Grade:  C+

Director:  Mark Steven Johnson		Released:  February 2003
Writer:  Mark Steven Johnson		MPAA Rating:  PG-13
Players:  Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Jon Favreau, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Joe Pantoliano		Running time:  103 minutes

Ratings System

I wasn't expecting to like this film, but as a comic-book guy I had to see it.  I was skeptical that it would be true to the original characters; I didn't like the trailers; I thought Affleck was the wrong guy for the role.

I was mistaken.

For an appetizer, the movie has a nice look.  Kind of dark, but not too dark.  Nicely designed costumes, identifiable environments.  The main course is the character development and acting.  This is one of the few superhero movies that puts characters before plot, gadgets, and/or action sequences.  And the actors take their roles seriously with nobody going over-the-top (well, nobody except Colin Farrell).  Affleck turned out to be exactly the right guy to play Daredevil, and I'm quite surprised by that.

On the other side of the menu are nit-picks I have relating to the movie versions of the comic book characters.  First of all, The Kingpin is supposed to be white.  Big deal, you say?  Well, to me it is a big deal.  After 20 years of reading about him and seeing him as a beefy white guy wearing white suits, it's next to impossible to accept Duncan as The Kingpin.  And that's not to say that Duncan does anything wrong.  He makes a fine villain, he's just not Kingpin.  He's some other, un-named, villain.  Also, Kingpin isn't ruthless enough.  Bullseye throwing things that hit inches away from Kingpin's face?  Kingpin don't play that.  Bullseye should not have left the building alive.

And then there's Daredevil, he's a little too super-human.  Leaping off buildings, showing extraordinary strength ... it was a tad too much.  And I didn't care for the fight scene in the playground between Matt and Electra.  It just made no sense to me.

Overall, it's an enjoyable experience, and a well-done comic-to-film transition.

- crocoPuffs