Daredevil - Movie

Ok let me just start by letting all of you faithful readers know that I am big fan of superhero films, and the such. I did own comic books when I was small, but not of Daredevil, so let me try and give all of you who are big fans of "The Man Without Fear" some justice. Daredevil just like any superhero has a history of how he came to be. Matt Murdock resides in the heart of Hells Kitchen where crime is an everyday practicality. Matt Murdock is son to one of the greatest prizefighters Jack "The Devil" Murdock, who also works for a crime Lord in Hell's Kitchen. (Quick movie fact: This was filmed in New York and California. ) When things seem to turn for the better, they don't. Matt Murdock is dealt by fates hand, a tragic accident that will forever change his entire life. After being blinded by radioactive waste, his other four senses have been enhanced beyond superhuman sharpness. Still as a young kid Matt grows to appreciate the gift or curse that was given to him. Let me pause here for a second and begin to try to describe how the makers of this movie created the world from Matt Murdock's view. The filmmakers call this world "Shadow World." You see Matt Murdock's remaining senses are so acutely refined beyond any imagination, that his sense of smell, taste, touch, and sound causes him see the world around him in a different way. His enhanced hearing acts as a radar giving off sound waves creating pictures around his environment. So the more sound waves that are created, the better he can see. Life continues on in the Murdock house, but yet again when things begin to get better they just get worse. Now I can continue on, but I would rather let you experience everything at the theatre, and not spoil anything.

I give much credit to the makers and players of Daredevil for trying to remain as true to the original story as possible. Daredevil is directed and written by Mark Steven Johnson, writer and director of Simon Birch. He has also written screenplays such as Grumpy Old Men, Jack Frost, and Grumpier Old Men. The Movie stars Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Jennifer Gardner as Elektra Natchios, Collin Farrell as Bullseye, Michael Clarke Duncan as The Kingpin, Jon Favreau as Foggy Nelson, and Joe Pantoliano as Ben Urich. In a recent interview on the movie set Ben Affleck talked about reading the comic book Daredevil as a young kid. That is what really impressed director Mark Johnson with Ben, and immediately asked Ben to come and try the role as Matt Murdock. I personally could not picture anyone but Jennifer Gardner as the role of Elektra Natchios. She is quite frankly the HOTTEST chick in Hollywood right now. Now you may disagree, but if you do then that's your opinion. Anyways, you are probably asking yourself how Elektra Natchios plays into this entire thing. Well she is obviously Matt's love interest in the film, but she also plays a crucial role in this movie that really twists things around in the story. And she is obviously HOT!!

There are a few things about this movie that I did not feel comfortable with. One of those things were the fighting sequences, another was the dialogue. They both need some massive improvement if they plan to make a sequel. The fighting sequences seemed too fake by the slow movements of the characters, and you could obviously tell they were wired. The dialogue between Matt and Elektra just got annoying after awhile, and it just went beyond cheesy at one point. Some of the things that Collin Ferrell did after whoopin g someone were just way too funny to be serious, I mean I really tried hard to look passed his original accent but I am so used to hearing him speak regular American English. One thing I did like was the special effects. They really did an astonishing job in putting together this unique style of Daredevil's world. The plot was obviously very strong considering the makers did the best they could to try and stay true to the original story. If Stan Lee was really happy with the outcome, then I believe that everyone else should be satisfied with the plot and storyline. There is also one thing that I am still a little ticked off about these superhero films. I believe that the only superhero film that gave some insight on how the main heroes developed themselves to become such master fighting experts was X-Men. Even then, X-men did not provide such grave insight in their training and development. Spiderman and Daredevil just jumped about 10 to 15 years ahead and started jacking people up. I want character development such as The Matrix. Training and development is key in movies such as these, because then we can relate and understand how the character struggles and succeeds through his trials. I wish these movies had more of this type of character development. One thing that I did like about this movie is how the makers incorporated Daredevil always turning to the Catholic church when he had nowhere else to go. I thought it was pretty funny to see a character named DareDEVIL hang on to the Cross and talk to a priest for guidance. Total running time for this film is one hour and forty two minutes, and it is rated PG-13.

I really enjoyed this film and think that everyone should give Daredevil a chance. I believe Ben Affleck does a good job performing as Daredevil and also think some of the cinematography; special effects and technical aspects of the film are worth watching if anything. And Jennifer Gardner is HOT!! I give this film 3.5 pretzels out of five!

Peace Out! -Panama

Additional Screenshots

Feb 14, 2003 - 12:00 am | 2 comments
Marco Ortega