Daredevil: Directorâs Cut
Itâs hard to believe it now, but Marvel Comics properties being made into big time movies were actually few and far between, that is until the release of the Sam Raimi / Tobey Maguire version of Spiderman in 2001, a film that was such a smash hit that it helped open the floodgates so to speak for the glut of Marvel adaptations which we have now where even the B and C grade characters are getting their own major movie or at least a streaming TV series for all to enjoy. This 2004 release pretty much straddled the timeline between the all out production avalanche that was to come and the carefully calculated period right after Spiderman when it came to deciding who was or wasnât getting a movie of their own. As far as to the level of popularity and name recognition accorded to the character of Daredevil himself, while he certainly wasnât on the level of Batman or Spiderman, he did have a rather rabid cult following amongst comic book fans including filmmaker Kevin Smith (who actually wrote a number of Daredevil comic books and puts in a cameo appearance here) and he can certainly be seen as being one of the âdarkerâ superheroes out there given his backstory and tragic circumstances which led to his coming into existence. Daredevil (a.k.a. Matt Murdock) was the son of a broken down prizefighter (played in the movie by supporting acting stalwart David Keith) whose bad luck not only extended to his being blinded by toxic chemicals that ironically also increased his other four senses greatly, but also when his boxer dad refused to take a dive in what was a critical fight for his career and wound up being beaten to death in the street, leaving his son a blind orphan who nonetheless earned himself a law degree and became (for lack of a better term) a defender of lost causes, representing those who cannot afford the fancy legal mouthpieces normally used for acquittals and even better, fully able to detect whether or not somebody is lying to him by being tuned into the rhythms of their heartrate all while skulking the city streets at night in a red leather costume taking down the worst elements of society (in many cases the same scumbags he had encountered in the courtroom) with his four remaining senses being so acute that taking him down (or even just trying to shoot him) was virtually impossible. Overall, itâs a pretty sweet persona for a superhero to have and with Ben Affleck in the part (a fan of the character who would later swear off playing a superhero ever again before pivoting on that vow and signing on to play Batman), we get a more than adequate A lister playing the character who can at least carry the dramatic weight of the role whenever heâs on camera. But the tone of the film itself is what makes this effort fascinating as director Mark Steven Johnson (also a fan of the character who lobbied for years on end to land the gig) alternates frequently between the dark, somber mood suitable for such a tragic figure with superpowers (reportedly Stan Lee himself disliked the film for being too dark) and the goofy, sometimes over the top âfunâ nature that defined many of the later Marvel universe movies with its anything goes acrobatics (no human being regardless of their level of physical conditioning can achieve some of the athletic feats which we see here), idiot comic relief side characters (namely Jon Favreau who would later be a big part of Iron Man) and grinning A list villains who look like theyâre just having an absolute blast playing evildoers without any real hint of subtlety. For starters, we have Colin Farrell as the maniacal Bullseye (a character whom like in the comics doesnât seem to have any backstory or even a real name) whose specialty is his ability to use almost any object (including paper clips) to score dead on accurate killshots on any unlucky victim for whom heâs either been hired to kill or who just pisses him off enough that heâs decided to sneak in a killshot for his own personal satisfaction. Farrell actually does quite well here, playing a hired assassin who takes great pride in his work and even greater pleasure in the act of killing itself, sporting a large bullseye brand mark on the front of his shaved head and also having a habit of taunting his victims before laying them out with Farrell making the most out of a very colorful yet one dimensional character. But the real villain here is the much celebrated Kingpin, otherwise known as billionaire Wilson Fisk, said to be the one guy who runs all of the organized crime in the city while also (for a time at least) remaining completely anonymous and moving about openly in society as a wealthy and respected citizen. Kingpin is also a guy who has provided opposition for other Marvel heros such as Spiderman and The Punisher, but for this (his first onscreen appearance), special arrangements were made that would see him for the time being only taking on Daredevil in the cinematic world and with that we get Michael Clarke Duncan in the role and while Duncan matches up with the original character in how physically imposing he is, at the end of the day there was some pushback from the comic book fans over an African American in the role since originally Kingpin was white (although he was conceived back in the 1960s as being a black villain before the idea was dropped due to The Civil Rights Movement). Nonetheless, Duncan plays the part with lip smacking relish, believable in the scenes showing Fisk doing business and proving to be a titanic powerhouse when called upon to do battle with Daredevil in the climatic scenes. Even as the role would later be assumed by Vincent DâOnofrio in the more recent incarnations of Marvel characters, Duncanâs performance still holds up pretty well in terms of the larger than life presence that Kingpin is expected to convey. But back to the darkness as we get a tragically ill fated romance between Affleckâs Murdock and Jennifer Garner as Elektra, the daughter of a Greek billionaire in business with Kingpin who herself has spent her entire life in training to do combat with any adversary who poses a threat to her. With Daredevil, she finds her soulmate but only for a short time before her fateful encounter with Bullseye and then the story elements that constituted Garnerâs own tailor made sequel as the Elektra character (with Affleck nowhere to be found) almost seemed like an entirely different mythology. But here, Garner is beautiful, sweet, and impressively holds her own in the combat scenes, most notably an extended playfight between her and Affleck (who would embark into a long term relationship with her after filming) in a playground when they first meet and she is too willful to simply give him her name when asked. A tragic romance subplot plus the overall fairly depressing concept of what is for all intensive purposes a disabled superhero (one must be pretty certain that none of the other Marvel superstars would ever trade places with him plus there can be little doubt that Murdock himself would willingly give up all of his abilities just so he could finally see again) certainly makes for an interesting entry in the comic book movie sweepstakes, here given an impressive epic sweep that was greatly truncated during its theatrical run, having over 30 minutes cut out of the running time which resulted in a less than stellar reception but once everything got restored (including Joe Pantolianoâs full role as an intrepid reporter looking to find out everything about both Kingpin and Daredevil), we actually get a fairly entertaining movie that avoids most of the pitfalls of its chosen genre while succeeding in making its big names come across well enough for the audience to enjoyâŠ
8/10