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 If
the enormous success of The Beatles kicked the door open for other
beat groups during the British Invasion of the 1960's, then last
year's top-grossing Spider-Man kicked the door open for
other comic adaptations during what will soon be known as the
Marvel Invasion of the 21st Century. Coming your way in the next
few months alone are Bryan Singer's X-Men sequel X2
(May) and Ang Lee's special effects-laden take on The Hulk
(June).
Up first, however, is the $80 million big screen adaptation of
the comic cult classic Daredevil. As far as superhero movies
go, the action scenes are top notch, the spirit of the character
is well represented, and there's an overall sense of campy B-movie
fun. On the other hand, there's not much of a story, the dialogue
can be corny at times, and Ben Affleck's stiff performance in
the title role fails to hit its mark.
Meet Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck): noted attorney by day, vigilante
superhero by night. As Daredevil, he has sworn to avenge his father's
death by protecting New York City's Hell's Kitchen from the forces
of evil, but there's just one problem: he's blind. A radioactive
mishap took away his sight when he was just a kid, but since his
remaining senses were heightened to superhuman levels, he can
still "see" with a special "radar" sense.
His biggest threat lies with reputed crime boss Wilson Fisk (Michael
Clarke Duncan), a.k.a. "the Kingpin," but his efforts
to bring him down are distracted by Elektra (Jennifer Garner),
a beautiful martial arts maven with an agenda of her own, and
Bullseye (Colin Farrell), a psychopathic assassin-for-hire with
no regard for human life.
To say that expectations are huge for Daredevil in the
wake of Spider-Man's incredible box office success (over
$800 million worldwide) would be a huge understatement, especially
since unavoidable comparisons between the two characters date
back to their comic book origins. Both took to fighting crime
in an effort to avenge their loved ones, both got their powers
through radioactive accidents, and both "danced" across
the New York City skyline as they prowled the night. There were
times when they even battled the same villains, including the
Kingpin, who first appeared (as a white character) in the 50th
issue of "The Amazing Spider-Man."
On a cinematic level, the dark, gritty, adult-oriented Daredevil
delivers the goods and is much closer in spirit to 1989's
Batman than it is to the fun, vibrant, mostly kid-friendly
vibe of Spider-Man. Director Mark Steven Johnson, whose
sole previous directing gig was 1998's little-seen Simon Birch,
obviously did his homework by capturing the spirit of Frank Miller's
classic 80's take on the character, and thanks to a computer-generated
ripple effect, you actually get to experience Daredevil's powers
from his point of view.
But where Spider-Man was a special effects extravaganza
that felt rushed in an effort to cram two movies worth of material
into one film, Daredevil feels more evenly paced and relies
mostly on hand-to-hand combat. The problem is that the film can
be slow at times (even at a little over 90 minutes), there really
isn't much of a story beyond the introduction of the characters,
and there are certain elements that--while true to the comics--wrap
themselves up prematurely when they could have been fleshed out
for a stronger emotional effect.
The casting of Ben Affleck as Daredevil caused quite a bit of
controversy, but where Tobey Maguire overcame a similar dilemma
by proving that he was the perfect choice to play Spidey's alter-ego
Peter Parker, the same can't be said about Affleck as Matt Murdock.
Yes, he looks the part when he is dressed up in the red leather
costume (after all, who wouldn't?), but when the mask is off,
his attempt to play the tortured, haunted, brooding avenger comes
across as too wooden to be effective.
On the other hand, the supporting characters are so strong that
Daredevil almost feels like a guest star in his own movie (a problem
that marred the Batman films). Then again, when you have
Alias hottie Jennifer Garner strutting her stuff in tight
black leather as Affleck's love interest, what do you expect?
The same goes for Michael Clarke Duncan, who seems to be having
a blast as the Kingpin, and Hollywood "it boy" Colin
Farrell, who is deliciously maniacal as Bullseye. Honorable mention
also goes to Jon Favreau, who provides the comic relief as Affleck's
unassuming partner "Foggy" Nelson.
Christopher Reeve's first turn as Superman and 2000's
X-Men still set the bar when it comes to superhero movies,
followed closely by Batman and Spider-Man. Daredevil
may come in a notch below that, but fans can still take heed
that--for the most part--the movie does justice to "the man
without fear." Sure, there's plenty of room for improvement
in the inevitable sequel, and with a possible spin-off film in
the works for Garner's Elektra character, it looks like Marvel's
invasion of the 21st Century will continue for quite some time.
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