Lexmark3200
07-17-2005, 01:45 AM
THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR.
Mark Steven Johnson's cinematic vision of one of the darkest characters in Marvel Comics history simply bombed at the box office.....but I liked it. While it's clear Johnson is no Sam Raimi when it comes to understanding comic book material and adapting it for the big screen, and while it's sure as hell no Spider-Man, Daredevil contains awesome (if at sometimes unbelievable) fight sequences and, to me, was cast correctly for the lead with Ben Affleck turning in a good rendition of the demons his character, Matt Murdock/Daredevil, endures and how they torment him --- I believe this was accurately portrayed from comic to screen through Affleck. Most didnt agree, especially scholarly film critics (and you all know how I feel about them) who ripped this motion picture apart when it debuted theatrically. I remember leaving the theater with my cousin and a friend pretty impressed. The villians weren't really what you would call "spot-on" as they were perfectly cast in the Spider-Man films, but in the end, it wound up being what a comic book motion picture should be --- a film loaded with the actions of a hyper-angry vigilante kicking everyone's ass who he deems "unacceptable" in the eyes of his own justice. And there are some great examples of that in Daredevil.
While I was not a fan of the comic series prior to seeing the film, there are some camps of fans who say the picture rendition didnt really follow the Matt Murdock character as accurately as it could, while some argue that it was spot-on, especially with Affleck's role as Murdock. Affleck, as stated, plays Matt Murdock, a lawyer living and working in the "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood of New York City, who was blinded as a young boy when some acidic hazardous waste was accidentally thrown into his eyes. As the film explains to us through Affleck's narration (some argue that these scenes are not fleshed out enough in the picture --- that before we know it, Murdock becomes this red leather-clad vigilante without understanding how or how he trained, which is explained in detail in the comic series through a mysterious figure named "Stick" who supposedly trained Matt to hone his skills; there is a DIRECTOR'S CUT of this DVD that is supposed to clear some of this up, but this review is centering on Fox's original two disc DVD release), after the accident that blinds him, Matt's other senses become extraordinarily enhanced --- to the point that he develops some kind of "radar sense" that allows him to "see" things through vibrations in objects and under environmental conditions such as rain. As he explains in the narration, Affleck's character "trained his mind and his body" as a boy, polishing these new sense skills he is developing to compensate for the blindness. His father, a boxer, named Jack "The Devil" Murdock, is murdered when Matt is a boy, and he takes the name of his vigilante counterpart from his father's nickname and vows revenge on all criminals.....the usual reason comic characters become comic characters.
But Daredevil, of almost all of Marvel's characters, was much darker than Spider-Man or even DC's Batman in that he didnt really believe in bringing criminals to justice --- he simply killed them when he could and felt relief about it. I believe Affleck portrayed this pretty accurately in his rendition of Murdock, but that could be argued, I know. And a big problem with Johnson's film version of this Marvel character, again, was that there is really no "story" behind how exactly he becomes Daredevil.....where in Spider-Man we have a great build-up story explaining how Peter gets bitten by the radioactive spider and begins getting stronger and climbing walls --- which Raimi does brilliantly so there was no need for a prequel (a la Batman Begins), in Daredevil all we get is an approximately twenty minute narration from Affleck explaining how as a boy, after his father died (and before) he began training and honing his "sense skills"; but once the film flash forwards to Murdock as a grown man, working as a lawyer, he suddenly dons his red leather Daredevil outfit and becomes "The Man Without Fear" and we are left with no explanation as to how he made his costume, how this counterpart of his developed.....pretty much everything Raimi got right in the Spidey film. The picture, nearly less than a half hour into it, jumps right into Affleck getting into his Daredevil outfit and going after his first target: a rapist who was found innocent in a trial Affleck attended and worked on.
Michael Clarke Duncan turns in a pretty good role here as the main villian, "The Kingpin" who is not portrayed in the comic as being of any particular racial makeup --- just portrayed as a massive, hulking character which Duncan is fit for because he just looks MASSIVE in this (when does he not, though? Interesting that he played again with Affleck in Michael Bay's Armageddon) and Johnson felt that it did not really make a difference that the actor portraying Kingpin would be African American because the comic does not make a big deal of it. The plot regarding The Kingpin is a bit shallow, and I am not sure if it was the same way in the comics, but the background story seems to be that this "Kingpin" is running all the crime in New York City --- and who was also responsible for killing Murdock's father in the beginning of the film, but he doesnt know it yet. This is the basis of the Daredevil backbone story, that one man is in control of all the crime in the city, and it just seems a bit ridiculously weak to me in terms of villian development. Collin Farrell turns in a better role as the other villian Daredevil faces, "Bullseye" who is a hitman for hire hailing from Ireland and who has a knack for killing people with on-target deadly results. This character development for this villian also felt a bit "rushed" as before we know it, the Kingpin is calling on Bullseye to do some dirty work for him --- mainly kill Jennifer Garner's father who is a business partner with the Kingpin and who wants out of the operations --- and flies in from Dublin to New York (with some really bad CGI shots of the jet plane he flies in) and his character is introduced to us in a big hurry, with no history behind the villian, no story, no reason, nothing......which was the whole problem with Daredevil --- as I have been saying, it felt way, way too rushed and underdeveloped, which I thought was the only problem; I dont know if the Director's Cut of the DVD flshes these issues out, but I have been told not that much in terms of character development. I suspect, because Affleck is already refusing to return for a sequel, that the next film will unfortunately be a prequel approach to Matt's training to become Daredevil, as every director now is not going to be able to resist doing after Batman Begins.
Speaking of the sexy Jennifer Garner, this was another ridiculous (in my opinion) character development, as she plays Elektra Nachios, daughter of the man The Kingpin hired Bullseye to kill; of course, while killed in this film during a fight with Bullseye, her character was resurrected in her own feature film. Why was her character ridiculous? Well, I know it is suggested and according to the comic, she was trained at a young age, to be a martial arts expert of some kind, but the way this is portrayed in the film is just laughable in my opinion --- as they meet in a coffee shop and eventually fall in love with each other after an absolutely ridiculous fight scene between the two of them in a playground, Affleck and Garner dont know the secret identities they are each hiding, much like Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton in Batman Returns. It is only until Bullseye kills Garner's father and sets up Daredevil to make it look like he killed him by throwing Daredevil's main stick weapon right into Garner's father's chest, does Garner become a vigilante herself, training by kicking around some sand bags and cutting them open with special weapons called "Cy's" and honing her martial arts training to the appropriate Evanesence song "Bring Me To Life." Again, before we know it, Garner's beautiful tits are popping out of a skin tight leather outfit she "makes" herself (but we dont "see" the process of her becoming "Elektra") as she goes after Daredevil herself thinking he killed her father. A rooftop fight scene ensues between Elektra and Daredevil, with Elektra not knowing that under the red mask is her boyfriend Matt Murdock --- but what I never understood about this fight sequence is how Elektra kicks Daredevil's ass pretty good (something very hard to do for any villian he faces) and even manages to drive a Cy into his shoulder, wounding him badly, and yet she gets her ass kicked and eventually killed in her next fight with Bullseye. Huh?
Wounded and weak but driven with rage and revenge for killing Elektra, Daredevil and Bullseye meet face to face for a pretty awesome fight sequence in a church --- unfortunately, the AWFUL use of CGI in this scene just ruins what is a great hero/villian matchup. Daredevil chases Bullseye up onto the church's massive organ pipes (which look ridiculously animated and fake) where they battle each other --- Bullseye ripping pieces of the pipes off to swing at Daredevil, and Daredevil using his stick weapon to shoot a special cord out of it to wrap around Bullseye's neck --- it's a great fight scene, but it just looks so HORRIBLY fake as the two of them are jumping around like animated video game characters on these organ pipes. Eventually, after having his ass pretty much handed to him by Daredevil and running out of weapons (everything he throws at Daredevil ---- which is Bullseye's main talent --- is simply defunct because Daredevil is too fast for Bullseye and simply flips out of the way of any object coming at him) Bullseye finds Daredevil's "Kryptonite" in loud noises, which seem to throw his "special sensing powers" off; and so Bullseye uses the banging of the loud organ pipes to bring Daredevil to his knees. During this sequence, it is revealed to Daredevil that Carlton Fisk (Duncan) --- a businessman in town --- is the real "Kingpin" behind all the crime in the city and it is then that Daredevil realizes it was the Kingpin that murdered his father after Bullseye admits it all before what he thinks is Daredevil's murder at his own hands. As Bullseye seeths "The Devil IS mine....." as he is about to drive a stake into Daredevil's chest, our red leather clad hero stops Bullseye from ramming the stake into him, and instead, because of his super sensitive hearing, manages to have a bullet fired from a New York City Police sniper that comes right through the church window go right through Bullseye's hands, rendering him powerless. As Bullseye begs for mercy, Daredevil picks him up and throws him right out the chruch window, where he goes crashing into Joe Pantiolano's (a New York Times reporter investigating the Daredevil myth) car below on the street. Daredevil looks down at the street from the church window and hisses "Bullseye......."
Of course, as with all comic films, a final hand to hand combat scene closes the film, where a somewhat still wounded Daredevil goes after The Kingpin now knowing he is responsible for all the crime going on in the city, and mainly, for killing his father when he was a boy. As they meet in Fisk's (The Kingpin) office, Duncan is already waiting for Daredevil, and begins to simply and literally wipe the floor with Daredevil, throwing him around his office like a sack of potatoes; clearly, Daredevil is not the stronger of the two.....but, once badly wounded by The Kingpin in this fight, and his mask taken off by The Kingpin, revealing himself to Duncan as "the blind lawyer from Hell's Kitchen," Daredevil figures out a way to get the upper hand and defeat The Kingpin in this fight --- like all heroes do in these films. Daredevil manages to smash the operating unit which turns on the sprinkler system of Kingpin's office, enabling him to use his radar sense to "see" Kingpin more clearly.....regaining his strength, Daredevil once again goes hand to hand in a punching contest with Kingpin and eventually slides under Kingpin's legs and uses all his strength to kick his knee caps right out. Kingpin falls to the floor, screaming in agony, and although this was the man responsible for killing his father, the Devil does not kill Kingpin.....instead, saying to him "I'm not the bad guy"......a bit confusing, being that this is a Marvel character that would pretty much KILL any criminal with his bare hands if he could because of the darkness surrounding his character and yet he lets the man who killed his father fall into the hands of the law. And this is something that is explored in the Matt Murdock character earlier on in the film as well, when after beating up a criminal working for The Kingpin he tells a little boy cowering in fear next to him "Im not the bad guy, kid...." This was a struggle within the character that attempted to be explored by Johnson.
This obviously set up story sequences for sequels, being that The Kingpin isn't dead --- nor is Bullseye, who survived the fall from the church window as seen during the end credits in a clever fashion.
Some things I just didnt understand about Johnson's film vision of this Marvel character was the issues with Murdock's blindness --- I mean, we are lead to believe that unless there is some kind of vibration of objects or rain falling, he cannot see as a normal blind individual wouldn't be able to.....but, there are times it seems as if he is looking RIGHT at someone and can see them fine with no problems, or during fight sequences when it seems like he can see just perfectly the foe in front of him; this seemed a bit inaccurate on Johnson's behalf, and I can sight many instances, including the scene where Bullseye arrives on his motorcycle in New York City to kill Garner's father --- and Daredevil comes flying down from a building to stop him and is looking right AT Bullseye as if he can see him (Affleck, by the way, plays this cold, angry, fearless Matt Murdock character perfectly, in my opinion, from behind his red mask); this seemed a bit odd. There are other moments, as well, such as when Daredevil is fighting Bullseye in the church and it seems like Daredevil can see Bullseye just fine in certain moments when he stops and just looks at him; I mean, CAN he see, or CANT he? Thats just something that bothered me a bit.
As I noted, Affleck already refused (but this cant be confirmed) to sign on for a sequel as he seems to have no interest in the character, and there is much speculation as to where this franchise could go for a sequel --- my vote is that it is going to be a kind of prequel unfortunately because like I said, just way too much "background" information was missed here by Johnson regarding Murdock's training to become "Daredevil" and it seemed like the film was rushed just to get it into theaters. Still, I enjoyed this better than Ang Lee's The Hulk as I thought Eric Banna was a terrible choice for Bruce Banner, as well as The Punisher with Thomas Jane and John Travolta, which was just a smoldering piece of dog vomit in my opinion in terms of comic to film adaptation, and one of Travolta's worst performances.
And, like I said, there is an exclusive DIRECTOR'S CUT of this film now out on DVD (well, its been out for awhile) which I am told eliminates much of the sappy love interest material between Murdock and Elektra, and fleshes out the story a bit, but I cant comment because I havent seen it. But all in all, Fox has delivered a great two disc edition of this original cut of the film, loaded with extras and a demo-worthy DTS track on the feature disc.
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS:
DUAL LAYER FULL SCREEN 1:33:1 TRANSFER
Because I bought this DVD when I was running a 27" Sony 4:3 TV, I went with the FULL SCREEN version, but on my 55" 16X9 Mitsubishi, the image filled the screen just fine in STANDARD mode. The look of this film is far from perfect and so is the transfer --- but it was FULLY intentional on director Johnson's behalf; there is an intentional "grittyness" that runs through the film stock to give the film a "newsreel-like" look and the transfer itself is drenched in a weird greenish hue for a stylized look to Daredevil --- but as I said, this was fully intentional by the filmmakers.
AUDIO SPECIFICATIONS:
ENGLISH DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1, ENGLISH DTS 5.1, SPANISH DOLBY SURROUND, FRENCH DOLBY SURROUND, ENGLISH & SPANISH SUBTITLES
When this two disc DVD came out, its DTS track was considered the demo track of the time --- and it definitely was. Yet it seems the more I play this DTS 5.1 mix (and it does best the Dolby track on board) the less I am impressed with it after hearing material like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down in DTS flavor --- but thats not to say that this is NOT an active track because it IS.....it just doesnt WOW me as much anymore as when I first popped it in my system.
Pretty loud and aggressive, there is constant surround usage on the DTS mix --- from the haunting opening score to any scene where Daredevil is using his radar sense --- the audio draws you into this film, no doubt. The whole soundstage is constantly alive and brewing; LFE on the track is pretty damn awesome, too ---- most memorable and wall-shaking is the scene in the beginning where young Matt Murdock is in the hospital after his blinding accident, and the camera closes up on his I.V. bag dripping --- this is accompanied by MASSIVE wallops of bass which may make you recalibrate your sub's settings if they're up too high, believe me. Also worth noting and a good vote for a demo-worthy scene is when Daredevil goes after his first target in the beginning, the rapist who was acquitted --- during this scene in the bar where he tracks this guy down, the audio is simply stunning --- bullets flying, bottles breaking, Daredevil's radar sense ripping through the surround channels --- everything comes together nicely here and cant be appreciated without a surround system. During this scene, you may be tempted to say "hey----something is wrong with my system!" as the audio tends to get hushed and muted and then breaks back into a wild screaming loudness with bullets and cries of guys getting their asses kicked by Daredevil --- but nothing is wrong with your system. The scene's audio was developed that way.
DISC ONE Features:
-Full Length Director and Producer Commentary
-Enhanced Viewing Mode --- Takes You Behind the Scenes as You Watch the Film
-On Screen Trivia Track
-DVD ROM Content --- Comic Book Chronology, Web Links & More
DISC TWO Features:
-2 All New 60 Minute Documentaries
-6 Production Featurettes
-Multi Angle Scene Studies
-Jennifer Garner Screen Test
-Kingpin Featurette
-3 Music Videos
-Much More
Mark Steven Johnson's cinematic vision of one of the darkest characters in Marvel Comics history simply bombed at the box office.....but I liked it. While it's clear Johnson is no Sam Raimi when it comes to understanding comic book material and adapting it for the big screen, and while it's sure as hell no Spider-Man, Daredevil contains awesome (if at sometimes unbelievable) fight sequences and, to me, was cast correctly for the lead with Ben Affleck turning in a good rendition of the demons his character, Matt Murdock/Daredevil, endures and how they torment him --- I believe this was accurately portrayed from comic to screen through Affleck. Most didnt agree, especially scholarly film critics (and you all know how I feel about them) who ripped this motion picture apart when it debuted theatrically. I remember leaving the theater with my cousin and a friend pretty impressed. The villians weren't really what you would call "spot-on" as they were perfectly cast in the Spider-Man films, but in the end, it wound up being what a comic book motion picture should be --- a film loaded with the actions of a hyper-angry vigilante kicking everyone's ass who he deems "unacceptable" in the eyes of his own justice. And there are some great examples of that in Daredevil.
While I was not a fan of the comic series prior to seeing the film, there are some camps of fans who say the picture rendition didnt really follow the Matt Murdock character as accurately as it could, while some argue that it was spot-on, especially with Affleck's role as Murdock. Affleck, as stated, plays Matt Murdock, a lawyer living and working in the "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood of New York City, who was blinded as a young boy when some acidic hazardous waste was accidentally thrown into his eyes. As the film explains to us through Affleck's narration (some argue that these scenes are not fleshed out enough in the picture --- that before we know it, Murdock becomes this red leather-clad vigilante without understanding how or how he trained, which is explained in detail in the comic series through a mysterious figure named "Stick" who supposedly trained Matt to hone his skills; there is a DIRECTOR'S CUT of this DVD that is supposed to clear some of this up, but this review is centering on Fox's original two disc DVD release), after the accident that blinds him, Matt's other senses become extraordinarily enhanced --- to the point that he develops some kind of "radar sense" that allows him to "see" things through vibrations in objects and under environmental conditions such as rain. As he explains in the narration, Affleck's character "trained his mind and his body" as a boy, polishing these new sense skills he is developing to compensate for the blindness. His father, a boxer, named Jack "The Devil" Murdock, is murdered when Matt is a boy, and he takes the name of his vigilante counterpart from his father's nickname and vows revenge on all criminals.....the usual reason comic characters become comic characters.
But Daredevil, of almost all of Marvel's characters, was much darker than Spider-Man or even DC's Batman in that he didnt really believe in bringing criminals to justice --- he simply killed them when he could and felt relief about it. I believe Affleck portrayed this pretty accurately in his rendition of Murdock, but that could be argued, I know. And a big problem with Johnson's film version of this Marvel character, again, was that there is really no "story" behind how exactly he becomes Daredevil.....where in Spider-Man we have a great build-up story explaining how Peter gets bitten by the radioactive spider and begins getting stronger and climbing walls --- which Raimi does brilliantly so there was no need for a prequel (a la Batman Begins), in Daredevil all we get is an approximately twenty minute narration from Affleck explaining how as a boy, after his father died (and before) he began training and honing his "sense skills"; but once the film flash forwards to Murdock as a grown man, working as a lawyer, he suddenly dons his red leather Daredevil outfit and becomes "The Man Without Fear" and we are left with no explanation as to how he made his costume, how this counterpart of his developed.....pretty much everything Raimi got right in the Spidey film. The picture, nearly less than a half hour into it, jumps right into Affleck getting into his Daredevil outfit and going after his first target: a rapist who was found innocent in a trial Affleck attended and worked on.
Michael Clarke Duncan turns in a pretty good role here as the main villian, "The Kingpin" who is not portrayed in the comic as being of any particular racial makeup --- just portrayed as a massive, hulking character which Duncan is fit for because he just looks MASSIVE in this (when does he not, though? Interesting that he played again with Affleck in Michael Bay's Armageddon) and Johnson felt that it did not really make a difference that the actor portraying Kingpin would be African American because the comic does not make a big deal of it. The plot regarding The Kingpin is a bit shallow, and I am not sure if it was the same way in the comics, but the background story seems to be that this "Kingpin" is running all the crime in New York City --- and who was also responsible for killing Murdock's father in the beginning of the film, but he doesnt know it yet. This is the basis of the Daredevil backbone story, that one man is in control of all the crime in the city, and it just seems a bit ridiculously weak to me in terms of villian development. Collin Farrell turns in a better role as the other villian Daredevil faces, "Bullseye" who is a hitman for hire hailing from Ireland and who has a knack for killing people with on-target deadly results. This character development for this villian also felt a bit "rushed" as before we know it, the Kingpin is calling on Bullseye to do some dirty work for him --- mainly kill Jennifer Garner's father who is a business partner with the Kingpin and who wants out of the operations --- and flies in from Dublin to New York (with some really bad CGI shots of the jet plane he flies in) and his character is introduced to us in a big hurry, with no history behind the villian, no story, no reason, nothing......which was the whole problem with Daredevil --- as I have been saying, it felt way, way too rushed and underdeveloped, which I thought was the only problem; I dont know if the Director's Cut of the DVD flshes these issues out, but I have been told not that much in terms of character development. I suspect, because Affleck is already refusing to return for a sequel, that the next film will unfortunately be a prequel approach to Matt's training to become Daredevil, as every director now is not going to be able to resist doing after Batman Begins.
Speaking of the sexy Jennifer Garner, this was another ridiculous (in my opinion) character development, as she plays Elektra Nachios, daughter of the man The Kingpin hired Bullseye to kill; of course, while killed in this film during a fight with Bullseye, her character was resurrected in her own feature film. Why was her character ridiculous? Well, I know it is suggested and according to the comic, she was trained at a young age, to be a martial arts expert of some kind, but the way this is portrayed in the film is just laughable in my opinion --- as they meet in a coffee shop and eventually fall in love with each other after an absolutely ridiculous fight scene between the two of them in a playground, Affleck and Garner dont know the secret identities they are each hiding, much like Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton in Batman Returns. It is only until Bullseye kills Garner's father and sets up Daredevil to make it look like he killed him by throwing Daredevil's main stick weapon right into Garner's father's chest, does Garner become a vigilante herself, training by kicking around some sand bags and cutting them open with special weapons called "Cy's" and honing her martial arts training to the appropriate Evanesence song "Bring Me To Life." Again, before we know it, Garner's beautiful tits are popping out of a skin tight leather outfit she "makes" herself (but we dont "see" the process of her becoming "Elektra") as she goes after Daredevil herself thinking he killed her father. A rooftop fight scene ensues between Elektra and Daredevil, with Elektra not knowing that under the red mask is her boyfriend Matt Murdock --- but what I never understood about this fight sequence is how Elektra kicks Daredevil's ass pretty good (something very hard to do for any villian he faces) and even manages to drive a Cy into his shoulder, wounding him badly, and yet she gets her ass kicked and eventually killed in her next fight with Bullseye. Huh?
Wounded and weak but driven with rage and revenge for killing Elektra, Daredevil and Bullseye meet face to face for a pretty awesome fight sequence in a church --- unfortunately, the AWFUL use of CGI in this scene just ruins what is a great hero/villian matchup. Daredevil chases Bullseye up onto the church's massive organ pipes (which look ridiculously animated and fake) where they battle each other --- Bullseye ripping pieces of the pipes off to swing at Daredevil, and Daredevil using his stick weapon to shoot a special cord out of it to wrap around Bullseye's neck --- it's a great fight scene, but it just looks so HORRIBLY fake as the two of them are jumping around like animated video game characters on these organ pipes. Eventually, after having his ass pretty much handed to him by Daredevil and running out of weapons (everything he throws at Daredevil ---- which is Bullseye's main talent --- is simply defunct because Daredevil is too fast for Bullseye and simply flips out of the way of any object coming at him) Bullseye finds Daredevil's "Kryptonite" in loud noises, which seem to throw his "special sensing powers" off; and so Bullseye uses the banging of the loud organ pipes to bring Daredevil to his knees. During this sequence, it is revealed to Daredevil that Carlton Fisk (Duncan) --- a businessman in town --- is the real "Kingpin" behind all the crime in the city and it is then that Daredevil realizes it was the Kingpin that murdered his father after Bullseye admits it all before what he thinks is Daredevil's murder at his own hands. As Bullseye seeths "The Devil IS mine....." as he is about to drive a stake into Daredevil's chest, our red leather clad hero stops Bullseye from ramming the stake into him, and instead, because of his super sensitive hearing, manages to have a bullet fired from a New York City Police sniper that comes right through the church window go right through Bullseye's hands, rendering him powerless. As Bullseye begs for mercy, Daredevil picks him up and throws him right out the chruch window, where he goes crashing into Joe Pantiolano's (a New York Times reporter investigating the Daredevil myth) car below on the street. Daredevil looks down at the street from the church window and hisses "Bullseye......."
Of course, as with all comic films, a final hand to hand combat scene closes the film, where a somewhat still wounded Daredevil goes after The Kingpin now knowing he is responsible for all the crime going on in the city, and mainly, for killing his father when he was a boy. As they meet in Fisk's (The Kingpin) office, Duncan is already waiting for Daredevil, and begins to simply and literally wipe the floor with Daredevil, throwing him around his office like a sack of potatoes; clearly, Daredevil is not the stronger of the two.....but, once badly wounded by The Kingpin in this fight, and his mask taken off by The Kingpin, revealing himself to Duncan as "the blind lawyer from Hell's Kitchen," Daredevil figures out a way to get the upper hand and defeat The Kingpin in this fight --- like all heroes do in these films. Daredevil manages to smash the operating unit which turns on the sprinkler system of Kingpin's office, enabling him to use his radar sense to "see" Kingpin more clearly.....regaining his strength, Daredevil once again goes hand to hand in a punching contest with Kingpin and eventually slides under Kingpin's legs and uses all his strength to kick his knee caps right out. Kingpin falls to the floor, screaming in agony, and although this was the man responsible for killing his father, the Devil does not kill Kingpin.....instead, saying to him "I'm not the bad guy"......a bit confusing, being that this is a Marvel character that would pretty much KILL any criminal with his bare hands if he could because of the darkness surrounding his character and yet he lets the man who killed his father fall into the hands of the law. And this is something that is explored in the Matt Murdock character earlier on in the film as well, when after beating up a criminal working for The Kingpin he tells a little boy cowering in fear next to him "Im not the bad guy, kid...." This was a struggle within the character that attempted to be explored by Johnson.
This obviously set up story sequences for sequels, being that The Kingpin isn't dead --- nor is Bullseye, who survived the fall from the church window as seen during the end credits in a clever fashion.
Some things I just didnt understand about Johnson's film vision of this Marvel character was the issues with Murdock's blindness --- I mean, we are lead to believe that unless there is some kind of vibration of objects or rain falling, he cannot see as a normal blind individual wouldn't be able to.....but, there are times it seems as if he is looking RIGHT at someone and can see them fine with no problems, or during fight sequences when it seems like he can see just perfectly the foe in front of him; this seemed a bit inaccurate on Johnson's behalf, and I can sight many instances, including the scene where Bullseye arrives on his motorcycle in New York City to kill Garner's father --- and Daredevil comes flying down from a building to stop him and is looking right AT Bullseye as if he can see him (Affleck, by the way, plays this cold, angry, fearless Matt Murdock character perfectly, in my opinion, from behind his red mask); this seemed a bit odd. There are other moments, as well, such as when Daredevil is fighting Bullseye in the church and it seems like Daredevil can see Bullseye just fine in certain moments when he stops and just looks at him; I mean, CAN he see, or CANT he? Thats just something that bothered me a bit.
As I noted, Affleck already refused (but this cant be confirmed) to sign on for a sequel as he seems to have no interest in the character, and there is much speculation as to where this franchise could go for a sequel --- my vote is that it is going to be a kind of prequel unfortunately because like I said, just way too much "background" information was missed here by Johnson regarding Murdock's training to become "Daredevil" and it seemed like the film was rushed just to get it into theaters. Still, I enjoyed this better than Ang Lee's The Hulk as I thought Eric Banna was a terrible choice for Bruce Banner, as well as The Punisher with Thomas Jane and John Travolta, which was just a smoldering piece of dog vomit in my opinion in terms of comic to film adaptation, and one of Travolta's worst performances.
And, like I said, there is an exclusive DIRECTOR'S CUT of this film now out on DVD (well, its been out for awhile) which I am told eliminates much of the sappy love interest material between Murdock and Elektra, and fleshes out the story a bit, but I cant comment because I havent seen it. But all in all, Fox has delivered a great two disc edition of this original cut of the film, loaded with extras and a demo-worthy DTS track on the feature disc.
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS:
DUAL LAYER FULL SCREEN 1:33:1 TRANSFER
Because I bought this DVD when I was running a 27" Sony 4:3 TV, I went with the FULL SCREEN version, but on my 55" 16X9 Mitsubishi, the image filled the screen just fine in STANDARD mode. The look of this film is far from perfect and so is the transfer --- but it was FULLY intentional on director Johnson's behalf; there is an intentional "grittyness" that runs through the film stock to give the film a "newsreel-like" look and the transfer itself is drenched in a weird greenish hue for a stylized look to Daredevil --- but as I said, this was fully intentional by the filmmakers.
AUDIO SPECIFICATIONS:
ENGLISH DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1, ENGLISH DTS 5.1, SPANISH DOLBY SURROUND, FRENCH DOLBY SURROUND, ENGLISH & SPANISH SUBTITLES
When this two disc DVD came out, its DTS track was considered the demo track of the time --- and it definitely was. Yet it seems the more I play this DTS 5.1 mix (and it does best the Dolby track on board) the less I am impressed with it after hearing material like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down in DTS flavor --- but thats not to say that this is NOT an active track because it IS.....it just doesnt WOW me as much anymore as when I first popped it in my system.
Pretty loud and aggressive, there is constant surround usage on the DTS mix --- from the haunting opening score to any scene where Daredevil is using his radar sense --- the audio draws you into this film, no doubt. The whole soundstage is constantly alive and brewing; LFE on the track is pretty damn awesome, too ---- most memorable and wall-shaking is the scene in the beginning where young Matt Murdock is in the hospital after his blinding accident, and the camera closes up on his I.V. bag dripping --- this is accompanied by MASSIVE wallops of bass which may make you recalibrate your sub's settings if they're up too high, believe me. Also worth noting and a good vote for a demo-worthy scene is when Daredevil goes after his first target in the beginning, the rapist who was acquitted --- during this scene in the bar where he tracks this guy down, the audio is simply stunning --- bullets flying, bottles breaking, Daredevil's radar sense ripping through the surround channels --- everything comes together nicely here and cant be appreciated without a surround system. During this scene, you may be tempted to say "hey----something is wrong with my system!" as the audio tends to get hushed and muted and then breaks back into a wild screaming loudness with bullets and cries of guys getting their asses kicked by Daredevil --- but nothing is wrong with your system. The scene's audio was developed that way.
DISC ONE Features:
-Full Length Director and Producer Commentary
-Enhanced Viewing Mode --- Takes You Behind the Scenes as You Watch the Film
-On Screen Trivia Track
-DVD ROM Content --- Comic Book Chronology, Web Links & More
DISC TWO Features:
-2 All New 60 Minute Documentaries
-6 Production Featurettes
-Multi Angle Scene Studies
-Jennifer Garner Screen Test
-Kingpin Featurette
-3 Music Videos
-Much More