Image courtesy of moviemania.io
Hello, everyone. For the first time this year, I’m doing an Anniversary Review, and it’s one that while it did do well when it came out, what we got from a critical and audience perspective was not what we deserved to see. As it turned out, it wasn’t what we were meant to get, either.
Folks, for this review, I’ll be covering the first adaptation of a certain Marvel Comics character, before Netflix came along and perfected it. At some point I do hope to cover the show. For right now, though, I’m just covering the movie.
I had seen the Theatrical Cut many times since it came out back in 2003, but up until 2020, I had never seen the Director’s Cut, which I had heard was the superior version.
Thus, this review will mainly focus on the Director’s Cut, so I will be doing a different format.
Like the hero upon losing his sight, we ultimately did get something back in return. His remaining senses became enhanced, while we received the version initially intended for theaters when it hit DVD, even though it wouldn’t be for another year.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present my review of Daredevil.
In his home of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, 12-year-old Matt Murdock loses his sight after toxic waste splashes into his eyes.
However, not only are his remaining senses sharpened, but he also gains a radar sense that allows him to see better than anyone. Not long after, tragedy strikes when his father is killed. Matt vows to stop all crime in Hell’s Kitchen from then on.
Years later, Matt has become a lawyer, running a firm with his best friend Franklin “Foggy” Nelson. Fighting crime doesn’t stop in the courtroom for him, as at night, he hunts down criminals as Daredevil, the Man Without Fear.
He will have to rely on more than just his senses to take down the biggest crime boss in the city, Wilson Fisk, also known as the Kingpin, whose influence runs rampant.
Before I go over my thoughts on the cast and the performances, they basically can all be summed up like this: In the Theatrical Cut, I thought they were fine. In this version, they’re better for reasons I will get to in a moment.
I’ll get the biggest point of contention out of the way now, and this is one of many casting choices in general that proved to be controversial (even critics were divided on this), but more often than not, they ended up working out.
Our protagonist is played by Ben Affleck, who would go on to face similar backlash when he was cast as Batman. The main reason is that he had already played a superhero before with this movie, and it didn’t go over well for a lot of people.
My previous point of saying that the cast were better here is definitely true for him, because the balance between when he’s Matt Murdock and when he’s Daredevil is more fleshed out. He ultimately feels like a good choice for the character.
The reason for that is in this version, there’s some material that they had to cut out that’s put back in, and it allows for more proper character development.
The next one to mention is Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios, who is the love interest of the movie. Her chemistry with Ben Affleck does feel genuine, so it probably comes as no surprise that they met on the set of the movie.
Before I go on with the rest of the cast, there’s something I need to bring up: The playground fight shortly after they first meet. Some people may compare this to a similar scene in the following year’s Catwoman, but here’s the difference. In that movie, it’s just a throwaway scene, whereas here, he’s just trying to get to know her, and she’s playing hard to get. You kind of feel that in the Theatrical Cut, but more so in this one.
With that out of the way, let’s continue.
The two other main cast members are the villains. I’ll start with Kingpin, because he’s the main villain of the movie, as he’s pretty much the catalyst for everything that happened in Matt’s life. As if his presence wasn’t menacing enough, let alone his height, you can definitely tell from his voice that he is just merciless. He may not resemble the Kingpin from the comics, but as long as you get someone who’s intimidating to play him, in the end it doesn’t even matter.* You definitely get that here with the late, great Michael Clarke Duncan.
I personally loved him in this, especially in this version. Whenever I saw (or even heard) him in something, he was awesome. It holds true here, as he shows he could actually make for a great villain.
The character himself is very imposing, because he won’t just have you killed. He’ll go after your family, too.
Then we have the secondary antagonist of the movie, a hitman with perfect aim known as Bullseye, played by Colin Farrell. He’s just as unsettling as Kingpin, if not even more so, due to what he’s capable of. He can use literally any object at his disposal to kill you, and no matter what it is, he doesn’t miss.
You can tell they’re both having fun in their roles, as they play off each other very well in plotting to take Daredevil down. Plus, they both have understandable motivations.
Now for the two standout supporting characters. The first is Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, Bad Boys) as Ben Urich, an investigative journalist with particular interest in Daredevil and Kingpin. He’s very good in this, and his character is very interesting, particularly in the Director’s Cut.
The second is Jon Favreau, who plays Foggy. I really liked him in this, and he’s actually pretty funny, especially with the banter he has with Ben Affleck.
Although they aren’t in either version that much, I should also mention that Erick Avari (The Mummy (the 1999 version with Brendan Fraser)) and David Keith (not to be confused with Keith David; totally different) who play Elektra’s father Nikolas Natchios and Matt’s father Jack Murdock, respectively, are good, too, since they do have some importance to key portions of the plot.
Speaking of the plot, there is one thing I will give the Theatrical Cut credit for as well as this one. Neither Cut of this movie spends that much of the runtime focusing on the origin story for Daredevil himself. It’s really just in the first act, and then you get to see more of Daredevil in action for the rest of the movie. This applies to both versions.
They both are paced pretty well, too, but how the plot progresses in the Theatrical Cut feels very jarring at points, as there are some things that don’t make sense. One example of this you’ll notice upon having seen both Cuts. In the Theatrical Cut, there’s a mid-credits scene, while here, it’s cut back into the movie.
In the Director’s Cut, it feels more consistent, with a more natural narrative flow.
A particular example is a very crucial subplot involving a case that Matt takes up, and it develops over the course of the movie. As a result, it’s very compelling, and it has a satisfying payoff.
In the Theatrical Cut, that whole portion is nowhere to be found. In its place is an expansion of the romance between Matt and Elektra. In this one, some of it is there, but it’s mostly dialed back. The movie is actually better for it, because that’s not the focal point of it. Rather, it’s Matt trying to balance his day job with his alter-ego, and a little moral dilemma comes in between.
They cut a lot of the more interesting material out to give it a shorter runtime so it could make as much as possible in theaters. That, and it was also so they could get a PG-13 rating, since the version they intended to release was rated R.
In being cut down for PG-13, the movie feels less like its own thing and more like Fox was trying to replicate Sony’s success with Spider-Man the previous year. It’s especially true with the amount of CGI in this movie.
Yes, it is still present in the Director’s Cut, and even while I was watching it, it did feel like they were copying Spider-Man.
It’s not just that, but I also felt some serious parallels story-wise. It’s not so obvious in this one, but it’s there.
Neither of these bothered me that much, though, since everything else was so good. Besides, I’ll go a bit more into them later anyway.
You also get more action in this one, as it’s more brutal and more violent with a darker tone, closer to the comics. Speaking of which, you also get references to and cameos from some people who worked on the comics, including a pre-MCU cameo from Stan Lee and a cameo from Frank Miller as one of Bullseye’s victims.
In both versions, the action is really good, but it’s even better in the Director’s Cut.
One thing that is still good in regards to the movie in general is the music. The music is awesome. Graeme Revell’s score is still excellent, especially the theme. I particularly love how they use it in the opening credits, which themselves really stand out for something like this.
There’s actually two versions of the theme. There’s that one, and a remix.
Then we get to something this definitely does better than Spider-Man: The soundtrack. It introduced everyone to Evanescence, whose song “Bring Me to Life” is featured very prominently in the third act (and was even used in the trailer). They also have another song, “My Immortal”, featured earlier in the movie.
Since it was the 2000s, it was common for movies to have both a score and a soundtrack to accompany them. One thing that rarely happened, though, was a fair amount of the songs on the soundtrack being used in the movie. A majority of the songs on the soundtrack are used here.
In addition to Evanescence, you get the likes of Fuel, The Calling, Hoobastank**, Seether, and even a collaboration between Drowning Pool and Rob Zombie, among others.
The songs that are used in the movie are incorporated very well.
Something else that’s solid about this is the direction from Mark Steven Johnson, but even more so his script.
You can tell at times he wanted to stay as true to the comics as he could, as some shots and dialogue are very reminiscent of them. Two big examples worth highlighting are one where Daredevil is clutching the cross on the roof of a church, and another is a moment in the third act where Bullseye has a monologue. How the latter in particular is written and shot is almost exactly like how it happened there. Bullseye’s monologue is almost word for word identical to it.
Although they aren’t so much issues for me, there are a few things that might be for others, the first two of which I mentioned earlier.
The first thing is the CGI. There are some points here where it’s really good (meaning it’s necessary, like when Daredevil uses his radar sense), and then there are others where it does not hold up as well (and that is usually when Daredevil is swinging around or fighting someone). During the action, they could’ve used more practical stunt work for that, although they probably didn’t have the budget for that.
Plus, given the fact that it was mandated that it have more CGI so it would look more like Spider-Man (I’m not making that up), and the narrative similarities regardless of which Cut you watch, there was really no way around that even in putting the Director’s Cut together. Basically, I don’t think it’s really fair to criticize them for something they had no way around. If there had been an easier solution that they just didn’t take advantage of, it’d be a different story.
The second thing, which was the one thing they could work around, is the half hour of footage for which its removal prior to the theatrical release was also mandated. The reason for that is the studio wanted a shorter runtime to allow for more showings, which would also explain the PG-13 rating.
The downside to that is very simple: Had they not done that, and released it as intended, people would’ve wanted to come back for more anyway because the word of mouth would’ve actually been great.
Even so, I’m just glad we even have it.
Now for the other two things that might be issues for others. Even with the restored footage, some may find the Director’s Cut too long, and there’s another well known character, Karen Page (played by Ellen Pompeo), who works with Matt and Foggy. Though she does help them out, she’s still barely in the movie. She has one scene in the Theatrical Cut, and an additional one in the Director’s Cut. Basically, she’s almost an afterthought. However, the bigger focus was on Elektra, so I can understand that, and plus, her additional scene in the Director’s Cut does contribute to the larger narrative in a major way.
As previously stated, though, none of these bothered me too much, because everything else about the Director’s Cut made it as great as I had heard for so long.
Overall: While it does still have its faults (especially in the Theatrical Cut), Daredevil is one of those superhero movies from the 2000s that does get a lot more right, and you’ll see why upon seeing the Director’s Cut.
With a lead performance from Ben Affleck that deserves way more credit than it gets (along with a strong supporting cast), a far more compelling story than what we initially got, awesome action and an equally awesome soundtrack, the Director’s Cut turns a generally not well liked comic book movie into a much better one (which would not end up being the first time that happened, but that’s for another review***). Regardless of how you feel about the Theatrical Cut, if you haven’t seen the Director’s Cut, I would highly recommend giving it a chance.
Simply put, it’s the version we deserved to begin with.
It goes to show that justice may be blind, but studios can also be.
*No, Linkin Park is not on the soundtrack for this movie… although that would have been awesome. Neither is “Blind” by Korn, although I can understand that for two reasons: 1: Another awesome movie already used it (twice, I should add), and 2: The soundtrack here is comprised completely of songs made for the movie anyway.
**Who would later perform “Did You”, which is my personal favorite of theirs, on the soundtrack for Spider-Man 2.
***Ironically, both cases involve Ben Affleck.