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The Main Characters
--Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Ben Affleck) is a blind lawyer. Toxic chemicals blinded him but those same toxins heightened his other senses to the point where he has a radar vision. He became a superhero called Daredevil to fight crime.
--Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) is the daughter of a crime boss. When her father wants to leave the mob scene, the Kingpin has him killed and Elektra thinks Daredevil did it. She seeks him out and uses her ninja training to fight him. Of course, she doesn’t know that Daredevil is her current love interest, Matt Murdock.
--Bullseye (Colin Ferrell) is the Kingpin’s top assassin. His name is Bullseye because he never misses. He is the one who killed Elektra’s father and Daredevil is on the hunt for him.
--Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) is a well-known businessman with a huge empire to his name. Many don’t suspect him of being the man behind all the crime, the Kingpin. He is a towering man and his strength belies his overweight texture.
The Setting
Hells Kitchen, New York City
The Plot
This movie employs the start near the end of the movie then brings people up to date routine. The near end here being Daredevil falling down into a church, beaten up. The priest runs in and he unmasks Daredevil, and he already knew it was Matt Murdock. Matt mentions his life passing before his eyes. Young Matt grew up in Hells Kitchen. His dad is a washed up prizefighter and was called, Jack “The Devil” Murdock. Matt’s mother is nowhere to be found (she left to become a nun in the comics). He tells Matt not to fight and to make something of himself. Matt hears that his father is working for a crime boss and one day is shocked to learn it’s true! He runs away crying and runs right in front of a forklift carrying dangerous toxic chemicals. An accident occurs and Matt is blinded. He is surprised to see that his other senses have been heightened to superhuman proportions. He developed a sort of a radar sense that allows him to “see” better than a normal person. Also at this time, his father had started boxing again and winning a lot. Jack Murdock learns they were all set up and he’s ordered to lose his next fight. He fights but wins, due to Matt being in the audience cheering him on, and later on a man who would become the Kingpin kills Jack as a result.
We fast forward and Matt is a lawyer who works with long time friend Foggy Nelson (played excellently by Jon Favreau). They do pro-bono work and when a client Matt represents loses her case, Matt seeks his own justice as Daredevil, a costumed superhero that is still an urban legend in NY. Matt also meets a beautiful yet dangerous woman named Elektra. They form a close friendship, a love interest actually and she invites him to a party her father is throwing. The father is leaving the mob scene, while working under the Kingpin, and wants to move away. Kingpin finds this unacceptable and orders him killed. He calls his best assassin, Bullseye, an Irish man with a bad temper and perfect aim. He kills Elektra’s father but in the confusion, Elektra mistakes Daredevil as being the assassin. Daredevil had tried to help, but in the end, Bullseye used one of Daredevil’s sticks to impale Elektra’s father.
This leads the movie on a wild ride. Elektra wants revenge on Daredevil and Daredevil wants revenge on Bullseye and the Kingpin. There’s also a sub-story of beat writer, Ben Urich, trying to find out Daredevil’s true identity. Daredevil also goes through a soul-searching process when he chases a crook and beating him for information in his home and the man’s son watching. Daredevil says he’s not the villain, which resonates in him for a while. Will Daredevil be able to tell the woman he loves he’s not responsible? Will he save her from death? Will Matt get his revenge? Also, stick around after the credits roll to get a Bullseye scene.
Movie Review
I saw this movie long ago when it came out, and I enjoyed it a bit. I think since I was a big comic book fan, I always look for what was there in the movie that was in the comic. So in a way, I came out a bit disappointed. They changed his origin somewhat, and they made Daredevil more of a Spider-Man like character who flies around rooftops and all. After watching it with a blind eye turned towards all I knew about the comics, I found out that the movie was actually pretty decent. I don’t like Ben Affleck movies, but he did well as Daredevil. Duncan as the Kingpin does really well and although they changed the race of Kingpin from movie to comic, this one was warranted, as Duncan would’ve done better than anyone else and he fit the character so damn well. Jennifer Garner was amazing as Elektra but the real star, in my opinion was Bullseye. Colin Ferrell seemingly had fun with the character and he had enough silly lines and quirky edge to make the character work. The movie is by no means a classic and as Marvel movies go, there are ones better (if I were to rank, it’d be Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man, X-Men, X-Men 2, Punisher, Daredevil, and Hulk), but this movie isn’t bad either. It has a dark edge, which fits, since Daredevil is blind, and it’s an enjoyable 2-hour action romp that stays basically true to the comic version. For example, the fight between Elektra and Bullseye was almost panel for panel from the comic book, Favreau was great as Foggy Nelson, and the little nods to all the Daredevil writers and artists were great. Eagle-eyed fans will also see cameos by Stan Lee, Frank Miller, and Kevin Smith. This as it stands is a decent Marvel movie. I hear they’re making an Elektra sequel, which makes sense due to the ending, and I would be interested in seeing it since I’m a comic dork. **.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc One---
1) Enhanced Viewing Mode
With this mode on, when an Icon flashes on the screen, you press enter and unlock some special scenes on the evolution of Daredevil narrated by visual effects producer John Kilkenny. Here are the scenes and what they unlock.
--A) When the rat is running across at the bottom.
This is a reconstruction of the opening scene and how it was done on CGI, with three different options to view it on. One is the animatic version, two is the green screen scene and the third option is both at the same time.
--B) When Daredevil is running on the roofs for the first time
It goes over the rooftop sequence.
--C) Right before Daredevil beats up the guy in front of his son.
It’s the scene where DD is sitting on the ledge waiting for crime.
--D) After DD kicks Bullseye off the motorcycle.
Shows DD kicking Bullseye off and all the tests they did in CGI.
--E) After Bullseye stabs Elektra
It basically shows the stabbing scene.
--F) When DD falls off the organ pipe in the church.
Shows the whole scene prior to this.
--G) When DD shows up to fight Kingpin
Animatic of DD before going to confront Kingpin that never made the movie as well as a scene of DD leaving the church. It also shows putting the costume into CGI. It’s by far the longest of the effects extras.
Overall, it’s not too bad, if you can wade through the whole movie for what’s about 10 minutes worth of CGI stuff.
2) Feature Commentary
Director/screenwriter Mark Steven Johnson and producer Gary Foster do the commentary, and it’s really unbelievable. Its just two guys chilling watching their movie. They use some choice language that most commentaries don’t have. It makes you feel like you’re there watching with them. Another great thing is that they point out the things they didn’t like in the movie and all the fuck-ups in the movie which most commentaries I listen to don’t have. It’s really a great commentary that has to be listened too.
3) Text Commentary
Much like the Spider-Man movie, little text blurbs pop up throughout the film giving notes about production, the characters, and just the Marvel Universe in general. It’s in widescreen, so they have the text on the bottom as to not intrude on the film. It’s an alright feature, not as in depth as the Spider-Man one, but it’s good for a once through.
4) DVD-Rom
There’s a comic book chronology of sorts, character information, multimedia (wallpaper basically) and a sensory test, which is pretty neat.
---Disc Two---
This is divided into two parts, the film and the comic book.
---The Film---
1) “Beyond Hell’s Kitchen” Making Daredevil
This is an hour long making of that can also be watched in Enhanced Viewing Mode. In advanced viewing mode, you will be taken to 6 mini-featurettes within this making of. They are: Costume Design (3:02), LA for NY (2:22), Combat Choreography (4:15), Smoke and Fire (3:34), Film Work (:59), and Seeing with Sound (5:37). You can also view them individually from the enhanced mode index. There’s just tons of information on those mini-featurettes and then there’s an hour long making of to boot. The making of is really interesting, and it covers just about anything anyone would want to know.
2) Jennifer Garner Screen Test
This is Jennifer’s 2 and a half-minute screen test. They do the scene in the restaurant when Matt and Elektra first meet, when she and Matt talk after their fight (with some dialogue not used in the film to boot) and a Jennifer Garner body shot. I always like looking at screen tests.
3) Multi-Angles Dailies
You can choose between the Kingpin/Daredevil takes or the Bullseye/Elektra takes.
--A) Kingpin/Daredevil
The show takes 1 and 2. You can choose between Camera 1, 2 or a composite of both.
--B) Bullseye/Elektra
They show 4 takes of this and you can choose between three different cameras, or all of them.
Both of these are fun to look at just to see the process of filming it and the editing they had to do.
4) Featured Villain: Kingpin
A 2 and a half-minute look at Daredevil’s most feared villain, the Kingpin Wilson Fisk. Some of this interview can be seen in the next featurette.
5) Daredevil: HBO First Look Special
This is a 25-minute HBO featurette that is hosted by Jennifer Garner. It’s actually one of the better one of these HBO featurettes I’ve seen, as they go from everything from the comic to the movie. The actors and directors basically talk the whole time about the movie and it’s just awesome to hear.
6) Moving Through Space: A Day With Tom Sullivan
This is an 8 and a half-minute feature on Tom Sullivan. What makes Tom Sullivan so special? He was the blind consultant on the Daredevil and he was blind since birth. Really amazing how this guy lives.
7) Theatrical Trailers
There are three different Daredevil trailers, a trailer for 28 Days Later and a trailer for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
8) Music Videos
There are three music videos and a music promotion spot. The first video is Fuel’s “Won’t Back Down.” It’s 3 and a half minutes long and a pretty good song. The second is The Calling’s “For You,” which is 3 minutes 45 seconds long and another decent rock song. The third and final video is “Bring Me To Life,” by Evanescence. It’s my favorite song of the three actually and it runs about 4:16. The music promotion spot is just a 30 second commercial for the soundtrack.
9) Still Gallery
The usual gallery fare, it’s separated into 5 section: Story Boards, Costumes, Set Designs, Production Stills and Props.
---The Comic Book---
1) Men Without Fear: Creating Daredevil
This is an hour-long feature specifically on the creation of Daredevil. Basically, they interview everyone who’s ever been associated with Daredevil. Fucking awesome I believe are the words to describe this. To quote Kevin Smith on not using Elektra since it was Frank Miller’s character. “It’s one thing to go into your dad’s closet and wear his clothes, it’s another thing to fuck your dad’s wife.”
2) Shadow World Tour
This is a 6-minute feature on Daredevil’s “Shadow World” and they show it in comic book and movie form. Pretty cool stuff.
3) Modeling Sheets
Basically, just bios on the main people in the movie (DD, Elektra, Bullseye, Kingpin and Foggy Nelson).
B) Audio/Video
The video is presented in widescreen anamorphic (2.35:1) and does really well. It’s a dark movie and it handles the darkness perfectly. The audio is presented in either Dolby Surround 5.1 or DTS Surround 5.1. There’s also a French and Spanish track (using plain old Dolby Surround) and English, French and Spanish subtitles.
C) Liner Notes
It’s 4 pages long. The front is the cover, the back is the scene index while the two inside pages list the contents of disc one and disc 2. There’s also a coupon book.
D) Easter Eggs
On disc two, go to the film portion of the extras. Select Beyond Hells Kitchen, Making Daredevil, highlight play and press left to highlight Elektra’s sai. Hit enter to get a 6-minute blooper reel. The stuff with Jon Favreau is hilarious.
Overall Review
The movie may have been a bit under whelming at times, but the DVD kicked all kinds of ass. The extras on disc two were absolutely stunning in variety and scope and the comic book section was the best. The interview with all the writers/artists associated with Daredevil was the best feature I’ve seen on a Marvel DVD, and ranks really highly as one of the greatest period. Maybe I’m just such a comic geek, but they give you almost every bit of information about the film and spare no expense in going into its great comic history
Overall Rating
9.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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