Review of Daredevil (2003) by Gimly M — 25 Nov 2013

Daredevil gives its absolute best to avoid the cliches of Super Hero films in the past, and aims for the more dark routes of more recent films like The Punisher, The Punisher (2004), Punisher: War Zone, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity and Constantine, but it doesn't necessarily succeed.

Before I go any further, I should state that their is a "Director's Cut" of this film out there in limited release, somewhere on the market. I've never been able to find a copy of this personally. I have how ever heard, that it features something like half an hour of extra footage and that viewers who panned the original will go for the much darker full version. However, given that I've never seen that film, I'll be reviewing the theatrical release, and any advances made in a Director's Cut will not apply in this post. If I do happen to ever come across this longer version, I'll be sure to put in a new review, or at the very least a footnote in this one, complete with a new rating. Bearing that in mind, here goes.

What starts out with a wicked origin story, quickly delves into extreme lameness, Bullseye (above right, portrayed by Collin Farrell; Minority Report, S.W.A.T., In Bruges, Pride and Glory) being its only real saving grace in the latter half of the film. Michael Clark Duncan as Kingpin was kind of a silly, but perhaps could have been brought more forwards, and it would have resulted in a better role. Its main problem rises from the fact that it can't decide weather it has realism credibility or not. I may not have particularly loved Fantastic 4 or its sequel, but at least they knew what they were about.

Basically, Ben Affleck (Chasing Amy, Dogma, Pearl Harbour, Armageddon, Clerks II, The Town) doesn't work as a Super Hero. I know he said he's a huge Marvel fan since childhood, he grew up with Daredevil and read every single issue. Well hey, more power to him, but that doesn't make you the right actor for the job (or for that matter, a good actor at all; personal opinion). Jennifer Garner (Juno, The Kingdom, Elektra, Pear Harbour, Dude Where's My Car, Alias) has the same problem, but to an even greater extreme; how they deemed it necessary to bring her back for her own full feature in Elektra I'll never know.

Daredevil's not strictly speaking terrible, but after the slew of great Marvel films I've been through, I can't really find something about it to really save the film for me.

43%.

-Gimly.