Daredevil (2003)
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
By day, blind attorney Matt Murdock toils for justice in Hell's Kitchen. By night, he's Daredevil, The Man Without Fear - a powerful, masked vigilante stalking the dark streets with an uncanny "radar sense" that allows him to "see" with superhuman capabilities. But when the love of his life, fiery Elektra Natchios, is targeted by New York City's ruthless Kingpin of crime and his deadly assassin Bullseye, Daredevil may be about to meet his match.
23 connections found
View:
23 films that influenced Daredevil
What critics say influenced Daredevil
‘DAREDEVIL,” the blind hero of this poor man’s “Batman” played by Ben Affleck in autopilot mode and a red leather suit, has had his other senses so heightened he has to sleep in a sensory deprivation tank.
Como especie de respuesta a Batman, de DC Cómics, Marvel saca a la luz a un héroe que igualmente perdió a sus padres cuando chico, de personalidad oscura y cuyo traje característico también tiene un par de cuernos en la cabeza.
He’s more like the various aloof Bruce Waynes of the the Batman franchise than the more human heroes of Spider-Man or X‑Men .
The film's gloriously gloomy visuals and rapid-fire editing are clear indicators that Johnson has carefully studied all the successful superhero films, from Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" on.
Mark Steven Johnson, who also wrote the script, directs crisply but timidly, in a style that could be summed up as "Batman" meets "The Matrix’’ meets "Spider-Man."
Johnson's inspiration is clearly Frank Miller's baroque and bloody Daredevil books of the early 1980s, deconstructionist comics that led to Miller's ominous mid-'80s reinvention of Batman (and subsequently, Tim Burton's Batman movies).
(Anyone annoyed by shortcomings in Spider-Man's special effects can start working out the wording of their angry Internet posts now.)
Unfortunately, Affleck and Garner, the star of TV’s “Alias,” exhibit no chemistry together after this first encounter – even though the film pays homage to “Spider-Man” with a soggy love scene set in the rain.
With the recent comeback success of big screen adaptations of comic books such as "X-Men" and especially "Spider-Man," many are hoping and/or expecting that Affleck's appearance in and as "Daredevil" will take both him and the character to the top of their respective lists.
He’s more like the various aloof Bruce Waynes of the the Batman franchise than the more human heroes of Spider-Man or X‑Men .
Understandably, given the $400 million that "Spider-Man" took in at the box office last summer, the powers that be at Twentieth Century Fox are anticipating "Daredevil" will be an across-the-board smash and the beginning of a franchise.
But on the heels of such successful comic-book adaptations as X-Men and Spider-Man, Johnson's film makes Daredevil look like the second-rate hero he never really was.
It’s a little darker, a little bloodier, and a little more adult than its Marvel Comics-spawned counterparts "Spider-Man" and "X-Men."
"Daredevil" is one of the darker Marvel comics, incorporating a grittier detective persona to the title character, and this may be why it's more of a cult comic than a huge fan-based comic like " Spider-Man " and the " X-Men " books.
Director Johnson (“Simon Birch”) wastes a good cast, including Michael Clarke Duncan as chief baddie Kingpin, who turns out to be about as menacing as the Jolly Green Giant.
Mark Steven Johnson is the writing-directing auteur behind the critically maligned, sappy Simon Birch (a bowdlerization of John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany).
Director Mark Steven Johnson (Simon Birch) uses lots of reflections in this moviemud puddles, glasses to create movies within movies and to emphasize the mirroring of characters of each other.
That aside, the bigger problem is in how writer/director Mark Steven Johnson (director of "Simon Birch," writer of the "Grumpy Old Men" films) has brought the character to the screen.
Daredevil is unquestionably a comic-book movie made for fans by a fan, writer-director Mark Steven Johnson (Simon Birch).
Director Mark Steven Johnson, whose only other movie is the dreadful John Irving adaptation Simon Birch, skips from hero introductions to villains to confrontations without resting for the nuance and get-to-know-these-people moments of a decent second act, or a decent comic.
Advertisement
In a nice introduction to young Matt's new powers, the film evokes Cronenberg's Scanners where psychics are driven mad by the mind noises of others.
Young Matt Murdock (Scott Terra, "Eight Legged Freaks") has a traumatic childhood.
Scott Terra (the kid from Eight Legged Freaks) plays Matt Murdock as a young kid (and, frankly, acts everyone else off the screen), who witnesses his idolised boxer father doing some loan shark work and then has A Nasty Accident with some radioactive waste (as you do) which leaves him blind, but with all his other senses intensely heightened as a result.
Jennifer Garner (of "Alias") plays the martial arts princess Elektra Natchios, Jon Favreau (of "Swingers") is Matt's comic lawyer/sidekick Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Michael Clarke Duncan acts the evil ganglord Wilson Fisk/a.k.a.
Affleck is allowed a few funny asides in between masked scowls his Matt Murdock, thankfully, has a personality while Jon Favreau ("Swingers") delivers a punch line every time he opens his mouth as Murdock's fellow lawyer.
The same fate befalls Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Scorpion King," "The Planet of the Apes") as the hulking Kingpin, while Jon Favreau ("Made," "The Replacements") and Joe Pantoliano ("Memento," TV's "The Sopranos") don't get much of an opportunity to do much with their characters (although the former is occasionally decent in his comic relief parts).
Playing Murdock's lifelong friend and partner Foggy, Favreau 's ( Made ) role here is the most low-key of the bunch but he delivers some comic relief with some really funny lines.
Advertisement
Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck) is blinded as a child after witnessing his dad (David Keith) playing the enforcer for a local On the Waterfront Johnny Friendly--the double-tragedy (one moral, one physical) transforms the kid into a crusader for justice with a killer sense of hearing and touch subbing for his allegorical disability.
Stan Lee, the creator of most every classic character under the Marvel Comics imprint, shows up for a brief moment, as does Kevin Smith, director of Clerks and Dogma.
There are some fun in-jokes, including appearances from Marvel's Stan Lee and onetime Daredevil writer Kevin (Chasing Amy and Dogma) Smith.
It is unfortunate that Affleck, a gifted actor who, except for a few occasions (like Chasing Amy, Dogma , and Shakespeare In Love ), has been unable to find a role equal to his talent, should be upstaged by his villains, but thats exactly what happens here.