Hollywood’s latest obsession with adapting popular comic books into movies has materialized once again in the recent release of Daredevil. Daredevil is the story of Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck), a good hearted lawyer who was blinded by a chemical accident as a child, but gained senses so keen that he is able to perform superhuman feats. After mobsters kill his father, young Matt vows to avenge the innocent and grows up to don a red suit and search New York City for evil doers. He then meets Elektra (Jennifer Garner), the daughter of a billionaire mogul, whose toughness and beauty make Matt reconsider his lifestyle. His nemesis is Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan), who apparently controls all the crime in New York; and his accomplice Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who uses random objects from paperclips to peanuts to kill people.
Daredevil’s strong point is its visual effects. The audience is given a demonstration of how taps on pipes and raindrops become sound waves that illustrate objects that Matt can hear just as well as see. There is an abundance of amazingly choreographed fight scenes, the highlight of which is Elektra brandishing knives, karate kicks, and generally being a kick-ass chick that every action movie should be legally required to have. Kudos also to the Gothic scenery, complete with constant rainstorms and grand cathedrals. Daredevil’s rock soundtrack illustrates its intensity, especially Evanescence’s haunting “Bring Me to Life” played as the vengeful heroine trains for her big fight scene.
Daredevil’s has amazing visuals, but everything else is weak. The plot’s focus on the love story between Matt and Elektra gives little time to anything else. There is an astounding lack of decent dialogue, except for Matt’s final words to a bad guy (“That’s not heaven; that’s the C train”), which is amusing in its viciousness. The atmosphere, the costuming, and the action scenes borrow heavily from both Batman and The Crow, but cannot seem to hold their own in this film.
Daredevil’s most disappointing feature is that its characters are completely two dimensional, but have the potential to be complex and interesting. Matt is a vigilante killer who murders for his own guilty pleasure, an intriguing character development that gets lost in the din of cinematic popcorn. For the first half of the film, Elektra is just another damsel in distress and the scenes where she is a hero are short to the point where they seem redundant. The only skilled acting is done by Farrell, who portrays Bullseye as a creepy, but almost cuddly psychopath. Unfortunately, this great character is given little screen time. The main bad guy Kingpin just stands around and laughs in a sinister manner; doing little justice to the character, the actor, and the audience.
Daredevil tries to be a good superhero movie like all of its predecessors, but considerably falls short. Its special effects are amazing, but there is the potential for this to be a more complex movie than it is. This should be an indication that Hollywood should adapt comic books to be more than just big budget effects, hunky actors as heroes, and serious actors as snickering bad guys.