DVD Shelf: Daredevil Review

In DVD Shelf reviews I will doing, I will be taking a glance from behind my chair at my computer desk and choosing a random movie off my dvd shelf to watch and then after doing so, I will review it.

I remember seeing this movie a long ass time ago..not long after Spiderman came out, we got this. From what I could tell..it was an attempt by the studios to feed the hunger from people for more comic book movies. As you'd expect, this movie feels very..rushed.

PROS:

After re-watching Daredevil, I appreciate the story a bit more than I did last time. I mean this actually caught me by surprise. Look, we all know the origin behind Spidey is tragic and blah blah. However, Uncle ben got shot. In this movie, Matt Murdock's father, got the SHIT beat out of him before being punched to death by the Kingpin. Not only that, Matt got fucking radioactive waste splashed..where else? In his EYES!! If you think about it, Daredevil's film origin is not as much about responsibility as Spiderman's was but, it is definetly more tragic and depressing. You see young Matt Murdock finally getting used to being blind, having a better relationship with his dad when all that happiness is taken away in an instant. Also, Matt Murdock's dad is a much stronger character than Ben Parker in Spiderman. You may be wondering, why am I making so many comparisons between Daredevil and the Spiderman movie? Well I'm going to be doing a Spiderman review soon but, after watching THIS..I actually like it better than Spiderman. Anyways on we go..So Matt becomes Daredevil and fights criminals while holding a job as a blind lawyer in "hell's kitchen". He has many humorous exchanges with fellow law partner Foggy. But, we see a different side to Matt..it seems he lives in total seclusion from people, his house is gritty, metallic, and very lonely looking. This is another aspect of this film I love, you get a glimpse into Daredevil's living areas, and it's almost as depressing as his origin! The Story starts to lose steam in the 3rd act but, the ending and final fight with King Pin is very satisfying. The action sequences are incredibly brutal. People get brused, blood splatters from people's mouths when hit. This isn't Superman, people get fucked up when Daredevil fights them and you can tell.

The Cons:

One of my biggest gripes about this movie are the spfx. The CG overall is pretty bad in this movie. You could ask a 4 year old the difference between real Ben Affleck in a daredevil costume and the CGI Ben swinging around the rooftops and he could tell automatically which one was less real. Despite this, the thing I HATE about this film is the fact that DD kills. Daredevil fucking CHOPS a guy in half in this movie, a train actually runs over a criminal and it is implied later that he was cut up into two pieces(the actual severing takes place offscreen of course, this is PG-13). There is also a scene at the very end, where DD simply lets Bulls-eye fall to his death. Any comic fan could tell you that the REAL DD would have caught him, not let him die(However it is revealed at the end he is alive but, STILL I doubt he intended him to survive that). One last thing, WHY THE HELL IS IT ALWAYS RAINING? Okay I've never been to New York so I wouldn't know what the weather is like but, jeez..it seems like every other scene, it's Raining!

The Actors:

People have often bitched about Ben Affleck in this movie but, frankly I thought he was great! He drew major sympathy as he played his character as a tortured loner. Collin Farell was also great as Bulls-eye, I was a bit disappointed he had so few lines but, the ones he did have were hilarious. One scene in particular(I have the unrated DVD, don't remember if this was cut from the PG-13 edition or not) Bulls-eye says to the King Pin: "I want a fucking costume!".

However not everythings perfect in Kansas, Jennifer Garner was terrible. Every line of dialog she has is cliched. Not only that, but it just seems like she was at the set to collect a paycheck, not to actually GIVE a shit about how she was acting. Hell, I didn't even feel bad when she was stabbed in the chest by Bulls-eye. I was cheering! Yeah kill that bad-acting bitch! Oh god...I forgot about Elektra!

Overall: Take a gander at this film again if you haven't recently, it's really grown on me. Ben Affleck in
particular was great here as was Collin Farell and John Favreou. The origin in the beginning in particular is one of my favorite superhero film moments now..

Rating: High Full Price