COMICS-TV Stuff: Daredevil : the Movie
Not on TV... but on DVD soon
I've never been too big on Daredevil as he always seemed like a low-budget Spider-Man to me. Several years ago, I was really shocked to hear that a Daredevil movie was supposedly in production. Several years ago I was also shocked to hear that a "Betty & Veronica" movie was rumored to be in production. Since the Batman movie in 1989, countless comics have been rumored to have movies patterned after them, but most of them never see the light of day. Usually it's the big name comics that get the movies printed- concepts like "Spider-Man" or "Hulk" are very well known pop culture characters. They've had cartoons, lunchboxes, toys and even live-action TV shows. But Daredevil? Daredevil never even had his own UNDEROOS in the 70's, so who would want to make a movie about his obscure ass?
First, let's jump back a few years- in 1998 Marvel released the incredibly obscure "Blade the Vampire Hunter". The movie did marginally well, but "Blade" is the definition of the obscure comic character. The character himself had made probably 20 printed appearances to that point, and the general public had no idea that Blade was a comic book character. To me, this movie was similar to a Van Damme flick and didn't excite me at all. But suddenly the fringe characters had a chance. If Blade could get his own movie (and even a sequel), ANY Marvel character could get a movie.
Which brings us to Daredevil. Like I said, I've never been a Daredevil fan. I knew about the concept, the character's name and his basic history- mostly from 1982's "D" issue of "Marvel Universe", a quasi-encylcopedia comic series that featured every Marvel character. I knew Daredevil was "the blind dude with the radar sense".
When my dad worked at the publishing company in the late 80's, he would bring home "Daredevil" comics, but the stories were pretty weak. Dardevil's alter ego, Matt Murdock was a mess and he'd routinely get the snot kicked out of him by weird villains like Bullet, Typhoid Mary or Bushwhacker.
(heck, even the LAST Daredevil comic I read sucked ass) While the "Daredevil" I was reading sucked, I had heard about the "definitive Dardevil" - stories that were done by a guy named Frank Miller in the early 80's that received praise from all the Comic Store Guys. I would even see a few of those issues tacked up on the walls behind the Comic Store Guys. They had hefty price tags: in the 4 to 20 dollar range, but since I never cared about the character, I never bothered to hunt down one of those pricey issues.
When "Daredevil" the movie premiered I went into it essentially blind (no pun intended). I could only see a few small differences between the "real" Daredevil and the cinematic Dardevil. The movie starts out in progress- Daredevil drops into a church with critical injuries and you instantly get the feeling that he's been doing this for awhile. Eventually, the story tells Daredvil's origin in a flashback sequence. Taking a cue from the Batman movie, Daredevil's origin is altered slightly to include a personal connection between the hero and his archfoe, the Kingpin. Hardcore fans may protest, but this gives the hero clear motivation for the 100 miutes or so. Elektra Natchios is included as the love interest/anti-hero and her story is about 90% faithful to her comic-book counterpart. Richard Fisk, the Kingpin and Bullseye eventually enter as the main villains.
The first twenty minutes of the movie has ALOT of comic book geek references. In the flashback Jack Murdock (Matt's dad..) is a prize fighter and every opponent he faces is named after a former Daredevil comic book writer. Jack's eventual main event is even against "John Romita", a nod to the longtime Marvel artist. Later, Daredevil pursues a rapist, whose name is derived from Marvel Comics' Editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. Another former Daredevil writer, director Kevin Smith, makes an appearance as "Kirby" the coroner. "Kirby" being another reference to 60's Daredevil artist Jack Kirby. Finally, Frank Miller is even listed in the cast as "Man with Pen in Hand". I wouldn't recognize Frank Miller from Barney Miller, so I was unable to spot him.
Small details get attention. Matt Murdock's hair is alwasy messy and he even has small burn scars around his eyes- a result of the accident that gave him his powers.
Whil entertaining, the action and plot of the movie do little to distinguish themselves from your standard action yarn. Daredevil has the obligatory fight sequences, including the overused "midair backflip". Characters also launch themselves into air by running up walls. I'm a little sick of this overblown "Matrix" crap (which was an incredibly shitty overrated movie, but that's getting off-course), but I guess that's what the public wants to see. We've grown so accustomed to these types of scenes, that they don't seem "special" anymore. A climatic fight between Dardevil and Bullseye tip-toeing atop an organ seems especially unrealistic.
The cast has a few controversial choices, but I didn't have any problems with it. Ben Affleck's no Lawrence Olivier, but he is a big "name". His inclusion brought hype and a little bit of legitimacy to this picture. His few scenes out of costume are shared with Foggy Nelson (played by Rudy's tutoring pal from "Rudy") or Elektra. In these, Affleck acts like any other character he's played- he just stares blankly and keeps his mouth open. Jennifer Garner looks quite plastic and isn't as high on the "hot chic scale" as the producers believe. Then there's Colin Farrell as a terrific Bullseye. He doesn't have many lines, but Bullseye threatens to steal the entire film. Joe Pantoliano (Ralphie from the "Sopranos") has a decent role as New York Daily News reporter Ben Urich - a longtime supporting character in the DD comics. Also, be on the lookout for another Sopranos member - A.J. Soprano as the neighborhood bully.
Michael Clarke Duncan was a controversial choice as the Kingpin. Primarily due to his skin color. In the comics, the Kingpin is a big bald white guy. Despite his background as a sumo wrestler, the character was often referred to in the comics as "tubby" or "fat man". Kingpin supposedly had superhuman levels of strength but never really appeared too intimdating in the comics. The Kingpin never seemed like a believable foe in his comic book fight scenes. This is where Duncan advances the role a bit. Duncan has arms about the size of your waist and looks like he could curl a Buick wih one arm. You wouldn't want to mess with Duncan, just as you wouldn't want to mess with the Kingpin. With these characteristics, the final fight scene between Daredevil and the Kingpin seems believable.
Finally, I also have to give credit to the credits. Looking at them as a graphic designer, the opening credits were very creative. They immediately signaled to me that alot of time and effort was being put into this thing. The closing credits do nothing visually, but whatever you do, DO NOT leave as soon as they roll. A final essential scene is included about four minutes into the credits. One of the best scenes in the movie and over half of the audience missed it. It's worth enduring the crappy "I won't back down" song by Fuel, that's played at a blistering level.
If Daredevil was not a comic movie, it would be just another marginal action yarn. However, add in the comic inspiration and this movie becomes a higher quality package. Not "holy shit" levels of cool, but it was still worth my money. Personally, I'd rank it in the top half of comic-book movies I've seen. It's not too corny and should keep you interested for 2 hours.
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