Reaction & Review | Daredevil

 

Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be checking out a movie from 2003. That movie is "Daredevil".

Now, before I get into this movie, I need to get one thing out of the way right here. I do not care about the "Daredevil" Netflix series. I didn't care about it when it premiered on Netflix. I didn't care about it when it got cancelled. I don't even care if they brought it back or not. I just do not care about that series whatsoever. I just wanted to let you guys know now, so, that way, nobody will ask me about my opinion of it in the future.

So, setting that little controversy aside, let's get into the movie itself. Now, I do kinda remember watching the ads for this thing back in 2003. And the movie looked OK. Granted, it wasn't something that I was interested in checking out back then, but still, the movie looked OK. As for what I know about the movie itself, I know that it stars Ben Affleck, and I know that he plays a blind lawyer by the name of Matthew Murdock, who ends up becoming our title character. Speaking of Daredevil himself, the only real experience I ever had with this character was when I played as him as one of the many playable characters in the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game for the Xbox 360. And I remembered that game being really fun. In fact, I had re-bought the game about a month ago, and it still holds up as a pretty fun game, albeit with a few glitches here and there. But anyway, I did get to learn a little bit about Daredevil through that game, so I kinda know what I'm getting myself into in regards to this character.

Now, there's one thing I need to make mention of before I get into this movie. The version of this movie I bought on DVD was the Director's Cut. Which, according to the back of the DVD case, advertises 30 minutes of extra footage that was not released in theaters. And I was kinda debating on whether or not I wanted to watch the Director's Cut, or watch the Theatrical Cut. So, I had to make my decision based on a coin flip: Heads for the Director's Cut, and tails for the Theatrical Cut. And the winner was...heads. So, I'm gonna get to see if this extra footage is gonna help enhance the movie in any way. Mind you, I haven't seen any footage of this movie since 2003, back when I watched the ads for it. So, I'm probably not gonna notice what this extra footage is. But regardless if I end up noticing it or not, I still want to see if this movie ends up being any good. And the only way I'm gonna find out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Daredevil".

16 minutes later

Well, guys, I am able to say one thing, so far. Even though young Matthew Murdock has lost his eyesight, he's still able to kick tons of ass by beating these 3 bullies from earlier on in the movie. That is pretty awesome.

7 minutes later

All right, that's got to be one of the most homeliest-looking courtrooms I've ever seen. It's so fucking dreary, that it only has a few people, and a couple of fans going off. I understand that this, I think, is Matt Murdock's first case as a lawyer. Could be totally wrong there. But why the fuck would you hold your case in one of the most dreary-looking courtrooms ever? It just looks very out of place to me. Just thought I'd let you guys know.

10 minutes later

Well...I guess if you wanted to leave proof that Daredevil exists, just create a flaming trail of his insignia at the scene of a crime. That is certainly a decent way to leave your mark, I guess.

11 minutes later

You know, guys, I will say that little fight sequence between Murdock and Elektra there was pretty good. Do you know what would've made it better? If Elektra's actress, Jennifer Garner, knew how to act. So far, she hasn't accomplished that. I'm kinda hoping maybe her acting will get better as the film goes along. But, as of right now, I'm not having any high hopes for that.

12 minutes later

OK, I gotta bit of a stupid question here. So, Murdock and his friend are investigating this apartment. I will say that, while it is sorta cool that Murdock is figuring out how this murder was carried out with his senses, does he not know not to touch ANYTHING at a crime scene? Mind you, he is a lawyer, so you would think that he would know about this. I understand that it sounds like a trivial thing to be bitching about, but it's just something that I was thinking about, you know?

17 minutes later

Well, guys, I am willing to say that, while Jennifer Garner's acting is still complete shit, Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin is fucking amazing. He was born to play this role.

20 minutes later

Guys, I'm gonna talk a little bit about this later on in the review, but this Director's Cut is kinda...slow. Mind you, the movie itself has been pretty decent. But I wish we would get to see more of this subplot that this DVD was trying to advertise. Again, I'm gonna talk more about this later on in the review. But I just want to let you guys know, now, that this "extra footage" is not doing a whole lot right now.

8 minutes later

O...K. You know, I would imagine that having one of your hands stabbed with your own sais would actually be rather painful. I'm hoping that Bullseye actually does more damage to her, so that, hopefully, we'll be able to get to see less of Jennifer Garner in this movie. It's rather doubtful, but I'm still having hopes.

2 minutes later

And thus, Jennifer Garner's character is finally dead. And nothing of value was lost. Unfortunately, having played the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game, I do know about a bit of special dialogue in the game between her and Bullseye. So if it's going to go the way I think it's going to go, she'll be brought back to life soon enough. Still, at least I don't have to put up with Jennifer Garner's terrible acting in this movie for the time being.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Daredevil". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. Well, I guess I was wrong on one thing. I assumed that Elektra was going to be revived. However, I guess that didn't really happen. I'm going to assume that happens in her own movie. Oh well. The good news out of all this was that I didn't have to suffer through anymore of Jennifer's Garner's terrible acting. But I'll get into all of that when I talk about the acting.

Right now, I want to start by talking about the writing. And I'm gonna start with what was advertised for the Director's Cut on this DVD. Now, even though, I've never seen any footage from this movie since I watched the ads back in 2003, I do know what it was trying to advertise thanks to the back of the DVD case. So, this subplot involves Matthew Murdock trying to defend a man by the name of Dante Jackson, who was framed for murder, because he was framed for killing this prostitute. And I was curious to see how this was going to go, because a lot of people have said that this Director's Cut is the better version, rather than the Theatrical Cut. Now, I don't really know if that's the case or not. However...I'm gonna be honest when I say this, this subplot doesn't really get a ton of buildup. And the reason why it doesn't is because of the pacing. Because when we do first start with this subplot, we are opened to the trial as Murdock was giving his opening statement to the court. And then it leads to the police chief, Mackenzie, giving out his testimony. Throughout this, Murdock was trying to get a good reading on his heartbeat, just to make sure he was telling the truth. And he was...kind of. I'm not gonna spoil this subplot for you guys, on the off chance you want to go and see this movie for yourself. But then, after that scene ends with Murdock learning that Mackenzie was telling the truth, we then cut to a different scene entirely with Murdock and Elektra sharing screen time together. And this comes right the fuck out of nowhere, because I thought there was suppose to be more of that previous scene. But guess what? We don't get ANY development on that scene until right after Elektra's father dies. And that continues with Nelson trying to take Murdock's place because of the events that just happened after Elektra's father dies. He does a poor job of it, mind you, but the trial is still going on at that time. And throughout the movie, we get bits and pieces of this info regarding who was the person that framed Dante Jackson for murder. But like I said, we didn't get any continuation of this trial until about 30 or 40 minutes later on, and that's just too much time for a movie to drop a subplot like that and pick it back up. Now, what I would've done with that first scene involving the trial was to end it on a first day. THEN you could cut it to where Murdock and Elektra share character development together. But to have that first trial scene end rather abruptly, and not pick it up until later on in the movie, makes me question why people thought that this Director's Cut was great. Now, mind you, this subplot does have some sort of payoff, but at that point, it just comes off as too little, too late. Now again, I haven't seen the Theatrical Cut, so I don't know if it's any better, but I will say that this subplot doesn't enhance the movie much in any way. At least, I don't think it does.

There is one more issue I had with this movie's story. And it doesn't have anything to do with the subplot. It really has to do with Daredevil's origin story. Now, it's not so much the origin story itself that's the issue. The origin story is really good, and it really builds up Murdock's character. The only issue I had with the origin story has to do with, once more, the pacing. Again, I really like the origin story here for Matthew Murdock. It really is a good origin story about how he ended up being blind as a kid, and how he lost his Dad, after he refused to forfeit a fight so that he wouldn't see his son lose. All of that is really solid. However, after his Dad ends up getting killed, we cut ahead in time to where Murdock ends up becoming an adult and he becomes a lawyer. Oh, and he also becomes Daredevil with no real buildup. What I mean by that is we never get to see how Matthew Murdock decided to become a superhero and how he came up with the costume for Daredevil. Now, I totally understand that it's sort of a cliche trope for superhero origin stories. However, you ARE working with a comic book property. I think it would help enhance the character a little bit. I'm gonna give you guys a few examples. When Tony Stark ends up deciding to become Iron Man, after he shuts down his own weapons company, we actually get to see how he does this with the suit that he wears. We get to see him test it out on a couple of occasions before deciding on the hot-rod red and yellow color. And thus, the rest is history with him. In Peter Parker's case, after he gets bitten by the radioactive spider, we see him trying to get use to the idea of him being able to climb up walls, testing some spider liquid, and then deciding on a costume. With Bruce Wayne, his is a little more complicated. He didn't just start off fighting crime after his parents were shot and killed. He actually went through a lot of intensive training overseas before deciding to don the bat costume. In Bruce's case, he was trying to find a way to strike fear into the hearts of his criminals, letting them know that he would be watching them in case they decide to do something. You know, it's those kinds of examples that help make a superhero worth caring about a little more. And again, that's not to say that Daredevil's origin story is bad. But to have this movie skip out on those little details I mentioned actually kinda take you out of the movie a little bit. Just seeing young Matt Murdock's father getting killed, and then having the next scene to jump ahead of time to where Murdock is now a lawyer AND a superhero out of nowhere, it just comes across as rather rushed. So, it is something that you have to take for what it's worth. Beyond that, though, our story is pretty good, and our characters are mostly likable. So overall, the writing here is pretty good, minus the pacing issues that this movie suffers from.

Now, what about the acting? Well, the acting from, almost, the entire cast is really good. The one exception to all this is Jennifer Garner as Elektra. Oh boy...Jennifer Garner's acting. I was hoping, and I mean GENUINELY hoping, that Jennifer Garner was going to get better as the film went along. Oh, how I ever was so wrong on that. She turns in the absolute worst showing from the entire cast. She doesn't know how to show emotion when delivering her lines. It is almost painful to listen to. And it's such a stark contrast, when compared to the rest of the cast. I'm able to get behind Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Colin Farrell's performances, because those 3 know how to act. And then you have a steaming turd like Jennifer Garner trying to emote, and...oh god, is it ever terrible. You know, I happen to vaguely remember that she was the star of some drama that aired on ABC years ago. And I couldn't tell you back then if her acting in that thing was any good or not. But you know what? If it was anything like THIS performance, then I dread to even think what she could do in that "Elektra" movie. And yes, I do know that Elektra has her own movie...and Jennifer Garner is the star in that thing. I hope to never watch it, because I fear her acting is just going to be as bad, if not worse, than what she did in this movie. Beyond her, though, just about everybody else in this movie actually turns in a really good showing. So I have to give props to everyone, minus Jennifer Garner, for giving a 110% in this movie.

Costuming here, at least when it comes to the Daredevil costume, is really good. I always liked this costume. It looks really unique, especially the little devil horns that are on his head. Especially knowing that this costume was, I'm going to assume, inspired from his Dad when he was known as Jack "The Devil" Murdock. Again, I wish we could've seen HOW Murdock was able to make his costume, but I'm not gonna beat on that horse any longer. Makeup effects are pretty good. I will also say that the fight choreography in this movie is great. All of the fights flow naturally, and there is nothing here that is considered a pace breaker to slow any of the fights down. And you know what? Even though Jennifer Garner's acting in this movie was absolutely horrible, she DOES know how to fight, and she's, at least, able to make her fight scenes work. Which is more than what I could say about the actor who played as Mark in "The Russian Ninja". Where in that movie, Mark didn't know how to feel pain on an emotional or physical level, and the fight choreography in that movie ended up being complete garbage in the process. At least here, Jennifer Garner is able hold up well in a fight scene. I wish her acting wasn't complete shit, but, oh well, it is what it is. So overall, the fight choreography in this movie was great.

In terms of special effects, the one thing I can talk about is Daredevil's vision. Because a lot of that is where the CG was put into place. And it it looks pretty good. As for what it looks like, well, I want you to imagine Superman's X-Ray vision, but with sound included. It's nothing amazing, but it certainly does make the character stand out in a unique way. There's also a few instances of blood in this movie. Which is rather strange, considering that this thing was Rated R. I was expecting a little bit more blood, but that's just a minor thing entirely. Overall, the special effects in this movie are pretty good.

Camerawork here is pretty good. Lighting is mostly good, save for, maybe, one scene where Daredevil is trying to avoid a ton of gunshots from these people at a bar. It's a bit of a long story, so I won't go too deep into that. But the scene's lighting during all this flickers quite a bit, and you might not be able to see a whole lot going on as Daredevil is trying to fight off these thugs. But once that is all out of the way, we are able to see things a bit more clearly. I will also say that there is quite a bit of darkness in this movie. However, unlike the scene I just mentioned, there is no flickering going on with the lighting. So, at least, we have that. Sound-mix is mixed almost perfectly, save for one small moment where Murdock leaves Elektra after he hears some shouting going on due to his enhanced hearing. It's raining during this scene, as Murdock leaves, and Elektra is, I think, trying to shout out to Murdock's name, but I don't know if that was entirely the case. I don't know if it was because the rain was intentionally trying to drown out her voice, or if it was because Jennifer Garner doesn't know how to emote properly. However, I am not going to harp on that issue any longer, so I'm just gonna leave it as is. Music, in terms of the score, is nothing special. The soundtrack is OK. There is one song I did recognize in this movie, which was a song from Evanescence called "Bring Me To Life". And I remember that song being OK. Granted, it's not a song that I would go back and listen to repeatedly, but it's still decent for what it is. So overall, the soundtrack here is decent.

So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Daredevil"? If you're able to look past all of the pacing issues that this movie suffers from, then what you, essentially, have is a pretty decent comic book movie. While I am not going to say that the Director's Cut of this movie is amazing, it's still worth checking out, at least once. I personally don't think I'm gonna be watching this movie a second time, but I still enjoyed watching this movie once. Our story, minus the pacing, is still pretty solid. And you also have to deal with Jennifer Garner's terrible acting in this movie, because she does kinda bring the movie down a little bit. But once her character is dead, it stays dead for the entire movie. I'm pretty sure her solo film is going to explain how she comes back to life, but I am not going to worry about that, because I really don't want to watch that movie. But I'm getting way off track here. The movie is rather decent. And if you're able to find this movie, whether it's the Theatrical Cut, or this Director's Cut on DVD and Blu-ray, go ahead and pick it up. As long as it's cheap. Which it should be, considering that the DVD that I bought was only about $5. It's probably not going to have a place on my DVD shelf, but still, I had a little bit of fun with this movie. Now...seeing as how I was comparing superhero origins earlier in this review, I was thinking about the first Sam Raimi "Spider-Man" movie when I was doing that. And I just bought a DVD 3-pack that has the first 3 movies. So, I'm gonna go watch the first one, because it has been a long, LONG time since I last watched that movie. So I'm gonna go do that, just so I can relive my experience of when I first watched that movie in theaters.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.