Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Fox Home Entertainment– 124 minutes – 2003 – Unrated – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – DTS HD 5.1 Lossless Audio

There are good comic book based movies, (Spiderman, Iron Man, The Dark Knight); there are bad ones (The Punisher, Superman Returns, Batman & Robin), and then there are those that are not horrible, but they have some major issues that bring them down. This is the case with the big screen adaptation of the Marvel Comics hero Daredevil. This could have been a film that matched the ranks of the better-received superhero movies, but bad casting, a lazy script, and lack of originality placed it in the mediocre box. Daredevil is now available on Blu-ray from Fox Home Entertainment, but after five years it still hasn’t settled the score.

THE MOVIE

Daredevil begins with the blind avenger (Ben Affleck), wounded after a fight, finding a place to hide in a church in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen. A flashback unfolds going into the origin of Matt Murdock as a young boy growing up on the tough streets, raised by his father Jack Murdock (David Keith), who is a down on his luck boxer who is a puppet for the mob. Matt wants his dad to stay away from these shady characters, but Jack is in too deep, indirectly causing his son to have his eyes splashed with radioactive material, that causes him to become permanently blind.

Matt’s accident takes away his sight but heightens his ability to hear everything around him with such detail that he can see it. But his new talent can’t help his father, who is killed by a rising mob boss known as The Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). This makes Matt decide to dedicate his life putting criminals behind bars, so he grows up to become a lawyer, starting his own firm with his pal Foggy (played by future Iron Man director Jon Favreau). By day Matt fights for the rights of citizens as a lawyer, but once night falls, he gears up with a red costume to become Daredevil, fighting criminals who the law can’t get.

No hero would be complete without two things, a love interest and an enemy; so to add to the mix Daredevil encounters a mysterious woman, Electra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), who by a twist of fate becomes the blade-swinging assassin Electra. The man known as the Kingpin, who killed Matt’s father, also hires a killer calling himself Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who can turn any object he holds into a lethal projectile. Our hero now has to deal with these three individuals, who all want to see him taking a dirt nap, and stop them in a way only a Marvel superhero can.

The main issue with Daredevil is that the filmmakers tried to throw way too much into the debut movie, which they did hope would spawn sequels. The first Spiderman movie worked because the story was directed towards the main character and there was only one villain to deal with. Daredevil attempts to be unnecessarily complex by pitting the hero against three villains, The Kingpin, Electra, and Bullseye, all in one shot. Both Electra and Bullseye are important characters in the Daredevil comics, but in the film they are miscasts. Jennifer Garner was cool kicking butt on the TV show Alias, but she can’t pull off the character Electra, making her look like a bad imitation of Wonder Woman. And Colin Farrell is ridiculous as Bullseye, playing him more as a clown than a serious threat. The only character that actually works id The Kingpin, played very coolly by Duncan, who steals the movie every time he’s on screen, which is exactly what the bad guy should do.

Ben Affleck is another reason why it’s hard to cheer for Daredevil, because he’s basically sleepwalking through the role. Affleck has demonstrated his charm, and even his tough guy stuff in other movies, but here he’s not even trying. During the fight sequences it’s obvious there’s a stuntman wearing the costume; and when Affleck is doing his blind Murdock impression, he looks like a bad method actor. The movie would have been better if The Kingpin was the only villain Daredevil had to deal with, giving the filmmakers more of a chance to develop the Matt Murdock/Daredevil character without dealing with two other villains that take his thunder away.

Director Mark Steven Johnson, who also helmed another Marvel comic film, Ghost Rider, seems to be trying to do to many things at once, and what seemed like a good idea in his head is not be translated in front of the camera. It seems like he’s trying to make the film look like Batman, but ends up doing just that, with Daredevil hanging from the gargoyles molded into building and standing high above rooftops. This Blu-ray offers the director’s cut of the film, which is twenty minutes longer, but doesn’t really add that anything that would make Daredevil a better film, looking like just a bunch of add-ons and extended scenes that you would normally see in the bonus features of a DVD.

Daredevil’s comic book fan base is huge, and the desire of seeing red avenger on the screen was in demand, but even though the film is better than most comic adaptations, there was so much room for improvement. Five years later rumors are swirling about re-inventing the character in a new film, but hopefully it’s not too late, because like Spiderman and Batman, if handled with care by a director who can handle a dark story, it will be better than what was delivered the first time around.

VIDEO

This Blu-ray offers a full 1080p image in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and it looks solid, blowing the standard DVD out of the water. Most of the actions in Daredevil takes place at night, so the cinematography stands out delivering strong blacks with minimal grain. Colors are exaggerated, delivering that graphic novel feel, with Daredevil’s costume filmed in a way that it both stands out and blends in with the darkness. For those of you who own the DVD, this is a definite step up.

AUDIO

Featuring a DTS HD Master 5.1 mix, Daredevil sounds great, offering everything you expect to hear in a film in this genre filled with explosions, gunfire, and a lot of breaking glass. Dialogue, sounds decent, even though Affleck is mumbling most of the time, and Farrell’s accent is all over the place; the mix is still solid and worthy of cranking up your speakers.

EXTRAS

The Blu-ray offers all of the supplements from the DVD special edition, which is a hefty amount of stuff, but being a port they are all in standard definition.

Mark Steven Johnson and producer Avi Arad provide an audio commentary track that offers some insights into what went into bringing the blind avenger to the big screen.

‘Behind Hell’s Kitchen’ is an hour long doc that goes behind the scenes of the film, including interviews from the casts and filmmaking team.

‘The Men Without Fear’ also runs an hour and is must for daredevil fans, going into the heart of the character as he appeared in comics, including talks with comic book writers.

A production featurette allows you to see Jennifer Garner’s screen test, making you wonder if there was anyone better who read for the part.

‘Shadow World Tour’ is a quick five-minute piece that shows how unique Daredevil’s powers are, and how he uses them to fight his foes.

Three music videos from the film’s soundtrack features the bands Fuel, The Calling, and Evanescence.

A trivia track plays over the film, allowing you to test your Daredevil I.Q.

Finally there’s a still gallery, storyboards, and trailers from the film.

BOTTOM LINE

As a film on its own, Daredevil may be hard to swallow, but as a full Blu-ray package offering the director’s cut as well as nearly six hours of extras, it’s definitely worth owning. Daredevil has a legion of fans, so it’s inevitable that one day soon, just like the Hulk, someone will tap back into it in hopes of making it a cash cow like Spiderman and The X-Men. This Daredevil film is a decent attempt, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. A must buy for fans…and a guilty pleasure for the rest.

SCORES (out of 5):

The Movie: 2.5

Video: 4.0

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 4.0

Bottom Line: 3.5