Daredevil – The Director’s Cut (2003)

Daredevil – The Director’s Cut Review
Review #160

3/5 stars

Director – Mark Steven Johnson

Cast – Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau

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A blind Ben Affleck fights crime in 2003’s Daredevil. He is a lawyer, which puts him in an interesting ethical position. By day he defends the down-trodden and upholds justice, and then by night he kicks ass of those he believes are criminals. He isn’t awfully scrupulous about who he beats up, either… in one scene he beats up a whole biker bar to get to someone. He’s a very violent superhero, apparently not as particular about his rules as Batman, for example. Baddies end up kicked off steeples, faces smashed in, and thrown under trains. Hardly in the best tradition of the bar, surely.

Daredevil, or Matt Murdock as he is known at the bench, received his powers as a young boy, after an accident at the dock yards where he is blinded by an unnamed toxic substance. (Smack a “Hazardous Material” sticker on a barrel and it’s amazing what you can get away with.) He finds he is able to “see” with a primitive radar, and finds his other senses greatly enhanced. Soon after, his father, a boxer who is past his prime, is killed after refusing to throw a fight. This spurs Matt on to fight injustice no matter the cost.

On a side note, why the hell does every superhero have to be an orphan? Superman, Spider-man, Batman, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Wolverine… Those whose parents weren’t prematurely killed still have father issues, Iron Man and Thor for example. It seems an oddly specific affliction to give a group of characters. But, I digress.

Daredevil’s life becomes purely dedicated to rooting out evil-doers. His house is full of crime fighting gear and multiple replacement costumes. I sometimes wonder where these people find their tailors. I love it when movies go into a costume origin, ala Spider-man or Batman. Even the Fantastic Four. We don’t get that here, but I suppose we wouldn’t want too much of that. The origin story is (perhaps wisely) whizzed through, gotten out-of-the-way as neatly as possible. That is done well here, and the way Murdocks radar sense is shown is quite interesting. we get right into the story.

The story itself is fairly generic, and I won’t bother repeating it here, especially as its lack of flair really brings the movie down. There are some mildly interesting characters, from Bullseye, an anarchic Irishman with astonishing aim, to Jon Favreau’s character, Matt’s best friend. Some are less interesting, like Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, a rich girl who doesn’t like how her father tries to control her. (More daddy issues…)

The movie works best when delving into the murky side of New York society. There is a great morally ambiguous reporter (played by Joe Pantoliano), who is trying to find out Daredevils identity. The man who “owns the town”, Kingpin, is played excellently by Michael Clarke Duncan, who knows just the right amount of showmanship to bring to the role. There is another great little character, played by Coolio, whom Murdock defends in a murder trial. There is a flashy griminess to the movie that works very well with the source material.

Never in a superhero movie has it been more evident that the superheroes we all know and love are vigilantes, through and through. This is due to the juxtaposition of Murdock’s legal life and his other, extra curricular activities. Does he truly believe that all men deserve a trial by twelve men, good and true? I don’t think he does, and by extension he brings into light that most other superheroes mustn’t either. I suppose the Nolan Batman does bring his catches to the cops… but in general, superheroes seem to be our right-wing feelings brought to the fore. “If we know he’s guilty, just bring him to justice your own way!” The dangerous thing is how right it feels…

OVERALL

Daredevil: The Director’s Cut is an improvement over the original, and has a grimy likability. It’s story falters dramatically, however; it just doesn’t have anything that interesting. The actors bring their best to their parts, but can’t stop some cheesiness that finds its way in. Not an awful movie, but not great. A decent little middle-of-the-roader. I would recommend it to superhero fans, though!

NOTE: This review is part of a series called Superheroes: Bottom to Top, wherein I review every super-hero movie I own, from the lowest rated to the highest (according to Rotten Tomatoes). Up next is X-Men: The Last Stand.

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“Daredevil” on other websites:

IMDB —– Rotten Tomatoes —– Wikipedia

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89 – Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man 2 REVIEW

3.5/5 stars

Director – Jon Favreau

Cast – Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansen, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson

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– follows Iron Man

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Iron Man 2, directed by Jon Favreau, has hit theatres with quite a bit of expectation. The first movie in the franchise, Iron Man, was a surprise hit both with audiences and critics alike. Robert Downey Jr. returns to the role that got his career and respect back, and is joined by Mickey Rourke (another star who recently experienced a comeback), Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansen.

The plot concerns a Russian, Ivan Vanko, a mechanical genius who tries to get back at Tony Stark (Iron Man) for perceived injustices perpetrated against his father by Tony’s father, Howard Stark. Meanwhile, Tony discovers that his high-tech “artificial heart” is contaminating his blood stream, and must find a new element to stop the contamination. (I’m not sure what he needs a new element for; something to do with “soaking up” the toxins, something like that.)

While Iron Man 2 is a fairly decent movie, as is too often the case it cannot live up to its predecessor (which was over-hyped in the first place, in my opinion). Superhero sequels are often hurt by adding more villains, but this is not the case here. Mickey Rourke is quite good as Ivan Vanko. One look at him and you know he’s a bad SOB. Sam Rockwell is also good as the smarmy, in-over-his head weapons developer Justin Hammer. What almost ruins this movie though is predictable plotting, and resulting from that, an almost total lack of urgency.

To invent the new element needed to save his artificial heart, Tony Stark must decipher his fathers words and figure out why he was left a large-scale model of an exposition park. Unfortunately this portion of the movie takes about two seconds, and any potential suspense-wise that such an idea may have had is totally lost.

Throughout the movie we never feel that Tony may die due to his problems, so the movie is left with nothing to take you through than its action and witty quips. Now there are quite a few funny bits throughout, and the movie has a nice breezy tone, but the action sequences are fairly toned down for a super hero movie. This was a surprise, certainly, but I have yet to decide whether or not it was a pleasant one. On the one hand we aren’t bludgeoned over the head with pointless action, yet on the other hand the movie felt slow and a bit draggy. Either way, it left me a bit… unsatisfied. All in all, I think that’s a good way to describe the movie. Passable, but lacking what wit or spark the original may have had.

 OVERALL

Iron Man 2 is a fair enough movie, with some of the same ingredients of the (slightly over-rated) original. The villains are good, and some of the action is decent. But unfortunately the pace is off and the sense of fun isn’t quite up to par. It is better than many superhero movies however, and Robert Downey Jr. has created a quite likable character, so I do recommend it. Mainly to superhero lovers though…

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“Iron Man 2” on other websites:

IMDB —– Rotten Tomatoes —– Wikipedia

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