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Ben Affleck stars as the screen's latest comic book savior
Ben Affleck plays a lawyer by day and a superhero by night
20th Century Fox
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck do battle
20th Century Fox
Live-action comic books have a numbing sameness that robs them of suspense and surprise. They're hectic snapshots of stunts.
"Daredevil" works harder and succeeds better than any in years to establish background and conscience.
The Marvel comic character dates to 1964, but the film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson ("Simon Birch") suggests the character Matthew Murdock was born in the early 1970s.
Matt (Scott Terra) is a beleaguered boy in Manhattan's rough Hell's Kitchen section (since gentrified and renamed Clinton).
He's a good son to alcoholic boxer Jack Murdock (David Keith), who urges him to concentrate on an education.
Accidentally blinded by biohazardous chemicals and present for his father's brutal death, Matt (now played by Ben Affleck) emerges in present-day Clinton as law partner to the flip Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau).
By day, Matt takes pro bono cases.
By night, he dons a mask and leathery costume to become a semi-vigilante called Daredevil - only semi because the film suggests that the crooks conveniently do themselves in when confronted by him.
Daredevil uses his four remaining keenly developed senses, especially his bat-like hearing, to battle disreputable figures.
They include Wilson Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan), also known as Kingpin, and Bullseye (the ubiquitous Colin Farrell of "Hart's War," "Minority Report," "The Recruit" and the forthcoming "Phone Booth").
Matt's meeting, fighting and romancing of martial arts beauty Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) is the same-old same-old. She's just another super something.
And very little is made of fictional New York Post investigative reporter Ben Urich (Joe Pantoliano, who was the despicable Ralphie on "The Sopranos").
Robert Iler, who plays young Tony Jr. on "The Sopranos," appears here, too, as Bully No. 1.
Like Spider-Man, the allegedly human Daredevil scales buildings and navigates thin air so freely that any difference between them and Superman is negligible.
Matt is so extra-human in his dexterity that the depiction of him minimizes the very real challenges and accomplishments of the blind.
What distinguishes him is the film's peculiarly religious motif. He's a weekly penitent in the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation (formerly confession), although the film is so selective about what he broaches in the confessional (vigilantism but not the extramarital sex depicted) that the subject muddies quickly.
"Daredevil" notes in passing that Matt snacks on prescription drugs (at least it acknowledges wear and tear), sleeps in a water-filled coffin (Why?) and maintains a secret wardrobe room in his loft.
Curiously, he's unmasked by three people, including someone he can't trust. Looks like a plan for a sequel.
Different? Not enough. But there's something to be said for a superhero who professes as part of his credo, "Faith is all you need."
| 'Daredevil' |
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Stars: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan
MPAA Rating: PG-13, for action/violence and some sensuality
