Daredevil (2003) Movie Review - Theatrical & Director's Cut

Blind justice deserves better than a rushed story and a soap opera love angle. Bullseye hams it up, Kingpin’s barely sketched, and nuance is nowhere in sight. Thankfully, the director’s cut redeems itself somewhat.

Genre: Action / Crime / Sci-Fi

Director: Mark Steven Johnson

Cast: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Joe Pantoliano, Leland Orser, Ellen Pompeo, Coolio, David Keith & Erick Avari.

Run Time: 103 min.

US Release: 14 February 2003

UK Release: 14 February 2003

German Release: 20 March 2015

Daredevil – Theatrical Cut — WARNING, THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! —

To celebrate the upcoming launch of the Daredevil TV series on Netflix, April tenth, I created this review on the old neo-noir conversion of 2003, released by 20^th Century Fox. The film didn’t garner too much support among the fans of the blind hero, criticising the lack of character development and Ben Affleck’s performance as Matt Murdoch a.k.a. Daredevil.

Daredevil is the superhero movie adaptation of the Marvel comics of the same name, and was directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the man who brought us the 2007 Ghost Rider movie. It follows the story of the blind lawyer Matt Murdoch (Affleck), who fights for justice as the masked vigilante Daredevil during the night, and his crusade against the crime lord Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan). Also starring in the film are Jennifer Garner as Murdock’s love interest Elektra Natchios and Colin Farrell as the hitman Bullseye.

One of the major issues this film is suffering from is its overcrowded plot. There is too much happening on screen, preventing audiences from focusing on the central plot, which is Matt Murdoch’s struggle with the American judicial system. One of those side narratives that diminishes the presence of the central narrative dramatically is the romantic side-arc between Daredevil and Elektra, who emerges from being a side character to nearly taking over as the lead in the movie.

The dark and gritty atmosphere used during the nightly vigilante scenes in Hell’s Kitchen was constructed very good and served as a harder contrast to the light and somewhat misplaced funny moments with Murdoch’s partner Foggy Nelson (John Favreau).

As stated before, the character development in this movie is very weak. The movie doesn’t elaborate much on the special relationship between Matt and his father, which ultimately drives him to become a lawyer during the day and a vigilante at night. Another thing that bugged me was how they portrayed young Matt’s training above the city of New York. It felt forced and too rushed. On that note, I don’t understand the problem viewers had with Ben Affleck’s performance. Apart from the constant voice-over throughout the movie, his acting as a blind man was actually not bad.

Jennifer Garner’s casting as Elektra Natchios was a poor choice, apart from the fact that they made her the co-lead character during the second act of the movie for no specific reason, the role clearly proved to much for her to handle. Critics panned Garner’s wooden acting for a good reason, and I don’t think she truly understood the character of Elektra.

Michael Clark Duncan as Kingpin is brilliant; he not only has the physique of the comic book's biggest crime lord, but he portrays him as good and accurate as he is drawn in the graphic novels. Unfortunately, the character is underdeveloped, and I would have wished for more screen time when it came to the Kingpin, and it is something I couldn’t understand, as he is Daredevil’s nemesis and the main villain of the movie.

Colin Farrell’s Bullseye portrayal can be described in three words: Over-the-top! I like Farrell as an actor; he is very talented, but this was not a good performance. Like Garner, I believe he didn’t understand his character.

The dialogue developed for this comic book adaptation was mediocre. While the chemistry between Matt Murdoch and his law partner Foggy Nelson, was solid, his relationship with Elektra felt forced and was written in the most boring and cheesy way. In contrast, the lines delivered from Murdoch’s alter ego really managed to give me shivers when threatening criminals, you really believe the masked man would crush a thorax just to prove a point.

Murdoch’s internal struggle, trying to figure out if he truly is the good guy he believes himself to be, was a good addition to the script; sadly, it wasn’t explored further and put in the shadows of the overgrowing love subplot. Affleck’s voiceover during the beginning and end of the movie was wooden and lacked any kind of emotion.

Like the dialogue, the cinematography is mediocre as well. Lighting was mostly good, but there were some scenes playing during the night, where it was hard to follow what was happening. Some fight scenes were filmed sloppily and confused me, not to mention the poor CGI used during the battle between the “Man Without Fear” and Bullseye riding a motorcycle. My favourite scene in the movie is the beginning when the camera slowly follows dribbles of blood up the wall of a church, until we find Daredevil on the top of the roof.

The musical score used in this film was appalling and by far the worst part of the movie. Instead of creating an original orchestral score, which would have suited this superhero flick much better, Mark Steven Johnson decided to go for every “Top 10” pop-rock song of 2003. This makes the movie unnecessarily cheesier than it actually is and gives it a cheap touch.

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Verdict: for the theatrical version of Daredevil: Johnson tried to stay true to the source material, something I appreciate about this movie, but the problem is that he does not quite comprehend the characters of Matt Murdoch, Elektra and Kingpin, nor their story. The most important aspects in this superhero flick were rushed or simply dropped to make space for a forced love story. I give Daredevil (The Theatrical Version) a 4.0 out of 10.

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Daredevil – Director’s Cut

This cut of Daredevil took me by surprise. I am used to the fact that Director’s Cuts usually integrate or remove scenes in a movie, but when Mark Steven Johnson released his version of Daredevil, it became a completely different movie. With over 30 minutes of extra material and cuts made to the cheesy love scenes, Daredevil becomes an actual good superhero movie to enjoy.

Of course, the horrible musical score is still in it and not all cheap one-liners were removed, but with the addition of scenes like Matt Murdock’s investigation in a murder case with Foggy Nelson, or the expanded scenes of his childhood, Daredevil became a much clearer picture.

Still, the movie remains too packed. Between the story of Matt Murdoch’s vendetta, the reporters' expanded story on his investigation of Daredevil and Elektra’s revenge subplot it is hard to focus on one narration.

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Verdict: Nevertheless, the Director’s Cut is a definitive improvement of the film, minimising the cheesy romance and cutting down on popular pop songs of the era. It therefore deserves a 6.0 out of 10.