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Daredevil
(Reviewed February 2, 2003)
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BETTER THAN "SPIDER-MAN!" Then again, that's not saying much, considering I was not a big fan of Spidey's disappointing (although amazingly lucrative) movie.
Here is a more meaningful rave: The "Daredevil" movie actually manages to be an improvement on the original Frank Miller comics from which most of the screen story is adapted. With only a few missteps, the movie version gets almost everything that was good about Miller's story right, while eliminating the nutty ninja nonsense and bad plotting that ultimately made Miller's story seem frustratingly silly.
The issues that made up Miller's Elektra arc, during his run as writer/artist on the "Daredevil" comics series in the early 1980s, are very fondly remembered by those of us who bought the comics when they were new and groundbreaking. Sadly, they do not hold up very well at all upon rereading--try it and see, comics fans. (Let's put it this way: Nobody is going to be unhappy that characters such as the blind pool-hustler-cum-ninja-master mentor figure named Stick, and an unkillable giant ninja warrior named Kirigi, and the Kingpin's missing bag-lady wife are nowhere to be found in the movie version.)
Without giving away any surprises or twists, the film's missteps include a minorly annoying and unnecessary tweak to Daredevil's origin, a very cliche (although thematically faithful to the source) wrapup, some glaringly unrealistic CGI shots, and the fact that Jennifer Garner looks about as Greek (in the role of Elektra) as Britney Spears.
On the plus side, fake-looking CGI is nowhere near as omnipresent as the thoroughly cheesy character animations throughout "Spider-Man." There are far more examples here of genuinely cool stunts and well-done wirework, although "guy-jumping-30-feet-in-the-air" scenes do pop up. And even if Garner is not the right nationality for the character she plays, she does a pretty good job in the role. An early "let's-see-what-you've-got" face-off with Daredevil's alter ego Matt Murdock in a playground, just after the characters first meet, is beautifully choreographed. Hey, it's even sexy!
Ben Affleck assays the role of Murdock/Daredevil with a kind of low-key detachment that I liked. At the other end of the scale, Colin Farrell (as the assassin known as Bullseye) is entertainingly, fascinatingly out of his gourd. (He's also newly Irish for this version.) Michael Clarke Duncan somehow manages to be flat-out perfect as the mob boss known as the Kingpin, even though the comics version of the character is white and Duncan is black (purists be damned!). Also, the boy who plays young Matt Murdock is terrific in a role that would have been ruined by a "Hollywood kid." (He saves Daredevil creator Stan Lee's life, too--another great cameo by the father of Marvel Comics!)
Daredevil's "radar sense" that allows him to "see" is very creatively rendered with special effects. The costumes of both Elektra and (especially) DD have been well modified for the movie, looking more like outfits that actual human beings might wear. (In DD's case, a tough, red leather get-up is one heck of a lot more believable than the stretchy red leotard he runs around in in print.) And among the great stunts is one involving DD, Bullseye and a big-ass Triumph motorcycle that is beauty in motion!
This kind of movie is never going to be completely convincing, but "Daredevil" gets high marks for not taking the easy route by playing things tongue-in-cheek or overly campy. Writer/director Mark Steven Johnson takes a premise this is damned hard to swallow--a blind guy with heightened senses kicking ass in a costume--and plays things so straight you'll willingly suspend disbelief and go along for the ride.
Back Row Grade: B+
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