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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 Film (2:13:02)
Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer by day, and vigilante at night, dressing up as Daredevil to mete out his own brand of justice. Even though he lost the ability to see due to an accident with radioactive materials, his other four senses were heightened incredibly, giving him a radar sense that no normal person can have. His father was a boxer and was killed by mobsters for not throwing a fight and since then he has decided that justice will always be served, be it in a court or on the streets. He operates out of Hell’s Kitchen, a notorious village under control of a man named Kingpin. The Kingpin controls all crime in the Kitchen and was even involved the death of Matt’s father. He even kills a very powerful billionaire who used to work with him that wants out. Of course, due to Matt’s terrible luck, this man was the father of the woman he has just taken an interest in named Elektra Natchios. Elektra blames Daredevil for the death of her father and vows to exact revenge. Daredevil knows it is Bullseye and tries to take out the assassin who never misses as well as the Kingpin himself.
Movie Review
Well, this is the director’s cut so there are some scenes in here that’re not in the movies. For one Matt tells his dad that something is happening to him with his powers, some more stuff at the bar, more scenes before he enters his water chamber after serving justice to Quesada, more of Matt joking around with Foggy before Elektra walks in (with a joke about Fight Club, and Matt losing a seeing eye dog), another scene of Matt learning Elektra has a bodyguard and her father is a famous man. We see a scene of Kingpin killing his bodyguards when he first appears on screen, and a scene with Coolio. Coolio plays a criminal that Matt and Foggy may represent, and Matt uses his super-hearing to tell that Coolio is not lying about killing a friendly-neighborhood prostitute with Matt and Foggy’s investigation. That is the bulk of the extra footage (Matt investigating the case, missing a day in court for Elektra’s father’s funeral and Foggy floundering, as well as Urich giving Matt a hot tip on the case. Murdoch takes the cop for a ride in his car). There’s a scene of Bullseye walking through a metal detector at an airport, one with Matt and Elektra where Elektra says her mother was killed in front of her eyes (this was on the rooftop). Matt goes to a church after beating up the thug in front of his kid and speaks to the priest there. Do these scenes make the movie any better? I don’t know. I thought the original was pretty damn good despite the general disdain for it. I think it had to due with the anti-Affleck sentiment at the time but the years have been kind to this film. Affleck is still believeable as Daredevil and does the role well. He was built well enough to make me think he could be Daredevil. Jennifer Garner as Elektra was a decent casting choice, obvious because of her work in Alias and I don’t have any big problems with her acting in this. Michael Clark Duncan was awesome as Kingpin and is definitely the only one who could’ve played the role. The switch from him being white in the comic to African-American in the movie made sense here since I can’t think of an actor who could’ve pulled it off better. I always loved Colin Ferrell as Bullseye. He pulls off the crazy assassin perfectly. Overall this is still a well-casted movie and well-written. The director’s cut definitely gives it a darker feel (worthy of an R-rating) and a lot more of the story is fleshed out. We see more of Matt as a lawyer and his altar ego interfering with his professional career. I don’t think you’re necessarily missing anything by not seeing the Director’s Cut. It didn’t change this from say Batman & Robin to Batman Returns, but it did make for a better story. For those people who wanted a darker version of the film, this is it. Overall, I’d give this one about *** stars, a full star improvement over the original review. My opinions have changed a bit since then it appears.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc One---
1) Feature Commentary
Director/screenwriter Mark Steven Johnson and producer Avi Arad are on this commentary. Mark jokes that all the images in the Marvel logo sequence are actually of Dazzler. Mark says they took some things out from the original since they didn’t want the same movie. Mark had actually written little origin stories for all the characters which sadly weren’t used. They talk about a lot of other things, especially why some scenes were cut, general problems with the film and some CGI effects and for the whole 2 hours they make it entertaining. There really weren’t any issues of extended silence which is always good in a 2-hour film. This was an enjoyable commentary.
2) Featurette (15:28)
This is a very interesting featurette on the director’s cut, with comments from Mark, Gary Foster and Avi talking about what was cut, why it was cut and the reasonings behind the cut not being shown on the original DVD. Mark speaks extensively about the cuts and how the director’s cut stacks up against the theatrical cut. This was a pretty good featurette to see how the Director’s cut came into being.
3) Trailers
---A) Alien Vs. Predator (0:56)
---B) I, Robot (0:35)
I, Robot has the guitar solo from My Generation in it, which is pretty cool. This is like a commercial which I liked.
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. The transfer is actually very good. The deleted footage is just as good as the ones that weren’t cut. Great stuff here.
C) Packaging/Liner Notes
The cover of the DVD is just awesome, just a very stark red DD logo on the all black cover. Other than that, there is a single page of liner notes. The front is the flaming DD logo and the back shows the chapters, all 44 of them.
D) Easter Eggs
None that I could find.
Overall Review
Overall, this was pretty good. The theatrical cut had so many extras and was so extensive I don’t know what else they could’ve added on here. This usually sells for pretty cheap on Amazon (usually around $15.00) and it’s a good deal, especially if you either a) liked the original movie or b) wanted a darker more fleshed out film. You also get a commentary from Mark and Avi, which was very entertaining, and a good featurette that focuses only on the director’s cut version. Like I said, I don’t know which film was better but they were definitely both enjoyable. For the value, it’s a great deal, and recommended.
Overall Rating
8.0
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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