Daredevil
Year: 2003
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell & Jennifer Garner
Runtime: 103 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 11/07/23
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell & Jennifer Garner
Runtime: 103 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 11/07/23
Following the success of Blade and X-Men, this gave multiple studios the greenlight to mass produce superhero films using the licences they had acquired from Marvel in the mid 90’s. One such film was Fox’s Daredevil which had been in the early stages of development since Fox acquired the rights. Following hot on the heels of Sony’s Spider-Man and releasing the same year as Fox’s own highly anticipated X-Men 2, Daredevil had some big expectations to live up to. Unfortunately, the result is somewhat mediocre.
As a child, Matt Murdock (Scott Terra) is accidentally blinded when he has biological waste spilled on him, but despite losing his sight, his other five senses dramatically improved giving him great agility, and the ability to use sound as a sonar-like sense to detect the environment around him.
Now an adult, Matt (Ben Affleck) is a lawyer by day and vigilante by night, dealing out his own personal brand of justice. When his exploits attract the attention of crime lord Wilson ‘The Kingpin’ Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan), Fisk orders the hitman Bullseye (Colin Farrell) to assassinate him. But when Matt falls in love with Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), daughter of Fisk’s lieutenant, the situation becomes far more complicated.
Had daredevil come out around the same time as Blade then I believe that the film would have been perfectly sufficient to receive a warm critical reception. But following up the likes of the truly outstanding efforts of X-Men and Spider-Man, Daredevil feels significantly lacking. Part of this comes down to the indecisive tone. The theatrical cut of the film is rated 12, but it cuts out some of the more graphic content that is present in the Extended Cut which is rated a 15. Had the film been mature rated all along, similar to Blade, I feel as though it likely would have fared much better with critics and at the box-office. Daredevil wants to have its cake and eat it in the sense of it wants to appeal to teenage audiences to rake in more money, but the story is inherently more mature and by cutting out those segments it feels unfinished.
As a child, Matt Murdock (Scott Terra) is accidentally blinded when he has biological waste spilled on him, but despite losing his sight, his other five senses dramatically improved giving him great agility, and the ability to use sound as a sonar-like sense to detect the environment around him.
Now an adult, Matt (Ben Affleck) is a lawyer by day and vigilante by night, dealing out his own personal brand of justice. When his exploits attract the attention of crime lord Wilson ‘The Kingpin’ Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan), Fisk orders the hitman Bullseye (Colin Farrell) to assassinate him. But when Matt falls in love with Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), daughter of Fisk’s lieutenant, the situation becomes far more complicated.
Had daredevil come out around the same time as Blade then I believe that the film would have been perfectly sufficient to receive a warm critical reception. But following up the likes of the truly outstanding efforts of X-Men and Spider-Man, Daredevil feels significantly lacking. Part of this comes down to the indecisive tone. The theatrical cut of the film is rated 12, but it cuts out some of the more graphic content that is present in the Extended Cut which is rated a 15. Had the film been mature rated all along, similar to Blade, I feel as though it likely would have fared much better with critics and at the box-office. Daredevil wants to have its cake and eat it in the sense of it wants to appeal to teenage audiences to rake in more money, but the story is inherently more mature and by cutting out those segments it feels unfinished.
The story itself is cliché and by the numbers, which for a superhero origin story in the early 2000’s is par for the course, but the performances and dialogue often don’t do the film any favours. Garner’s performance is easily the best in the film, and I honestly wish we got to see more of her because considering how important her character is we get to see frighteningly little of her, particularly in the second half.
Affleck is just dry. He’s not exactly bad but I’m wondering if the script didn’t give him much to work with. He doesn’t come off as charming, witty, or charismatic but instead kind of creepy, so it makes it hard to root for him when he talks to women like he’s about to follow them down a dark alley and assault them.
Farrell is a lot of fun in the film, but like Garner he’s not in it very much. It would have been nice to learn a bit more about Bullseye, he very much is a one-dimensional henchmen type but Farrell’s kind of goofy and off the wall portrayal makes him one of the most memorable elements of the film.
CGI is relied on rather heavily, even for a lot of things that don’t need it. So unfortunately, as was the case with early 00’s CGI, a lot of things look a bit off, and because most of the film is set at night it’s really dark. I found it difficult to see a lot of the time. The action is also kind of choppily edited, there’s a couple of good sequences, most notably the final showdown between Daredevil and Kingpin, but overall, you’ll just be seeing quick cuts of not a lot to disguise the bad fight choreography.
Daredevil is just kind of meh. It doesn’t do anything overly bad, but then again it never does anything particularly good. Had this been in hands of better creatives, or even just come out before X-Men and Spider-Man, then I think this would have been seen more favourably. But as it stands it’s just a mediocre and forgettable early 00’s action film.
Affleck is just dry. He’s not exactly bad but I’m wondering if the script didn’t give him much to work with. He doesn’t come off as charming, witty, or charismatic but instead kind of creepy, so it makes it hard to root for him when he talks to women like he’s about to follow them down a dark alley and assault them.
Farrell is a lot of fun in the film, but like Garner he’s not in it very much. It would have been nice to learn a bit more about Bullseye, he very much is a one-dimensional henchmen type but Farrell’s kind of goofy and off the wall portrayal makes him one of the most memorable elements of the film.
CGI is relied on rather heavily, even for a lot of things that don’t need it. So unfortunately, as was the case with early 00’s CGI, a lot of things look a bit off, and because most of the film is set at night it’s really dark. I found it difficult to see a lot of the time. The action is also kind of choppily edited, there’s a couple of good sequences, most notably the final showdown between Daredevil and Kingpin, but overall, you’ll just be seeing quick cuts of not a lot to disguise the bad fight choreography.
Daredevil is just kind of meh. It doesn’t do anything overly bad, but then again it never does anything particularly good. Had this been in hands of better creatives, or even just come out before X-Men and Spider-Man, then I think this would have been seen more favourably. But as it stands it’s just a mediocre and forgettable early 00’s action film.