Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
I’m glad people seem to be enjoying DAREDEVIL for the most part. There’s a few people here with gripes, and it’s certainly not some sort of supermegamasterpiece. It’s a film by a fan for fans, and it seems to have a really clean, focused sense of itself that people are responding to. Check out this first letter today from “C.S. Sterling”...
Harry,
Early word on Daredevil has been quite positive and although it is not as good as what has been said, Daredevil is a solid if not very good film. A few things hold it back from being possibly the best comic book movie ever. The worst thing about this movie is that it’s too short. The best thing is it doesn’t lose anything along the way.
Several things about comic book and many event movies that bothers me is the need to put a 3 or 4 minute (sometimes longer) opening credits sequence. Whether it be stars names flying through the sky, emerging from spider webs, traveling through the outline of the bat symbol, or in the case of Daredevil appearing out of buildings in a New York skyline, it is an incredible waste of time. Two days before seeing Daredevil I had a conversation with a friend about this very thing. We were talking about a project we were working on and how we wanted to just start the movie and skip the waste of running time opening credits sequence.
The other thing I have had a problem with in the last two comic book films ( X-Men and Spiderman) is that they have excellent first halves and sort of let downs in their conclusions. With Daredevil, from start to finish the movie never lets up.
We start with Daredevil sitting atop a church looking down upon the city from behind a stone cross. We then see him drop into the church where he appears to be injured. From there we go to the very effective flashback to his origin. The origin scenes are very good especially the relationship between father and son. That is the real strength of this film: the relation ships between the characters. We feel how much the father and son care for one another. Here we are also introduced into Matt’s World. That is, of course, how he is able to sort of see things without sight. It is very much like Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia and Memento. In each of those films you are able to feel the afflictions of the lead characters and Mark Steven Johnson has achieved that same sense here and it is used very well throughout the film.
Where the relationships may be the strength the film’s core is Matt Murdock. The story is completely about who he is and what it is like to live his life. We see his the pain he has and does endure (especially in scenes where he removes his costume to reveal a plethora of scars on his back and in the shower where he removes a tooth) and how truly alone he is in the world (especially in the way he must sleep). There doesn’t seem to be a duel identity here either. Matt Murdock and Daredevil are the same person. Where it seems as though most superheroes have to be their alter egos Matt is Daredevil. I say this because he constantly does things in this story that you would never see other super heroes do. He makes real human choices. The most obvious examples you will see are in the subway station scene and the rooftop scene with Elektra and Matt.
Elektra herself is both one the best things in this movie and unfortunately one of the weakest pieces. Jennifer Garner is very good in the role but there feels as if there are scenes missing with her character. Scenes that would give us more insight into who she really is. We learn right off the bat that she is an equal to Matt and worth his time so to speak. They have a very physical yet playful exchange in a park. This scene may be very important to their relationship but it is, however, the most ridiculous scene in the film. Shortly after this exchange Matt asks her how she learned to fight and she explains that her father had her study with many different senseis over the years. Matt then jokingly asks if her father wanted to be some kind of warrior and she seems to be holding something back in her answer. It was disappointing that this was never addressed again.
Another problem with the Elektra part of the story is that the love she and Matt are developing seems as if it takes place over a week. They meet, they go on one date and spend one night together, they meet each other at a ball and then we have the climactic battle with Bullseye. Bullseye comes into play after the ball where he murders a family member of Elektra’s, which injects an incredible need for revenge into her. We then see her training for this revenge.
This is perhaps the first super hero film where the bad guy is not a centerpiece in the story. Bullseye is a hired assassin and that’s it. He’s a bit crazy and Colin Farrell nails the role as it is presented. Bullseye is hired by Kingpin to do a job and becomes obsessed with Daredevil after he makes him miss. Bullseye never misses. There is no over the top master plan for the bad guy in this film.
Kingpin’s plan is simple: keep business operating. He isn’t crazy. He doesn’t want to kill everyone. He is a crooked businessman who runs the crime in New York City’s underworld and doesn’t wish to put that in jeopardy. Kingpin is smart where Bullseye is maniacal. The match is perfect and very well done. Michael Clarke Duncan may have his best performance to date here.
Where most science fiction and comic book adventure films seem fantastical this film feels very real and human. The performances in this film are all quite good (Jon Favreau is entertaining in the comic relief role of Foggy Nelson) and hold it together. This story is about people and not events. What holds it back is the underdevelopment and lack of information about Elektra. I believe with about ten minutes or so more of character and story development this film would have soared from very good to great.
There’s an entire subplot missing from the film involving Coolio, and when I had a brief e-mail exchange earlier this week with a columnist who liked the movie a lot less than I am, he fairly pointed out that the film feels like it has gaps in it. At 103 minutes, it hustles. Still, I like that it’s lean and doesn’t give in to the bloat of the Schumacher Batman films, for example. Here’s what Frank Nixon had to say about it:
I’m a professional film critic and, in my spare time, something of a comic aficionado so I approached Daredevil with a certain degree of trepidation. Affleck has, more often than not, left me unimpressed as an actor and I was hardly expecting cinematic greatness from the master Auteur who gave us Simon Birch.
Having said all that and having approached the film with staggeringly low expectations I was, it must be said, pleasantly surprised. Though no masterpiece Daredevil is a zippy enough action flick enriched by a staggering degree of fidelity to its original source material. Indeed, I can’t really recall ever seeing a comic strip adaptation which lifted so much of it’s content direct from the original source. In essence Daredevil the movie plays like a rapid fire compilation of Frank Miller’s influential take on the character. Indeed that may be its greatest flaw. Too much information has been concertinaed into too small a film and many intriguing elements remain underexplored. As such we see precious little of Elektra, and the Kingpin is more or less relegated to the sidelines for most of the film.
As for the cast themselves. Affleck, though perhaps a little too stiff for the role certainly captures the moral turmoil of Matt Murdoch and Michael Clarke Duncan’s Kingpin is suitably malevolent. Garner and Pantiliano acquit themselves well. Ultimately however it’s Colin Farrel who steals the show. His Bullsye is a truly glorious creation, a snarling sociopath with an enviable sense of style.
Johnson’s film is tightly scripted (despite the need to cram in a fair bit of origin story exposition) but his direction isn’t quite so fluid and there are some awkward segues between scenes. Still, credit where it’s due Johnson does manage a neat balance between pulpy histrionics and mythic moral quandary.
Certainly Daredevil is infinitely superior to the likes of Judge Dredd or Batman and Robin but it’s hard to shake the suspicion that a much better movie is desperately trying to emerge. The film constantly seems to be on the verge of achieving greatness but never quite succeeds. That probably sounds a little harsher than it should. As it stands I’d give it a 7 out of 10.
Nice. Incredibly fair review. This is a quick shot from Karen Page, appropriate since her character just has a one-scene appearance in the film. Here’s hoping we see more of her next time...
Hi Harry!
This is my first time e-mailing you. But I feel compelled to chime in with the Daredevil kudos... I saw the movie last night, and I loved it. I've been in love with Daredevil ever since I first started reading the comic in junior high, about the same time I started having impure thoughts about guys (yes, I'm a girl who reads comic books!) And I was SO bummed when I heard they'd cast Ben Affleck in the lead for the movie... but I have to agree with Dr. Hfuhruhurr: Ben more than acquits himself in the role. I fell in love with Matt Murdock all over again! The movie is completely true to the character, and adds to our understanding of his world - especially with the visual representation of Matt's sonar hearing. Jennifer Garner is gorgeous AND kicks ass, but as a fan of Alias, I knew she would. Anyway, your reviewers have done a good job of reviewing the movie, so I don't need to rehash it--I just had to write in and urge everyone who has even the vaguest smidgen of interest in Daredevil, or comic books, or action flicks, to go see it!! I can't wait to see it again... and again...
This next guy was so annoyed by the entire film that he chose to write me about the new X-MEN 2 trailer playing in front of it instead:
Harry,
Thought Daredevil was terrible, annoyingly, but I thought the X-Men II trailer was brilliant. I'll try and remember the best bits:
It begins with Rogue and Iceman at his home. Really funny line from his Mum: "can you try not being a mutant?" and then he touches her cup of coffee and it turns to a block of ice. A nice way of showing that regular people still get scared by the X-Men.
I remember there being a really cool thing that I like where all the names of the characers come up and then you see each of the characters. Cyclops looks great in his new trendier shades and Jean Grey has a nice new hairdo. Not much Halle Berry, though?
Alan Cumming's accent sounded a but dubious, but it could fit in with the way the trailer seemed to emphasise some laughs. There is another funny bit where a young girl sticks her tongue out at a boy and he returns the favour with a forked tongue.
You see Pyro blowing some stuff up and then Magneto telling him not to show off, which gives you a sense that Pyro will turn bad. Some good stuff of Wolverine too and the climax is a fight between Wolverine and Deathstrike, where you hear Stryker saying something like "you thought you were the only one". Then you see Kelly Hu with these silver talons jumping at Logan to kick some serious shit and they get into a cool fight.
Also, a nice bit between Stryker and Xavier, where Xavier is wearing the thought machine thing and Stryker is telling him that he is the only one that can find all the mutants, suggesting that Stryker is forcing Charles to give up all of his protegees.
You don't see much of the attack on the school.
All in all, though, a really cool trailer, sorry I have been so haphazard with my description, but it was from memory. I think we've got something great with that movie and a really good progression from the first one.
As for Daredevil, well, for fuck's sake - yes, Affleck's and Garner and Favs are good and Farrell is hilarious: "I want a bloody costume!", but the film is garbage. Electra, Kingpin, get nothing to do and nothing ACTUALLY happens in the entire film, you know, like when you saw Batman Returns, that's what it reminded me of, you walk out having seen nothing.
Call me Irving.
I don’t know what you can say to a response like that. If he didn’t see the point in anything the characters did, I’m sure he didn’t enjoy the film. I’m personally worried that the marketing of the film might sell the wrong film. It’s smaller and more personal than the movie the TV spots suggest. Still, people like this next reader are reacting once they actually see the film:
Hey Harry
Like Night Hawk, I too was at Leicester Square's media preview of Daredevil. I can't say that I'm a big fan of Affleck and I had low hopes for such a big name in a film about a such a relatively unknown superhero. But, it works.
I'll keep this vague, since this is a film that'll work best when you don't know every single minor detail.
DD takes itself completely seriously from the start and simply assumes that costumed vigilantes are, if not the norm, no big deal for the residents of Hell's Kitchen. Explaining DD's back history through a flashback is a neat touch and it's dealt with pretty swiftly, leaping back into the main story at the first opportunity. The film wastes very little time too - I can't recall a moment that didn't at least nudge the plot along and there are certainly (at least in my opinion) no points where it drags.
Affleck is pretty convincing as Murdoch, although I can't deny it takes a little while to accept him in the role. He keeps it low key though, and that really helps. Garner is also excellent and while she's not quite exotic enough for Elektra for my liking, she's certainly striking and holds her own in the action scenes. Speaking of which, these are handled surprisingly well by Johnson and they're much better than the trailers would lead you to believe. Some of the wire work is a little suspect (particularly with the climactic fight between DD and Kingpin) but there's obvious look-alike stuntwork and the CG is, on the whole, convincing. Farrell also delivers a great performance and yes, he's very funny - this is a film with some laugh out loud moments. Duncan also manages to be surprisingly menacing too, although considering that he's the major villain, he's underused and I didn't really get the impression that he was a big bad mofo, just a mafia boss. Favreau is spot-on as Foggy but again, a little wasted.
There are plenty of fan boy moments in the film (I'll leave you to spot them) and only one, stand out stupid line of dialogue - "Braille...". You'll see what I mean. The film does come across as a little short and the development of the Murdoch/Elektra relationship seems a little rushed. Elektra seems to go from being interested in Murdoch to wanting to bear his children in the space of a few minutes and a bit more time lingering on their relationship would have helped. Not a big deal though.
It surprises me to say it but I enjoyed this film more than Spiderman, largely because of the lack of hype and expectation (at least on my part) but I think also perhaps that it isn't really an 'event' movie, just a well-crafted, well-acted movie that just happens to be about a blind vigilante in a skin tight leather suit...
And finally, X-Men 2. This looks the business and I'm pleased to report that Colossus does steel himself up for some action... Nuff said.
Call me Kenneth
Finally, if you want to spoil even more of the film for yourself, STAX has the solution:
Video Feature: Scenes from Daredevil
Check out these exclusive clips from the new film!
February 07, 2003 - IGN FilmForce has acquired ten minutes worth of exclusive footage from the new Daredevil movie! We have five scenes for you today with more on the way next week. Each clip can be viewed via QuickTime. Be sure to return Monday for another exclusive sneak peek at The Man Without Fear's big-screen debut!
CLICK HERE TO TAKE A GANDER!!
Thanks, everyone, and I guess next Friday should be interesting as all of you see it and start to react as well.
"Moriarty" out.
