Daredevil Review
by Ishmael Williams

Like many kids, as I was growing up, I read comics. My favorites were Superman, Spider-man, Batman and Daredevil. As an adult, I've had time to reflect on the seeming dichotomy of my choices.

It seems to me that Superman and Spider-man were the penultimate examples of the boy next door. Clean and sober, they worked hard and always fought on the side of good. There was always a line they wouldn't cross, and though sometimes misunderstood, the reader we where always sure on which side of the law they stood.

On the other end of the spectrum existed Batman and Daredevil. Dark and brooding, they operated at night and in shadows, using secrecy and mystery to their greatest advantages.

The movie Daredevil strives to capture the darkness of the world in which the hero operates. He fights crime only at night, using the shadows and alleys of New York's Hell's Kitchen to even the playing field, and indeed give himself the advantage. Daredevil is driven to help others, and we are never sure on which side of the law he actually stands.

Ben Affleck plays the title role, and does a good job separating the personas of the two men. I liked his Matt Murdock, who by day seems playful and a lot lighter than his alter ego. At night, donning the costume of the man without fear, he changes, becomes moodier and more brooding. For me, I'd never made that separation when reading the comics, and seeing it brought to life gave a little more depth and complexity to the night time hero, and the daytime lawyer.

Jennifer Garner, the star of the TV series Alias, plays the role of Elektra, perhaps the one great love of Daredevil's life, if I remember the comics correctly. I liked the job Garner did, but I will confess that my memories of Elektra from the comics is sketchy. But I liked the chemistry between her and Affleck, and thought they brought s shiny new-ness to the love story angle of the piece.

Michael Clarke Duncan was wonderful as the crimelord Kingpin, whom I've always felt was Daredevil's greatest recurring villain. The struggle for one to control New York and the other to liberate the Big Apple are pretty much legendary, and Duncan captures a good essence of the Kingpin from earlier comics. Later, he becomes much more brooding and obsessive about bringing Daredevil down, but this is obviously an earlier meeting, when the Kingpin is feeling more invulnerable and trading on the fear he deals out. Duncan had a certain amount of whimsy in his portrayal, and I enjoyed seeing that.

I can't leave off touching on the characters without mentioning Bullseye, played by Colin Farrell, who definitely crossed the line into psychotic. A hired killer, he too brought the obsessiveness of a character to life on the screen. All I could say when all was done is "He's got issues!".

I liked this one, it should be obvious by now, because they didn't destroy a character I've loved since my childhood. There were small tinkerings, not in the basic story of Matt Murdock, but rather in the skills of Daredevil. The movie makers forgot a good rule of this kind of flick - not everything has to be explained as to how it works, if you simply allow the characters to live with it, accept it as normal. Certain explanations on how Daredevil does what he does were unnecessary, but obviously someone felt that we the audience wouldn't believe what we were seeing without something on which we could hook our belief. This says to me that the makers of the movie didn't believe it either. Too bad.

Truth be told, the love story was rushed. We moved very quickly from a first meeting to totally in love. Now I'm not a cynic, and actually do believe love at first sight is possible (anyone else see the irony?). But we weren't treated to seeing more of the relationship develop, and it all moves too quickly for my taste. In the end, I take on faith and memory how much they love each other. But it takes a fan of the comic to know this, and this is a mass market release movie.

For an action film, there was a lot of focus on developing the characters. This was good, but the movie slowed a lot as a result. For a character film, there was maybe a little too much crammed in. There were 5 main characters, and at least 2 major supporting characters, and this was not an ensemble cast. Elektra suffers, Bullseye suffers and ultimately Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, suffers. Daredevil \ Matt Murdock come across fairly well formed, as does Franklin Nelson, Matt's best friend. Elektra fares only okay.

But for me there were many plusses. We get to see what the world looks like from Daredevil's point of view. We get to see the beginning of what ultimately should be a titanic struggle between the hero and the great villain. The history of Daredevil and Matt Murdock is well represented. The battle of the light (daytime scenes are brightly lit) against the dark (Daredevil fights and appears only at night) was presented well for me. I've seen worse introductory stories, and if this could be the beginning of a franchise I would be all for it. Because there is one thing the makers didn't miss.

Daredevil is fearless. He has a reason for being so. The Kingpin, and Bullseye, are also fearless. They have different reasons for being so. Historically, many of DD's opponents have also been without the kind o fear that encourages most people to walk on the side of the law. Thus, this tale, hopefully it will be more than one, becomes about how people who have nothing to fear and who aspire to different goals, deal with each other. Handle each other. And fight one another. I got that in this movie, and it is this essence of Daredevil that in the end was captured for me.

I give it three beakers, and the highest compliment i can pay any movie. Not only would I see it again, I would see it a full price.

Daredevil

Three Beakers
(out of five)

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