The Daredevil Netflix series has just drop it’s season two trailer and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty anxious for more Daredevil. I’ve rewatched season one a bunch of times already, so I decided to rewatch the 20th Century Fox’s take on the character from the 2003 movie. Daredevil was directed by Martin Steven Johnson and stars pre-Batman Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, and Michael Clarke Duncan. The film was suppose to be Rated R, but was changed to PG-13 to attract a younger audience and cut 30 minutes of footage. The Rated R  version is said to be better than the PG-13 theatrical version…the version my parents bought me.

 

The Plot:

Matt Murdock (Ben “Batman” Affleck)is blinded after getting toxin chemicals spilled in his eyes, which I believe would have killed someone instead of giving them superhuman senses. Matt becomes a lawyer and the hero known as Daredevil to serve justice after his father was killed by the Kingpin for not throwing a boxing match. After a time skip, Matt meets a woman named Elektra, a daughter to a wealthy businessman who works for a man known as Wilson Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan). Fisk wants Elektra’s dad dead and have Bullseye (Colin Farrell) kill him and frame Daredevil, this plan somehow works as Elektra is totally convinced that Daredevil killed her father despite the small amount of evidence (One of his weapons is impaled into his chest while she sees Daredevil running away, and the editing of the film makes it looks like the kill happened right in front of her). She swears revenge, trains by slicing up flour bags, and somehow manages to overpower Daredevil, who was been trained by a blind ninja. Elektra beating Daredevil would make sense if the movie was more accurate in its adoption, as Elektra is a the top female ninja from a clan where Matt found his teacher, but the movie says that she just had martial arts training. You can make the argument that Daredevil was holding back, but still; he has superhuman senses. Bullseye shows up out of nowhere and curbstomps Elektra before killing her. Daredevil fights him in a church with some horrendous early CGI and throws him off the roof. Daredevil learns of Kingpin’s whereabouts and gets curbstomped himself, but finds a way to beat Fisk with the power of water.

 

The Pros:

The movie has a habit of recreating famous artwork into the big screen, making some of the heros and villains appearing epic and imposing. Michael Clarke Duncan as the Kingpin was just perfect, as he buff himself up to play 330 pound king of crime. Farrell as Bullseye was an interesting choice as this was the only movie where he has his natural Scottish accent, I have fun time watching him on screen since he looks like he’s having as much fun as I am. I also loved the backstory of Matt’s childhood and seeing him learn about his new superhuman abilities

 

The Cons:

The movie focuses on the romance than the action, something I really don’t want to see in superhero movies. The soundtrack is pretty awful, having songs from Nickelback, Evanescence, and forgettable nu-metal bands from the early 2000s. Daredevil is sometimes out of character, he claims to not be the bad guy but frequently kills criminals through subway train or throwing them off a window. The pacing can get rather boring at times and Ben Affleck as Daredevil just didn’t work, this was before Affleck was at his peck of his acting ability as his lines are delivered in a monotone voice and he has this weird facial expression throughout the movie.

 

Overall:

Daredevil the movie…is just there. The movie has some moments, but the bad outweighs the good and that’s not something people want to see in a movie. The movie’s Rated R director’s cut is suppose to cut less on the romance and even has Cholio as a drug dealer, but I recommend staying away from this movie and stick with the Netflix series. The final for Daredevil is ⅖, the pacings bad, Ben Affleck is boring, Electra was boring, but the villains were awesome and that’s about it. What would you do to make this movie better?