Daredevil

by

debbie lynn elias

After seeing "Daredevil", I must believe that there must be some truth to all the tabloid rumors being bandied about that J-Lo is curbing the over-zealous generosity of her latest fiancé, Ben Affleck, when it comes to doling out cash and gifts for friends, family and unknowns. She’s obviously afraid if he keeps taking roles like "Daredevil" his career and cash flow will peter out before she ever gets him to the altar.

Taken straight from the classic Marvel comic line, "Daredevil" is the tale of Matt Murdock. Blinded by a traumatic childhood event, Murdock’s remaining senses become hypersensitive and he becomes abnormally strong, in many respects, as he grows into adulthood. Wanting to put his talents to their best possible use, Murdock becomes a lawyer, working only for the poor and downtrodden in the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan. Although justice is alleged to be blind, sometimes it’ a bit too blind, letting the bad guys slip through the system. But don’t worry. When that happens, Murdock exacts his own justice. In the dark of night and spectacularly garbed in his own super-hero outfit of form fitting latex - although the suit is not as cool as Spidey’s and not as genitally freakish as Batman’s - he prowls through alleys and over rooftops as his alter-ego, Daredevil. Self-described as a "guardian devil," he swoops, he soars, he dodges and dives, never fearful and never handicapped by his blindness. And not to be overlooked, every super-hero needs one of two things - if not both. A love interest and a crime fighting partner. Daredevil gets both all rolled into one in the form of Elektra Natchios, a young woman jaded by life and out to avenge the death of her father. Ah - another match thanks to our judicial and penal code systems!

And just who do we find our crime fighters pitted against this go round? Here, our prime slimeball is The Kingpin aka Wilson Fisk who is allegedly behind a recent string of murders and unusual crime wave. Unfortunately, the alleged crimes remain pretty much that - alleged and relegated to second banana in the film, thus giving one pause (and a big hole in the script) as to why Daredevil is being so vengeful.

Written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, "Daredevil" comes across as rather bland, banal and old hat, never quite measuring up to the excellence of "Spiderman" which I fear, has now become the standard in the genre. What made Johnson, the man behind the poignant and thoughtful "Simon Birch", think that he was up to this super-hero task is beyond me. Even Barry Chusid’s production design is unimaginative and rather blah when compared to other comic book translations. Villains are run-of-the-mill and our main characters, while more cerebral and interesting than most comic book characters, are never really allowed to develop. Although here we have the dart throwing Bullseye and Kingpin, neither is as comic book colorful or entertaining as Jack Nicholson’s The Joker in "Batman." And while the physical attraction and relationship between Daredevil and Elektra sizzles, independent of each other, they fizzle.

Ben Affleck suits up as Daredevil and Jennifer Garner enters the fray as knife wielding, dagger throwing Elektra. Both are adequate and appear comfortable in their performances, but they can’t seem to overcome the weak storyline and milk toast dialogue. I must say, however, that Affleck exudes as much conviction in his portrayal of a character as I have ever seen, probably due in large part to his being a long time afficionado of the Daredevil comic (Hint - Maybe Ben should have written the script.), while Jennifer Garner is probably the most exciting and exacting female "super hero" to come along in a long time. And hell, Affleck does look mighty fine in leather. Michael Clarke Duncan, poster boy for perfect pecs, is, like his co-stars, adequate, but never comes across as having any real menace.

As an aside, historically, most films seem to have that one catch-all line that sticks in the moviegoer’s mind for all time and action films typically have plenty. Sadly, one of this film’s apparent catch-all phrases uttered by the awe-filled Bullseye on seeing Daredevil - "I WANT one of those costumes" - is a lame take on filmdom’s prior more exuberant yearnings like "I GOT to get me one of these!" (Will Smith in "Independence Day") and "Where DOES he get those wonderful toys?!" (Jack Nicholson in "Batman"). Like the film itself, even the catch-alls lack imagination and originality.

Alas. You’ll have to be pretty daring yourself to go see "Daredevil."

Matt Murdock/Daredevil: Ben Affleck
Elektra: Jennifer Garner
Kingpin/Fisk: Michael Clarke Duncan 
Bullseye: Colin Farrell

Running Time: 114 minutes