Daredevil Review:


Synopsis

Ben Affleck plays blind Hell's Kitchen lawyer Matt Murdock. After losing his sight in a freak accident during childhood, his remaining senses function with superhuman sharpness. With the memory of seeing his prizefighter father killed at young age, Murdock has decided to fight against crime day and night, inside and outside the law. He dwells in a world of eternal darkness but his blackness is filled with sounds and scents, tastes and textures that most cannot perceive.

By day, Murdock represents downtrodden citizens - at night, he is Daredevil, a masked defender of good wandering the dark streets of the city, swooping through the air and bouncing off the walls of his playground, the streets of New York. A chance meeting in a coffee shop brings the beautiful Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) into Murdock's life. He senses her beauty and perseveres to find out more about her in a bid to win her heart. Elektra too has a double identity. Her martial arts skills are put to good use as she too takes to the streets at night on her quest to rid the city of evil.

Murdock's nemesis is the powerful gang-lord Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) who, with the help of hired assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell), aims to unmask the mysterious hero. This indestructible team intend to destroy Daredevil and anybody else who gets in their way.

Critique

Daredevil was yet another action blockbuster adapted from a popular comic book series. The studio took the risk of hiring the vastly inexperienced Mark Steven Johnson as the film's writer/director and gave the production a sizeable budget. While Johnson laboured away to bring his Daredevil project to the big-screen, Director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man hit cinemas and posted recording-breaking grosses - the confidence levels of the money men that controlled Daredevil rose as a result and they increased the budget to almost $80 million.

Like Raimi, Johnson had a deep love for his title character and had been an avid reader of comic books for a long time - if anything, this admirable passion made him an interesting choice as director. Ben Affleck signed on to play Matt Murdock - blind lawyer by day, justice-seeking vigilante at night - while Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan and Colin Farrell completed the principal cast. Released in February 2003, the film took in close to $100 million at the US box office alone, but this was seen as fairly disappointing given the large budget and Spider-Man's $400 million domestic gross.

The film opens with a mysterious scene from later in the film showing Daredevil in serious trouble, before skipping back to give viewers an origins story. Johnson's dealing with the backstory of Matt Murdock and his powers seems very rushed, although the cinematography is certainly striking. Once our lead character discovers that he has special gifts, we expect to see him experiment with them and deal with their consequences - instead, the narrative skips over them quickly and jumps forward to Murdock's adult life, leaving the audience unsatisfied and the origins tale largely untold.

It is after this point that the film really starts, with Murdock playing his double role as Hell's Kitchen lawyer and costume-clad guardian angel. After a chance encounter with beautiful Elektra (Jennifer Garner), our hero finds himself in love, as well as at war with local villain Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and hired assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell). The plot is a mixed bag and generally offers little more than standard blockbuster fare, although there are a few appreciated divergences from convention to enjoy. For example, Daredevil is far darker than the likes of Superman, Spider-Man or even Batman - Murdock deals out tough justice and is not afraid to deal with villains in the most final sense possible. Additionally, Daredevil realistically returns home each night a physically broken man, never seeming as invulnerable as his superhero rivals.

Parts of the love story between Matt Murdock and Elektra are, on the other hand, quite ridiculous. Without knowing Murdock's true identity yet, Elektra starts to physically fight with him under the impression that he is a normal blind man. Johnson makes a poor attempt at getting round this by giving Elektra a miniscule demonstration of his physical awareness moments beforehand, but ultimately, she, as a martial arts expert, was content with fighting a blind man. Naturally, after a few moves it becomes obvious that Murdock has a gift and is a well-matched opponent, but she should have never started in the first place. To make matters worse, it is only later, when walking casually down the road, that his superhuman behaviour seems remotely strange to her.

Michael Clarke Duncan has limited screen time as Kingpin, but certainly has the stature and authority to make his part work. Meanwhile, Colin Farrell also looks the part as Bullseye, although some of his mannerisms are embarrassingly over-the-top - even for a comic book adaptation. The special effects are largely good and far less people had qualms with the CGI here than with Spider-Man. Likewise, the costume design and general production design looks impressive and, together with the cinematography, serves to make Daredevil very attractive to the eye.

The action sequences are well-staged and, as with The Matrix, it is pleasing to see the actors doing a lot of their own fight moves. Johnson's shooting style for such scenes is confident, kinetic and gritty. A mix of combat styles is on display, with Daredevil improvising as the situation demands. The kicks, punches and flips come fast and furiously, although some of the wirework looks decidedly ropey and unnecessarily obvious.

There was, of course, much debate about the style and colour of the Daredevil costume - the studio felt that audiences would laugh at the character fighting in his trademark outfit. Eventually, Johnson made the right decision and stuck closely to the traditional look, although one can certainly sympathise with the studio's point-of-view - why would he bother putting horns on head and embossing his suit with the interlocking 'DD' logo?

Overall, Daredevil is pleasing to the eye and full of the customary high-octane action, but the dreadfully weak plot have ensured that it will never join the likes of Spider-Man, Superman or even Batman in attaining legendary status as a film.

6 out of 10

The Video

The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen video transfer looks absolutely fantastic, especially considering the space limitations imposed by the sizeable DTS 5.1 soundtrack and Enhanced Viewing Mode featurettes on the film disc. The carefully tweaked colours are shown with complete accuracy and consistency, while sharpness is tremendous.

With the film being shot so recently, there is unsurprisingly zero print damage to be wary of, resulting in an image free of unsightly marks and specks. A lot of the scenes were shot in dark lighting conditions and the disc excels at reproducing these portions of the feature - black levels retain their integrity throughout to ensure impressive image quality under the most testing of conditions.

Although the odd aliasing issue does crop up every once in a while, the transfer's only noticeable flaw is the slight grain and noise in certain shots. Overall, however, this is a near-perfect disc with regards to image quality, doing justice to the colour corrections and striking cinematography.

9 out of 10

The first disc is endowed with both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 sound - both tracks are undeniably excellent, serving up a fitting experience for an action blockbuster. Bass is pleasingly heavy at times, while surrounds are used with near-constant frequency. The amount of discrete effects bursting out from the rear speakers is startling, fully demonstrating the positioning capabilities of the 5.1 format.

Clarity and separation is almost faultless all-round, while neither track is short of power either. In amongst all this sonic action, the dialogue remains perfectly clear from the front-centre channel. As for the Dolby versus DTS situation, the two streams sound expectedly similar, although the latter will sound superior to the experienced ear since channel separation is slightly better and the rear soundstage seems wider.

Overall, therefore, we get two superb audio streams on this disc that will probably rank the title amongst the best-sounding in your collection.

9 out of 10

The Extras

Although this big-screen Daredevil adaptation is a far inferior film to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, its 2-disc DVD set wipes the floor with that of the web-spinner. The near-flawless audio/visual quality is much better here, while the extras seem much more extensive and weighty compared to those on the Spider-Man title. All of the video extras are presented in anamorphic widescreen, unless stated otherwise, with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. Note that the audio commentary is in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround while a very small number of the video extras are actually in 1.33:1 anamorphic.

Starting us off on the first disc is the audio commentary by Director Mark Steven Johnson and Producer Gary Foster - this was a far better track than expected and definitely worth listening to. Although an inexperienced director, Johnson holds a very confident discussion with Foster and reveals many insightful facts about the production. Computer effects and script revisions are dissected, along with sound design, cinematography much more beyond. The mood is very chatty and, overall, this is a great extra to get the ball rolling.

Next up is the Enhanced Viewing Mode version of the film, which plays back the film with various behind-the-scenes featurettes inserted at relevant places. Just like the recent X-Men 1.5 DVD release, the disc pleasingly does not wait for remote control confirmation when jumping out of the film to the various featurettes. Each additional segment offers a look at some special effects in the film, with multiple angles and a decent technical narration from Visual Effects Producer John Kilkenny on offer. Once again, this was another worthy addition to the bonus material - the only complaint is that the material isn't directly accessible for individual viewing.

The final item on the first disc is a text commentary, which tries to put forward even further information on the film and the original Marvel comics. This was a nice idea that has worked well on other titles (such as Spider-Man and the Back To The Future Trilogy), but ultimately disappoints here on two counts. Firstly, the trivia simply doesn't appear frequently enough - unlike a commentary, this is strictly prepared verbatim, meaning that there is no excuse for lengthy periods without the subtitles appearing. The second fault is admittedly minor - the subtitles are very ugly, presented as white writing on a black background. Other titles in the past have had colourful trivia tracks with images and, in some cases, even animation.

Kicking off the second disc is the brilliant 60 minute 'Beyond Hell's Kitchen: The Making Of Daredevil' documentary. From the very beginning, it is clear that this is not a promotional piece put together with very little substance. Instead, this wonderful extra consists of insightful behind-the-scenes footage, candid interviews and (thankfully) no cheesy voiceover. Many great moments are shown with the cast interacting in between takes, while a further 20 minutes of additional footage is available in an Enhanced Viewing Mode, which offers further information on specific topics such as the costume design and action.

Next up is the 3 minute Jennifer Garner screen test, which is not particularly noteworthy apart from the fact that it contains some lines not included in the final shooting script. Unlike most of the other video extras, this item is presented in 1.33:1 full-frame. The extras continue with multi-angle dailies, which puts forward some raw takes for 2 action sequences ('Daredevil/Kingpin and 'Elektra/Bullseye'). There are 2 takes available for the first sequence, viewable from 2 different camera angles or a composite of them both - the running time of the two takes is one minute. Meanwhile, the second sequence has 4 takes on offer, viewable from three different angles or a composite of the trio - the running time of these four takes is around 2 minutes.

The 2 minute 'Featured Villain: Kingpin' featurette is the next extra, basically serving as explanation from Michael Clarke Duncan on why he wanted to play Kingpin - with such a short running length, this could have perhaps been included as another branching scene in the Enhanced Viewing Mode of the afore-mentioned 'Beyond Hell's Kitchen' documentary.

Meanwhile, the 24 minute 'Daredevil: HBO First Look Special' documentary is expectedly promotional and laughably inferior to the main documentary on the disc. Jennifer Garner serves as our host for this and strangely looks around sixteen years old, while the interviews and on-set glimpses are largely repeated from other extras on this second DVD. Overall, this 1.33:1 full-frame piece isn't a fantastic entry on the extras list and offers little new for viewers - something else, such as deleted scenes, should have taken its place.

Next up is the 8 minute 'Moving Through Space: A Day With Tom Sullivan' featurette, which is a nice introduction to the everyday life of Daredevil's Sight-Impaired Consultant and his amazing passion for jogging and going to the gym. The disc also houses the standard promotional materials, consisting of a minute-long theatrical teaser, the minute-long theatrical trailer A and the 2 minute theatrical trailer B, all of which are shown in non-anamorphic widescreen. Three music videos have also been included on this bonus disc in non-anamorphic widescreen - the 3 minute 'Won't Back Down' music video by Fuel, followed by the 3 minute 'For You' music video by The Calling and finally the 4 minute 'Bring Me To Life' music video by Evanescence.

A rather extensive collection of 5 static still galleries follow the music videos, offering images in the following corresponding categories - storyboards, costumes, set design, production stills and props. The second disc then moves its attention away from the film to the original comic books - the 60 minute 'Men Without Fear: Creating Daredevil' documentary is the first extra on this topic and a definite plus-point for Marvel fans. Interviews with the likes of Stan Lee and Kevin Smith are on offer, discussing much of the comic book character's lengthy history. Next up is the 'Shadow World Tour' featurette, which is a 6 minute demonstration of Daredevil's radar-like capabilities using examples from comic books and the film itself.

The disc almost comes to close with a handful of modelling sheets, which essentially consist of background information on the major Daredevil comic book characters that made it to the film, such as Kingpin, Elektra, Bullseye and, of course, the superhero himself. The final extra is the hidden gag reel easter egg, which is a full 6 minutes long and actually advertised on the case. This documents a few amusing goof-ups from the production in 1.33:1 full-frame, although some of the outtakes have already been included in the other features. The slick menus are animated and presented with background sound in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, while the two discs are housed in a red plastic amaray case with a chapter listing inside but no booklet.

Overall, this is a superlative set of extras that match the lofty standards set by the soundtracks and video transfer. The collection of material goes a long way in making up for weaknesses in the film and is far less promotional than expected - the only notable omissions were deleted scenes and a cast commentary track.

9 out of 10

Movie 6
Video 9
Audio 9
Extras 9

OVERALL (not an average) 8

DVD Bulletin

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