|
Daredevil
Released February 14, 2003
Rated PG-13 for action/violence and
some sensuality
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer
Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Scott Terra, Joe
Pantoliano
Screenwriter and Director: Mark
Steven Johnson
Reviewed by Peter Veugelaers © 2003
- Almost phony baloney
The superhero story has seen
more glorious days with better-known comic book characters: Superman:
The Movie, the Batman franchise, and last year’s Spiderman.
Along with the release of X-Men 2 this year,
"Daredevil" negotiates with the darker personality of the
superhero, which can offer more complexity, as in Spiderman,
but also revels in the dark side to such a degree as to be
uncomfortably graphic and morose. The older comic book hero films
held a significant reverence for heroics, like in the awe-inspiring
good-turns and feel-good nature of Superman (1978). These
days the trend is bleaker, and this is truly evident in
"Daredevil".
There are good guys and bad
guys in this film. Yet the good guy – Daredevil aka Matt Murdock (Affleck)
- perpetuates violence to silence the bad guys. Who then is right?
Of course, Daredevil is a
victim of circumstance – a poor boy, orphaned, and who saw his
father die. He is blind. But his disability aids him with
superpowers so he can avenge those that are criminals and uphold
justice.
Murdock is complex: at once a
lawyer chastising the guilty through legal means; at night he
avenges those in the underground crime racquet. This holds a
promising scenario. Will Murdock reconcile his contradiction? Yet,
the outcome is essentially weak.
Although there is a touch of
mercy tacked on, Murdock will be always forever the avenger of
justice with faith to reclaim the streets from the rot that infests
it. Crime will continue and Daredevil will be there. He will never
deal with his essential problem that began in the soul. If he did we
wouldn’t have a superhero action movie, although I think if they
had exercised this part of his personality we might have a more
interesting hero, like in Batman Forever.
Any redemption for Murdock in
this film is token and lip service - justice has not really being
served to the gravity of his problem. Can a man grieving over the
death of his father, who turns to vengeance and conflict to sort out
his internal problems (all portrayed in piecemeal fashion), and who
is still wrongly regarded as the "good guy", actually
refrain by film’s end from what would be the logical progression
of his character’s actions and motivation?
Unevenly transiting between
different shades and tones – once dark actioner, then laid-back
and lightweight in approach – it starts off well enough, but
descends from there. A dreamy romance between Affleck and Jennifer
Garner is appealing because it offsets the macho villain stereotype
of Collin Farrell’s Bullseye and his aggressive mayhem (she smiles
a lot, he softly caresses, they dance and gently make love; the
accompanying soundtrack is low key and moody). The fight sequences
are deftly staged and well crafted as any action film can achieve
today so isn’t anything remarkable, which includes the
business-as-usual and unpleasant violence.
Yeah, it’s fantasy but someone hold the
makers accountable for more intelligible and lucid story telling. At
least Batman Forever had the ability to make Batman’s
background story look interesting; Daredevil aka Matt Murdock is a
weak and well-worn pastiche of childhood victim turned mercenary by
fighting the oppressors of innocents, which is badly handled and
one-dimensionally acted by Affleck. I presume young people will
readily identify with this character in regards to fighting your
internal problems via extraordinary external means, and so this film
will have younger male audiences as its mainstay.
|
