Patty was feeling a
bit under the weather, so her half of the review will, once again, be
provided by our eleven-year-old son, Chris Miller-Marshall, who will give
the all-important kid perspective on:
Summary:
Attorney Matt
Murdock was blinded by exposure to radioactive waste as a 12-year-old
boy. But in the process, his remaining senses were heightened to
superhuman levels. The subsequent murder of his father set him on a path
to become the costumed vigilante superhero of the film’s title. Now, he
prowls the rooftops of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, righting wrongs and
helping the weak and innocent.
Steve says:
The comparisons are
inevitable, so I’ll just begin there...SPIDER-MAN rocked; DAREDEVIL
didn’t. But after the box-office bonanza wrought by Spidey last summer,
20th Century Fox decided to add twenty million to DAREDEVIL’s
projected budget of thirty million dollars. What did that buy us? Some
additional special effects. The money would have been much better spent
on a total retooling of the lame script by writer/director Mark Steven
Johnson.
I suppose
DAREDEVIL’s producers thought they had the formula down -- cast a young
A-list star, put him in a tight costume, have him jump from roof to roof
and kick some bad-guy butt and the cash registers would start ka-chinging
all over the world. Well, there might be a ka-ching or two on opening
weekend, but once the word gets out that DAREDEVIL blows, audiences will
go elsewhere and 20th’s much hoped-for action franchise will go
with them.
First, Ben Affleck
lacks the coltish charm displayed by Tobey Maguire in his role as Peter
Parker/Spider-Man. Affleck’s low-watt charisma isn’t helped at all by
Johnson’s by-the-numbers script. The only thing that distinguishes the
Daredevil character from the cornucopia of other superheroes is the
blindness gimmick, which isn’t all that believable. While the character
is indeed blind, he has some sort of radar that allows him to see vague
images, particularly in the rain. (Huh?) Sounds like bat-sense to me, but
they couldn’t very well call him “Batman,” now could they? (The whole
enterprise is more like bat guano anyway). The Daredevil has other
things in common with the Caped Crusader, such as his decision to fight
crime as a vigilante following the murder of his father. Both the
character and the situation are so derivative that I was yawning by about
fifteen minutes into the movie.
Jennifer Garner, on
loan from TV’s ALIAS, makes for a compelling big-screen presence, but her
role, too, is seriously underwritten. Then, just when the character
begins to find her niche in the movie, she’s gone.
Michael Clarke
Duncan and Colin Farrell are effective as the bad guys, even though their
characters are as cardboard as the rest of those populating this sorry
mess.
Sophomore
director Johnson opts for the use of manic editing to cover for the fact
that Ben Affleck isn’t exactly Jackie Chan when it comes to martial arts.
But the frantic cutting during the fight sequences makes it almost
impossible to follow the action, leaving the audience to wait until the
fighting is over to see who got his ass kicked.
Summertime will
herald the release of yet another film based on a Marvel Comics superhero:
THE HULK. Since that film is in the hands of the wonderful Ang Lee
(CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON), we can only help that it will come
closer to the high bar set by the makers of SPIDER-MAN.
As for DAREDEVIL,
the DD on his red leather costume could just as easily stand for DOO DOO.
Because I’m in a
generous mood, DAREDEVIL gets two kernels.
* * * *
Chris says:
I know what you’re
thinking…Chris is reviewing an action movie that looks cool -- obvious
five kernels. NO WAY!!!!!!!!!! IT STUNK.
It was confusing,
horribly edited, BAD special affects, BORING, and the fight scenes went so
fast you couldn’t tell what was happening!!
At first I wanted to
say five kernels, but then I reviewed the movie in my head and got my
thoughts straight.
Advice: if you’re a
parent and you are forced to go to DAREDEVIL, bring a mini TV with your
favorite game on. It stunk! Two kernels! BYE!!!
* * * *
February 15,
2003
