Daredevil: REVIEW

(Daredevil Movie Review)
Well, Scott did most of the spade work with his review so let me just give you impressions

Ok, peeps are 50/50 on Ben Affleck, myself included, even though I do bear a shocking resemblance to him to a woman with really bad nearsightedness and astigmatism : )

Ben Affleck comes off as I have imagined Daredevil to be ... he has the right vibe to him, thats really all that need to be said ... he has blindman avenging hero down

Ok, about the movie itself, it has the FEEL of Frank Miller Daredevil ... but not necessarily the SOUL of Frank Miller Daredevil

To comic book fanboys, as present company are, this is kind of a sticking point ... yeah, you can feel Frank Millerish ... Batman (1989) very millerish ... Unbreakable (2000) ... hella Millerish, not even Miller

It FEELS like Miller ... the goofiness of Foggy, the Murdock pal; the charming, winning qualities of Murdock; the grit of DD and his disposal of Hell's kitchen vermin

The SOUL is not there ... yes we see the pain and the agony visually ... we just DONT FEEL it ... or at least I didnt ... my GF liked the movie, but not as much as Spiderman ... again I think her problems with it, like mine ... were about FEELING the movie

So okay, what else? the movie is eerily similar to BATMAN in style ... I dont think it distanced itself or distinguished itself enough to where people who are not comic book fans would go ... ok, the black guy and the red guy, so what''s the difference, whats the big deal, anyways?

As a comic geek (cmon what did you expect me to say ... afficionado prime?) ... I think Batman and Daredevil both experienced their heyday with Miller at the control ... therefore my word of the day, Millerish ... or Milleresque

I think for both of the characters ... you had these humans who didn't necessarily have 'superpowers" in the conventional sense ... although DD the movie played the 'altered human" card pretty heavy ... much like in Spiderman, Peter Parker after being bitten becomes an 'altered human" ... in comics, DD is a blind human, with heightened senses, but not really an "altered human" ... get it? not really, lets move on

anyways, both Batman and DD had to train themselves in the fighting arts to get to a point where they were effective avengers of the night

Ok, so back from my tangent, I like the painting of DD as a character given the limitations of the format ... he comes off as DD should

Electra deserved a better fate ... yes, Jenny Garner is every bit of that vulnerable looking, hottie eye candy ... but the character needed to be drawn with more clarity, more elaboration ... they just throw her at us, no mention of assasin, brief mention of training, and boy can she fook up a bag of sugar that looked eerily reminiscent of Tom Hank's CASTAWAY Wilson

Kingpin, well if you can get beyond the obvious ,,, white/black ... ok, moving on ... Kingpin comes off like DeathRow Records Suge Knight ... like this thug dude and not with Kingpin elegance and intellect that carries him in the comics

No Stiltman, and No The Owl� after covering so many issues in this movie, they might have been in there too.

Now, on to the part that even the man who should avoid fatty foods can agree on (South Park reference, check episode titles, hint)

Bullseye is really played brilliantly, even sans the black otter seal looking costume ... For the purposes of this movie, he WORKS

The BSE character in this movie is so enamored of his skill and so filled with ennui by the lack of good challenges to his skill ... so now he kills them with bar peanuts, paperclips, walking canes, playing cards, and shards of glass ... it becomes darkly humorous, when viewed this way ... what if I can kill you now with my last puffed Chee-To ... HA HA , I CAN!!!

I can't even express how perfect the character is in the context of the movie, even outside his comic book background ... i felt that this guy is like the embodiment of Miss Benatar's We Belong to the Night ... err, um Hit me with your best shot

John Favreau as Foggy ... splendid
He is just that good at meeting that supporting character, the superhero's best friend ... he gets the Jimmy Olsen award for best performance as a supporting comic book friend ... he's happy go lucky, clueless at times, always straight from the heart, looking for his profit angle, and always confounded that Murdock the blind man gets the chix

ok now I heard like everyone else, that Ben wasnt first pick ... Matt Damon ... passed, thank GOD .... Ed Norton passed ... couldve been a better BSE but not DD ... Guy Pearce, the dude from Memento ... cmon now, you have got to be kidding

All you have to see is Murdock grin when fighting Electra in the playground to know ... yeah i admit it, Affleck has pulled it off

How Affleck facially reacts when he smells Electra in the room at the ball ... not only is that good direction, but really good acting ... because this is even before jenny G comes into frame

Remove some loose teeth, lay in the water coffin (WHAT?!?!?) ... use the stick in the subway to sonar out the crook ... classic DD
even if I can't remember that in the comics

ok so how about the romance, you know the one ... second only to Scott and Jean's in that ill fated Uncanny 129-137 you know the ones ...

Well, its not quite Catwoman and Bats from the Bats sequel; its not even "can you read my mind" good from margot and christopher reeves (in Superman)

(Ed's note: 3/29 --- If you get the chance, watch South Park this Sunday night on Comedy Central for a new look at "Chris" Reeves ... )

Its kinda good, and seeing how there's really not many comic movies to pull from with "substantial romantic" elements ... its 4th distantly behind spidey and mary jane from last year

ok, the movie here is about Matt's finding his place and his morality ... but somehow we have transposed a love story in here (that honestly pales in comparison with the legendary comic based tale) ...

Here's where the SOUL of this movie can be found (IF ANY) ... that's why I am a little disappointed with the final result ... BSE steals the show, does the counting your chickens before they hatch villain confession thing and reveals (squeals to a "dying DD") Kingpin killed Matt's thug father ... ok ok

I would have played the cards like this, leave Kingpin in the shadows to fight later ... the SOUL of both DD and the red suited chica is that they are deadly lovers ... they live for vengeance ... they'd as soon OFF each other, that was the appeal and the irony of their comic relationship ... they had deep, violent sides that may have needed to be appeased with each other's blood ... the violence, the vengeance, these elements paint the whole of the two characters ... they BIND the two characters as much as the LOTR saying goes

Broken souls that hunger for vengeance ... yeah very very Millerish ... its not only darkness and foibles that make Miller great ... it is the broken people

DD and Electra, the pieces of their souls fit ... you dont get that in enough of a dose to give this movie a soul ... thats the appeal of the ill-fated love between them in the comic books ... they are perfect for each other because they are imperfect ... hoo, psychobabble 2 da max

That's precisely what is missing and makes the movie ALMOST great ... well more like, its a C+ for the fanboys, a B for the general audience

The thing that peeves me is this about the recent MARVEL movies ... they put together good movies, but not great movies ... and its irritating because they are SO DAMN CLOSE

DD is brutal like a Woo film, dark like Miller time, but it doesnt have enough soul. The characters just lack that little bit more of realism and humanity, given their superhuman qualities

so in the words of Mr. Stan the cross the street man in the movie ... ALMOST Excelsior

(Images (c) 2003 Marvel Comics)