Review of Daredevil (2003)

Ahh, Daredevil. Out of all the superheroes adapted into film, Daredevil perhaps had some of the greatest potential of all. Too bad somebody forgot to tell Fox, Mark Steven Johnson, and pretty much everybody involved with the film.

Daredevil is a popular Marvel comics character most famous for what he can't do: see. Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer by day and Daredevil, super senses crime fighter by night. Daredevil has been in production as a comic for decades, and has a veritable cornucopia of stories to choose from when it comes to adapting his persona to film. All of this went out the window. Why? Three words: Mark. Steven. Johnson.

Director and writer Mark Steven Johnson is a huge fan of Daredevil, or so he claims. Why he killed the franchise before it began, then, is a huge mystery. Let's not just say he's a horrible director and be done with it, though. We'll break down the individual elements.

First, the writing. Mark Steven Johnson, the director, is also the writer. I can't really begin to say how awful it was. Every movie depends on good writing to be successful. Without good writing, the rest of the film will suffer immensely. That is most certainly the case with Daredevil. It's hard to pick out certain elements of the script that were not good, as most of it is a shining example. It's all here, folks: over the top dialogue, silly random fight scenes, pointless characters, cheap death as a plot device, and forced romance. There's nothing here that seems finished and crafted and it's a shame because everybody else involved in this movie deserved better.

Let's talk about the casting for a moment. There's lots of big names here. We've got Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, and Michael Clarke Duncan as the four main characters. Ben Affleck receives a lot of criticism from the general public, but looking at his filmography you see that he has turned in some solid performances in the past. Jennifer Garner I'm honestly not very familiar with, and in this film she's the worst of the four main characters. Though not particularly bad, she's quite wooden as both the bad girl and the romantic interest. Colin Farrell and Michael Clarke Duncan star as Bullseye and Kingpin respectively, the film's villains. I think they're both capable actors but like every other person in this film, they cannot showcase their skill under the feeble direction and writing of Mark Steven Johnson.

The original music for the film is underwhelming. Disappointing since Graeme Revell has shown to be quite capable in the past. Perhaps he read the script and knew Daredevil was a dead end. My biggest beef with the film lies in it's other music selections. Nearly every scene in this movie features some abysmal nu metal or top 40 rock song blaring far too loudly in the background. This alone takes the movie from barely watchable to completely unwatchable. I am serious, I have not seen a movie with a more obtrusive annoying soundtrack than Daredevil. Shame on everybody involved for letting such a silly thing take over the movie.

Cinematography is good enough. The editing in this movie has taken serious criticism, though I have no doubt that most of the cuts made to this movie were on Fox's behalf. Most likely to create a movie more accessible to what they perceive as the mindless masses of zombies that give them money for their shoddy work. The casting is very solid, but once again with this script these actors had no chance from the start. The sets and art look very nice. Hell's Kitchen has a dark, gritty feel and a noticeably drab, dirty exterior just like the comics. The special effects speak for themselves, extremely and painfully noticeable.

Overall, I give this movie a 3 out of 10. It only receives of 3 based on the effort of everybody besides Mark Steven Johnson. Keep this guy away from superhero movies, please.