feels forced and stretched. It takes on an episodic feel that stilts the flow of the production, its dreadfully self conscious and the river of sentiment that gushes out at the end drowns everything in sight. Johnson obviously has some interesting things to say about being a hero and learning that revenge is not the way to happiness, but for every interesting aspect of the movie is ten that aren't. It tries to cram too much into a relatively short running time - and as a consequence suffers from being too loud, too busy and far too hectic. Again this crippling pacing ruins the many fight scenes; they are constructed like a rock music video, there's plenty of flash and bang, but the ridiculously choppy editing, intrusive music and mediocre CGI suck away any dramatic tension that could of occurred. The final fight -between Daredevil and the Kingpin- is so anti-climactic as to be laughable, its clunky when it should be slick and the eventual victory comes way too easy. The final scene -which sees Affleck ponder about his faith and other rubbish- feels fake and lacks the intelligence to make you care.

Jennifer Garner is a wonderful actress; strikingly beautiful with her high cheekbones, moon pale skin and plum, thick lips she looks good enough to eat - she can also act her socks off. I would say that here she is the biggest highlight she's engaging and confident, remarkably capable of dealing with the action sequences and a charming romantic lead with an understanding of her character and she displays great presence. Garner injects a lot of emotion into her character; but it is in the second act the she and her onscreen persona flourishes in a mad search for revenge. Here, Garner shows off her moves -which are extremely impressive- with a sequence that sees her using her sais to devastating effect. In the above mentioned funeral scene she reaches a level of poignancy that the script shouldn't allow - with her understated but wrenchingly portrayal of a woman losing everything she ever wanted. I believe that she could become one of Hollywood's foremost action actresses; she's intelligent, talented and sexy. The best performances of the piece; proving that she deserves her place in the Hollywood A list. In contrast Ben Affleck pales, he's dull, unemotive and the least impressive action hero in recent memory.

I personally didn't enjoy either the characterisation or performances of any of the villains. Colin Farrell turns up as Bullseye; a deadly assassin whose ability to aim is paralleled only by his viciousness. It's a campy larger than life character and Farrell does take it up with relish, he shouts and chomps the scenery with a scary vigour; showing no subtlety, talent or humanity in the process. His character is extremely one dimensional Michael Clarke Duncan fares better, but his uninspiring character loads him with excess baggage that he cant get rid of. However, he is regal and domineering and looks fully capable of beating the hell out of anyone who may come his way.

CGI, what can you say about the thing that has single handily brought the modern action film to its knees? Sure, when its at its best it makes impossible things look possible and enhances the overall effect of a film, but when its done badly it renders actors weightless; flying through the air with zero believability and sucks the credibility out of a production. However, most of the ascetics do look great, it takes on a dark Manhattan sensibility and the photography is impressive. The colour palette consists mainly of dark blues, reds and deep black, which gives the whole thing a mature/adult feeling. Daredevil's soundtrack is what really sets it apart from more the rest; it's a soft rock extraordinaire mix of angst and anger, with loud vocals, banging guitar riffs and thoughtful lyrics. It really enhances the whole film.

Overall Daredevil is a distinct disappointment, it lacks anything to make it unique, and the things that are different simply don't work. Jennifer Garner is amazing as Elektra and the central romance has some sparkling moments, but the whole thing fall flat under dodgy pacing, uninspired visuals and bad story telling.

Amazon.co.uk £9.99 ASIN: B00006LA7V