Daredevil (2003) Review

Daredevil (2003)

Daredevil follows Matt Murdoch, a lawyer by day and vigilante by night, who, after the Kingpin hires Bullseye to kill him, must seek out those involved and bring them to justice, through his own brutal form of vengeance. 

Okay, hear me out…2003’s Daredevil is not NEARLY as bad as you remember it. Sure, it’s cheesy, leathery, and entirely without logic at times (looking you playground fight scene), but at it’s heart, this is a dark, tragic story of love, loss, and revenge that I found myself loving and even cheering for at times. Director Mark Stephen Johnson is clearly a huge fan of the source material and it shows, as there is a gritty and visceral style here that just pops, using a non-linear storyline (the first superhero movie to do so) to capture Matt’s internal struggle with his faith and what separates him from the seedy underbelly of Hell’s Kitchen. It’s only real fault in conveying these themes is that they’re all pretty rushed or hardly touched upon, hinting at Matt’s life as a lawyer and his disconnect from society but never diving into them. 

Obviously, there’s a lot of bad here too, mostly lying in Colin Farrell’s Bullseye, arguably the worst on-screen villain ever, with so much camp you could pitch a tent, but there’s also a lot to love between Matt’s origin story, the way his powers at represented through a type of sonar, and the gritty, stylistic approach the film takes in adaptation Daredevil. Not to mention the kickass score from Graeme Revell, that when paired with the rest of the very 2000’s heavy soundtrack, makes for the ultimate mood setter. 

We get a rather awesome cast as well, starring David Keith, Scott Terra, Joe Pantoliano, Jon Favreau, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jennifer Garner, and Ben Affleck. Affleck is admittedly not bad as Matt Murdoch, and while he does look a bit goofy in the suit, his portrayal sticks pretty close to the source material (even if he does mercilessly kill EVERYONE). Duncan however, nails it as the Kingpin, evoking a dominating, larger than life power and elegance that is just so damn cool. 

Daredevil, directed by Mark Stephen Johnson, is obviously a heavily flawed film, but for what it’s worth, it’s a thoroughly exciting, conflicting, and darkly artistic stab at The Man Without Fear that always felt like a passion project for all involved, even if it is lacking in all logic whatsoever. 

6.8/10