Well if “Daredevil” wasn’t the most disagreed about Marvel Superhero film ever than I don’t know what was. (Well, I think it was definitely beat out by “The Hulk’). When the long overdue adventure of ‘The Man Without Fear’ was set to hit the big screen, arguments were already starting over one main decision. The casting of Ben Affleck, or ‘Ben-Lo’ to those who love him, as Daredevil. Over his illustrious career, Affleck has proven himself to be either the saving grace or the bane of most of the films he’s been involved with. When he’s cast in a character that actually fits his persona, such as “Chasing Amy” or “Dogma”, he’s excellent and adds much to the final product. But when he’s cast for no other reason than the fact that he is Affleck, well let’s just say the results are usually less than stellar. The one cool thing about him is that we know that he knows this, as was never more evident in the self-deprecating humor of “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”

When word spread that Affleck was picked as the lead in “Daredevil”, fans decried that he was the worst choice for the part (I believe coming in second only to Woody Allen) and there was NO WAY they would see their favorite superhero played by this guy. As the film got closer to its release date, however, the mood started to swing the other direction. Interviews with Affleck started hitting the press, and when he admitted to being a lifelong “Daredevil” fan and dreamed of playing this role one day, fans started hoping that maybe he would do it right because he was ‘one of them.’ (Hmmm, a multi-millionaire comic book geek… oh the fantasies they latch on to.)

The one other hurdle the film had to jump over was another casting choice, and that was that of Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin. Though everyone knew Duncan was a good actor, there was one little itty-bitty thing that had the fans bugged. Duncan, being an African American actor, didn’t seem to fit the character of Kingpin, who is Caucasian. Admittedly, even I had a few problems with this, and before everyone starts calling me a racist, my concern had nothing to do with racism. It was the simple fact that Kingpin had always been drawn as a Caucasian character, and as such, casting a Caucasian actor would have been a more true to life representation of the character. That’s it, nothing more. As it turns out, Duncan did a fine job with the role as would have been expected acting-wise, but in my mind he still didn’t personify the role.

Not to cast aspersions about comic book fans with my earlier comment, I grew up a comic book geek, and though I gave up collecting them about the time puberty chimed in, I still like to read a good comic from time to time. Now, as a self-professed ex-comic book geek, I was pretty much anxiously awaiting the release of “Daredevil” despite the casting choices. I knew that the director, Mark Stephen Johnson was a fan and wanted to do it right, I could see that Jennifer Garner was the perfect choice to play Elektra, and there was no doubt that Colin Farrell would deliver an over-the-top performance as Bullseye.

Once “Daredevil” hit theatres, the disagreements started up all over again. Some people loved it, others found it lacking. But I’m not here to keep telling you what other people thought, only what I thought. With only a few minor nits, I loved “Daredevil.” I was surprised to find that it captured the spirit of the character and the comic, and Affleck turned in a much stronger performance than I believed he could.

In the comics, “Daredevil” is a dark and tragic character, and as such the film re-created what I remember loving so much about the character, with only a little re-imagining. Sure the filmmakers took a few liberties with the character’s origin, but not so much as to take away from it. The most impressive thing they were able to do in the film was in the creation of the look of Daredevil’s ‘super senses.’ The optical effect that allowed us to ‘see’ what he sees was visually stunning, and I think even those who might not have liked the movie as much as I did would have to admit it was cool.

As for the couple of nits I had with the film, I did think some of the fight scenes had way too many quick edits, and were a little less dynamic because of this. There is also a ‘getting to know you’ sparring scene between Matt Murdock (Daredevil, in case you actually didn’t know) and Elektra early on in the film. It takes place in a playground and is horribly choreographed… well at least you can tell it’s choreographed. Lastly, I had a little problem with some of the CGI sequences of Daredevil swinging through the city. There were some ‘gravity defying’ moves that took some of the believability out of what I was seeing. But again these are minor complaints, as I still really loved the film.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s DVD release is a 2-disc mega feature affair that I dare you not to get. The first disc has commentary by director Johnson and producer Gary foster. This was a really good commentary and you can tell Johnson has a real love for the comic and wanted more than anything to deliver a good “Daredevil” film. There is also an enhanced viewing mode that allows you to go to some behind the scenes footage by clicking on an icon that appears from time to time while you’re watching the movie.

My favorite feature on this disc is the on-screen Trivia Track. This has started ‘popping’ up on more and more DVD releases and I find it to be the least invasive. With it turned on, different tidbits of information and trivia show up, sort of like the ‘pop-up’ videos on VH-1. This disc also has some extensive DVD-Rom content, including a history of the “Daredevil” comic books.

As of this writing, I’m still not completely through the 2nd disc, but I will tell you the amount of extras on it is staggering. The majority of the extras focus on the film, as you would expect, but there’s another section that sets its sites on the comic book. There are two lengthy documentaries that feature an in-depth look into the making of the film as well as the history of the Daredevil character.

There are also several shorter features that fill in the gaps of any information that might have been missed by these documentaries. There is a look at the character of Kingpin, that is really more a focus on Michael Clarke Duncan and for Jennifer Garner fans there is the opportunity to see her original screen test for the role of Elektra.

One of the most interesting additions to the extras package is a look at Tom Sullivan, who was the sight-impaired advisor on the film. Sullivan is one of those guys who believes and lives by the creed that he can do anything, regardless of his being blind. I remember seeing a movie a few years back based on this life called “If You Could See What I Hear”, which featured a near career-making performance by Steve Guttenberg.

I know there are some comic book purists out there who will not like the movie no matter what, but not being one of those, I highly recommend “Daredevil”, both as a film and as a DVD release. I consider it to be almost as good as “Spider-Man” as far as superhero movies go, it just happens to be a bit darker, more violent, and unfortunately underrated by theatre audiences.

Directed by: Mark Stephen Johnson
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell
Extras: Full-Length Direcotr and Producer Commentary, Enhanced Viewing Mode: Takes you Behind the Scenes as you watch the film, On Screen Trivia Track, 2 All New 60-Minute Documentaries, 6 Production Featurettes, Multi-Angle Scene Studies, Jennifer Garner Screen Test, Kingpin Featurette, 3 Music Videos.
Specifications: Widescreen (2.35:1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, DTS 5.1 Surround Sound, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: 6/5/2003
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Action Violence and Some Sensuality)
Website

We'll give Daredevil Movie a B, Disc an A.