Movie Review by EDF
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Superman, Spiderman and X-Men have one thing in common, they are well known superhero characters. Daredevil is a superhero that most moviegoers might not be familiar with and thus seems to belong in the company of Blade and The Crow. Consequently, DAREDEVIL the movie has more in common with the later than the former in both tone and character.
Matt Murdock, a young boy growing up in New York’s ‘hell kitchen’, stumbles across his father roughing up a client who owes money to his employer, a local mobster. Appalled by this, Matt runs away from the horrid sight but a freak accident where chemicals get into his eyes robs him of his eyesight, but increases his four other senses. Matt’s father goes back being straight and returns to boxing but is murdered by the Kingpin of Crime when he refuses to take a dive.
Matt (Ben Affleck) grows up to be a lawyer who defends the under privileged with Franklin ‘Foggy’ Nelson (Jon Favreau) by day and becomes Daredevil at night, the man without fear. Whenever the courts have failed to bring a man to justice, then Daredevil takes justice into his own hands.
Matt comes across the beautiful Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) who turns out to be more than a physical match for him. Ambassador Nikolaos Natchios (Erick Avari), Elektra’s father, wants to sever all ties with his business partner Wilson Fisk aka New York’s Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). The Kingpin has other means of ending this partnership and despatches Bullseye (Colin Farrell) to take care of business.
One of the things going for this movie is that it visually shows how Daredevil interprets his powers. There is a continuing angst with the character as he questions whether taking violence against the guilty is the right course of action. While the main cast are great, Colin Farrell steals the show as one of the best on screen baddies. The negative side is that at times, no thanks to the soundtrack, you would think you were watching MTV and it is also best not to mention the love scene either. Watch out for cameos from Stan Lee and the great Kevin Smith and don’t leave the cinema as soon as the titles roll or you will miss a little something.
