 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
|
 email this review to a friend
Daredevil Misses the Bullseye This is a hard movie to nail down. The Daredevil comic has always fed off of a rather exclusive, more mature, fan base, unlike the more high-profile fellow New York dwelling web-slinger. Because of this reason Daredevil was never going to get the treatment that Spider-man got. That's unfortunate. In many ways Daredevil is among the best comic book movies that have ever been filmed, especially considering the budget. Daredevil easily has the most bang for the buck, and was a nip and tuck here and there from being a far greater achievement. The biggest problem is comic book film fans, makers, and critics can't settle on whether they want to embrace realism (dialog, costumes, behavior, story) or breach it, and Daredevil is no exception. Brimming with real-world pain (both physical and emotional), indecision, hope, and hopelessness all at once is Ben Affleck's Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) and Jennifer Garner's Elektra Nachios. Also with both feet on the ground is the entirely believable criminal mastermind, the larger than life Micheal Clarke Duncan as Kingpin. At many points in the film, these characters show weakness, courage, despair, anger, humor, etc. All realistic, human qualities that make them believable; we can relate to their desires, motivations, and emotions even if we don't agree with them. Then there is Colin Farrell's Bullseye, straight out of a comic book and should be in a straight jacket. Alone, his character is fine, but he doesn't mesh well with the other characters. The storyline, which would've been fine with better pacing, is two-fold, the main arc being Ben's Murdock trying to find his place in the world as a superhero (getting a little tired, to be frank), and the secondary being the death of Elektra's father at the hands of, she thinks, Daredevil. The possibilities of the Elektra vs. Daredevil showdown are intriguing, especially since the two are courting, but since Papa Nachios gets the axe with barely a half-hour of movie left, the confrontation lacks any real tension or drama because there's absolutely no build-up. Include the Elektra vs. Bullseye showdown in that same category, as she has five seconds to reflect on the fact that the dude she's about to fight is the guy who killed her father. Then, Daredevil, who's too hurt to help her until she gets thoroughly pummeled by the clearly superior Bullseye, has the energy to get up, throw the villain off the top of the world, fly across town, and do battle with the obviously physically superior Kingpin - who's ass he kicks, of course. The largest conundrum of all this is that it would've been believable, interesting, and dramatic if it had taken place over the course of a few days; ergo over the full two hours of film time. Instead, we are made to go through the formulaic "how a superhero is born" and "boy meets girl" on and off for about an hour plus. Some of this is great information, some of the scenes touching, but it just takes too damn long to get it all out there. Better to tell it in smaller pieces as flashbacks when the information is really needed, and cut out everything not absolutely necessary. Don't get me wrong, the love story was of interest to me, and establishing a real bond between the two, who do have some chemistry, is important to the story as a whole and development of Daredevil's character both for this film and any sequel on the horizon. Daredevil's creators had the right idea for a film that could've broken the shackles of the "it's just a comic book movie" stigma. It was real (most of the time), dark, and had an interesting theme going for it; the story of a hypersensitive man that is on the verge of becoming hyper-desensitized (no love, no hate, no life, nothing but the justice that drives him) just so that he can keep doing what he feels he's must. Billed as "The Man Without Fear", I'm reminded of an old quote, from where I can't remember, that goes, "A man who fears nothing, loves nothing. And if he loves nothing, what good is there in his life?" It's a concept that's got some teeth to it had it dared to break the devil that is formula. email this review to a friend
Comment on this Review:
 Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
RSS | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | About MatchFlick® | Press | Contact Us | FAQs
Partnership and Advertising Opportunities | Movie Database | Merchandise ©2004-2008 MatchFlick®. All rights reserved. ©MOVIE IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED AND THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS |