Misunderstood Masterpieces: Daredevil

Posted by Will Helm on 05.25.2004

…or, I Am a Man Without Fear . . . of Clichés!

Waittaminute! I’m a man? [checks downstairs] Hmm . . . I guess so. I’ll be damned.

Now that that silliness is out of the way, I think it’s about time we entered into another one of our patented and trustworthy Misunderstood Masterpiece trilogies. This time, we’re going to do something a little different. This trilogy of columns is dedicated to the season . . . no, not springtime. It’s dedicated to the comic-book convention season and in it we shall explore no less than the time honored comic book clichés. Among our latest entries shall be a film that revels in its clichés and another which takes clichés to a whole new level. First, however, is a film that simply rests on clichés and nothing else . . . and cost a fortune to make as well. While the successes of X-Men and Spider-Man in recent years have made comic-book films financially viable at the box office, that doesn’t mean that it gives every single picture based on or inspired by this medium a free pass. More specifically, even though it featured a cast of Hollywood hot properties like Colin Farrell, Jennifer Garner, and Ben Affleck, 2002’s Daredevil fell well short of expectations. Was it due to the fact that it was not a well-known character? A faulty story? The aforementioned clichés? We shall see, dear friends . . .

Somewhere in a CGI city, names appear on skyscrapers . . . as part of the 2nd slowest opening credits sequence ever. If you thought that Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was bad, this drags on nearly as long. I thought that closing credits were invented to avoid just this situation . . . I guess I was wrong. Meanwhile, in the REAL city of New York, a rat walks through a puddle. Ah, riveting! Some clips of things that may or may not happen later in the movie are shown at a breakneck pace while the camera slowly, dramatically, pans up the façade of a church. A heroically costumed figure clutches the crucifix atop the church’s steeple. I’m sure that’s supposed to signify something; it’d be a shame if it was one of those shots simply inserted into the film just to make it look cool. Like Mark Steven Johnson’s director friends are all going to call him up just to tell him how artsy the cross-hugging scene was. Whatever.

Inside the church, the same costumed figure as before crawls along the floor and some helpful priest (Derrick O’Connor) finds him. The mysterious masked man, who we’ll assume, for the sake of argument, is Daredevil (Affleck), has a flashback while the priest homoerotically cradles his head. Sometime in the not-so-recent past, a young Matt Murdock (Scott Terra) walks down an alley and finds himself hassled by A.J. Soprano (Robert Iler) and his two thug buddies. He may be Tony’s kid, but he’s definitely no Scott Farkas. In information that would be totally unsurprising to anyone familiar with the Daredevil comic, Matt’s father, Jack Murdock (David Keith) is a failed and broken-down boxer. OK . . . right here is one of the inherent problems with films based from comic books: unless the writers go out of their way to craft an original story in the same vein as the comic, they’re going to crib from the comic itself. If you’re familiar with the comic at all, generally you know exactly what’s going to happen in the film from moment one, if not beforehand. Perhaps that may account for the successes of the aforementioned X-Men and Spider-Man; these films contained elements from their respective comics, but were tweaked and modified enough that they felt like original works and not adaptations of the characters’ greatest hits. Sorry for the rant, where were we now? Oh yeah . . .

Matt’s father is a failed boxer who also seems to be a pacifistic longshoreman. Makes sense. He also spontaneously spouts wisdom found in Saturday morning public-service announcements: he tells young Matt not to be a fool and to stay in school, or words to that effect. Mr. T would be proud. Of course, Jack should’ve taken his own advice as Matt later discovers that his dad isn’t only a war-hating dockworker but also a dirty leather-clad mugger as well. Matt responds in the way that any kid would when finding out that their main parent is also a criminal: he scampers away, his mind clouded with grief, until his tears are washed away by a quick douse of toxic waste. I hate it when that happens. It’s like you can’t even run down the street these days without barrels of toxic waste unfortunately ejaculating on your person. C’est la vie.

Luckily for Matt, the biohazardous bukkake was a serendipitous event indeed as, in the hospital after the incident, Matt freaks out as his senses miraculously amplify to make up for the loss of sight. Yet later, Jack apologizes to his blind son and they bond. How sweet. Too bad we all know what’s going to happen to Jack. Of course, there has to be some plot development along the way towards the watershed moment in the life of Matt Murdock, so we thrill to him learning in Braille while his father comes out of retirement once more. Although that would lead some to believe he was retired once before . . . bad diction, bad! Thanks to helpful voiceovers, Matt’s newfound superpowers are explained; according to the disembodied voice, he has a sort of radar vision . . . and that’s pretty much it. I mean, his balance is better and I’m sure that he’s stronger as well, but the big superpower of the bunch is the radar vision and that’s not even that exciting. In an attempt to make his fairly lame power seem more exciting, Matt coolly saves Stan Lee from being run over by a taxi; afterwards, he beats up the goofy teenaged hooligans which were threatening and intimidating him only a few minutes beforehand. Ah, it’s nice to see this film wrap up its loose ends in a hurry.

Sometime in the future, a random sinister bald guy threatens Matt’s father, who’s now a seemingly successful boxer once again. The shiny-headed ne’er-do-well orders Jack to throw the fight or else bad things will happen to good blind people. During the fight, Jack’s conscience tears at him while he tears up his opponent; in the stands, Matt “watches” and celebrates. Umm . . . if Matt is supposed to be blind here, why does he let on like he’s actually watching the match? I would think that that would clue in the surrounding people that this kid is either not blind or has some sort of superhuman radar power. Sigh . . . continuity is a cruel mistress. Jack, because he’s now the altruistic father of a “blind” son, wins the fight, much to the bald guy’s chagrin. Afterwards, Jack is pummeled and murdered by a really big shadow. Matt finds him and, as an act of mourning, crushes a symbolic red rose. He then vows, through the helpful medium of voiceover, to aid the unfortunate and downtrodden. Wow . . . I would’ve thought that he would be out for REVENGE! Maybe later.

Later, Matt’s all grown up and resting in a coffin filled with water. OK . . . I didn’t know Daredevil was a vampire. I’ll go with it, movie. Actually, there’s a pretty clever reason for the sleeping arrangement; I’ll explain further a little later. He awakens from his damp slumber and dresses up, listens to some bad music very loudly, carefully folds some cash, and goes to court. Once in the halls of justice (not to be confused with the Hall of Justice . . . or even the Halls of Medicine), we discover that Matt Murdock is none other than a blind lawyer! I know that if you know the comics, then this comes as no shock, so bear with me. Anyway, I guess it’s all because “justice is blind,” but I would think that becoming a judge is a more logical profession. Inside the courtroom, we’re treated to Matt cross-examining rape-accused defendant Jose Quesada (Paul Ben-Victor); Matt uses his superhuman hearing to detect perjury in the defendant’s heartbeat. Unfortunately for him, I don’t think that’s admissible evidence. Oh . . . and I’d be remiss in not mentioning that this movie is FILLED with cheeky inside references to the comic book industry; for example, Jose Quesada is a nod to former Daredevil penciller and current Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. I’ll point out more as they come along. Anyway, Quesada (the movie one, not the real life one) gets off for getting off and Matt vows (guess what) REVENGE! Humph . . . sore loser.

That evening, Matt dons his Daredevil costume and does a “super-cool” shadow boxing routine. Ooh . . . fighting imaginary bad guys: threatening. Daredevil, simply to hammer home the fact that he is the “man without fear,” leaps off a multitude of roofs and scaffolds through the New York City skyline. It seems that Daredevil is going to visit our friendly defendant, who’s celebrating his recent victory. Daredevil makes himself known to the throng of hoodlums and then, unsurprisingly, finds himself embroiled in the middle of a goomba gunfight. Daredevil heroically clears out the hooligans using his spectacular acrobatic skills and then he strikes a superhero pose by some flaming billiard tables, as if to say, “Look at me! I’m so pretty in my leather outfit!” The defendant exits most hastily, probably to get his camera, because you just know his buddies aren’t going to believe this. I’m wrong, however, as he runs down to the subway with Daredevil in tow. Daredevil, slightly distracted by the whine of the subway cars rattling past the stop, still finds the ability to throttle the villain and launch him onto the tracks. Luckily for Mr. Quesada, he misses the third rail; unluckily for him, Daredevil gives a “triumphant hero” speech as a train rumbles down the track and severs our friendly rapist’s torso from his lower body. Yummy.

In the aftermath, the incompetent cops investigate the crime scene while Joey Pants comes for a visit. Of course, it’s just Joe Pantiliano as intrepid newspaper reporter Ben Urich, but he’ll always be Joey Pants to us. The detectives, because they’re stereotypically skeptical, dissuade Joey from thinking that Daredevil is responsible for the notably unmerciful act of REVENGE, but they learn the truth can be hard to conceal when a flaming “DD” appears on the floor at their feet. Ah . . . so it was either Daredevil or a well-endowed chick. Search the strip clubs! Meanwhile, at Matt’s apartment, his girlfriend dumps him via answering machine and he strips off his uniform to reveal a scarred and battered body. Wow . . . actual realism in a superhero flick? Who would have thought! He pulls out a shattered tooth in the shower and then numbs his pains with some serious medications. He must have the same doctor as Rush Limbaugh. After his appointment with Daredevil’s Little Helper, he sinks back into his coffin for some relaxation. OK, remember when I was going to explain the whole coffin bit? It works like this: it’s actually a sensory deprivation chamber. I guess the theory is that since Matt has his radar vision and heightened senses and all that, he would need to shut himself out from the world if he wanted to relax. Makes sense to me. Although I do have to say one thing: damn you for being clever, movie!

Sometime later, Matt goes to confession, where the priest gives him a stern talking to regarding his extracurricular activities. Afterward, Matt and his good buddy/law partner Franklin “Foggy” Nelson (Jon Favreau) chat about Daredevil in a jaunty little café. In the midst of the conversation, Matt’s mind begins to wander as he seemingly smells Jennifer Garner, your HOT CHICK of record for the movie, from outside the coffeehouse. She enters and sits down at a distant table; Matt, because he wants to be the guy in the R-rated movie and not the PG13-rated movie, goes over to break the ice and makes some blind jokes. Meanwhile, Foggy does a spit take, mainly because his buddy is so money, baby. Matt, just because he has his badass sunglasses on, transforms into his other alter ego, Mr. Playa. Of course, the HOT CHICK is actually Miss Playa-Hata in disguise, so, when Matt hassles her for her name, she blows him off most unequivocally. She then storms out of the establishment and Matt, probably lead by the head not on his shoulders, gives chase. He catches up with her, but quickly learns that she doesn’t enjoy being followed or touched, so they get into a flirt fight in the middle of a playground. While annoying snot-nosed kids look on, she finally bests Matt and tells him her name: Elektra Natchios. Mmm . . . Natchios. Gerald Ford would be proud.

Meanwhile, in a giant skyscraper somewhere in the city, Michael Clarke Duncan stares out the window while listening to gangsta rap. Mr. Duncan, as legitimate businessman Wilson Fisk, chats with the bald guy from Planet of the Apes (Erick Avari), who wants a buyout of some sort. We also learn that he’s Nikolas Natchios, who is, unbelievably, Elektra’s father. Speaking of Elektra, she and Matt walk down the street together and get to know each other in a segment I like to call “helpful exposition.” Meanwhile, Fisk plans a frame-up involving Elektra’s father and then orders his sniveling underling to call up some guy named Bullseye. Who is Bullseye? Well, in a pub somewhere in the world, everyone’s favorite male sex-symbol direly in need of a scrubbing, Colin Farrell, plays darts, drinks beer, and then kills some guy with paper clips. Yes, paper clips. Ah . . . I guess he’s Bullseye, “the man who never misses.” Remember that moniker for future reference.

Sometime later, Matt tells Foggy about Elektra, which also leads to yet more helpful exposition. Elsewhere, on a plane, some chatty old broad annoys Bullseye (should I refer to him as Mr. Eye?) while he listens to his headphones very loudly. Alright movie . . . I’ll buy the damned soundtrack already; turn the volume down! Simply to annoy me, he kills her by shooting a peanut into her mouth, leading her to choke to death. OK, movie . . . that’s just silly. Remember when I gave you points for being clever? Well, I’m rescinding them due to excessive cheekiness. There’s little threatening about a villain who kills with stationery and legumes. Silly movie. Anyway, that night, Daredevil goes out on patrol and channels Batman by intimidating some would-be criminals with his shadow. One of the hoods runs to his apartment where Daredevil catches up with him and beats him down. Our “hero” then attempts to console some kid who’s there for no particular reason and can’t fake cry very well. The kid’s bad acting leads Daredevil to have a “tortured superhero” moment and it leads me to laugh.

The next day, Matt and Foggy receive invitations to a fancy party for no particular reason. Foggy then compares the state of the office to Sanford & Son due to the fact that their clients pay them in goods and/or services in lieu of money. Ford Fairlane would be proud. Matt, probably because he’s carried over his tortured superhero nature into his normal life, is impatient and testy; in fact, it actually all comes down to woman troubles . . . so he and Foggy play office basketball together. OK then. Sometime later, Matt and Elektra meet in the street and, after a few moments of chit-chat, he takes her up to the roof of a building. You know, this just happens to remind me of an old wine commercial and the perfect murder. If you haven’t seen the commercial, let me explain: it’s for one of those wannabe fancy wines and everything is REALLY LOUD for unexplained reasons. Some guy, who looks eerily like Dominic West, packs a picnic and goes up to the roof of his apartment building. His significant other, played by fake Sophie Marceau, follows some arrows up to the roof where he’s waiting for her. Now here’s where the beauty of the perfect murder comes in. Of course the commercial is all nice and romantic and all that, but it’s also sinister . . . mainly because he can get her drunk and then push her off the roof. He’s got a perfect alibi in her inebriation and he’s probably got some good insurance policies to boot. Yeah . . . I think too much. That explains a lot about this column, doesn’t it?

So . . . where was I? Oh yeah. Matt and Elektra are on the roof together and he feels up her pendant and she helpfully reveals some of her origin. It seems that her father wanted to make sure that she could defend herself after her mother died or was murdered or something like that. After her exposition, Matt turns into an uncanny meteorologist . . . and a poetic one at that. He predicts rain, and then it rains, and then he channels a Lionel Ritchie video and feels Elektra’s face. I guess that it’s her he’s looking for. They share a tender moment on the rooftop and then he hears some crime going down, which may inhibit his ability to go down on something else. Elektra, sensing Matt’s tension, tells him to stay with her so they can get it on nary a moment later. Hmm . . . he’ll definitely have to go to confession for this transgression. The next morning, he awakens to find her gone and a party invitation in her place on the pillow. Ooh . . . maybe she turned into the party invitation, like a very bad rendition of Cinderella. Or not. Wow . . . that was stupid. Sorry about that.

At the party, Matt and Foggy meet up with Joey Pants. Foggy endears himself to Mr. Pants by pestering him about the apocryphal alligators in the sewer system. Doesn’t he know that they’re actually ninja turtles down there? Matt, meanwhile, questions Joey about the identity of the mysterious “Kingpin” of crime. Oh, good; it’s a blaxploitation film now. You just know it’s going to turn out to be David Ogden Stiers or something like that. Bored with conversing about supervillains and crime lords, Foggy wanders off to overzealously chat with Wilson Fisk, respectable entrepreneur. Matt, following along, refuses Fisk’s offer of business out of purely ideological reasons. Ah, an altruistic lawyer . . . now this really is a comic book!

Moments later, Elektra shows up at the top of a staircase (maybe it is Cinderella after all) and she’s super foxy. Matt, just because he tapped it the night before, goes over to say “hello” . . . and sniff her. Umm . . . yeah. They make some small talk and dance together; she takes off his sunglasses . . . his very EXPENSIVE sunglasses. You know, I have to wonder how he could afford shades that nice considering he’s a poor lawyer/super vigilante. Continuity: make friends with it. They whisper something unintelligible and then she reveals that she’s afraid of her emotions, pretty much like every other comic book character embroiled in a passionate romance. If there were a book called Comic Book Romance 101, that would be on page one. Matt, meanwhile, shows that he may have some precognitive abilities as he tells her that something bad is going to happen, which means . . .

. . . Bullseye has just killed some guy in an alley. Whoopee. Later at the party, Fisk threatens Elektra’s dad, who yells at his daughter in Greek. Well, at least it was Greek to me. Casca would be proud. Meanwhile, Bullseye rides his motorcycle most intensely. While Elektra’s dad’s motorcade drives by, our villain stands up on his conveyance and kills the innocent, anonymous drivers with some well-aimed shuriken. Daredevil, following along as most good superheroes whose HOT CHICKS are in trouble tend to do, faces off against Bullseye in an attempt to run interference for the Natchios family. Bullseye, the MAN WHO NEVER MISSES, throws his trusty shuriken at Daredevil and . . . misses. Umm . . . so he’s the man who sometimes misses? The man who rarely misses? The man who misses once in a while? He’s got to be one of those, because he certainly isn’t the MAN WHO NEVER MISSES. Silly movie. Again. After the initial salvo, Bullseye steals one of Daredevil’s magic sticks and throws it in the general direction of Mr. Natchios; he must’ve been on target this time, because our friendly bald Greek is tragically impaled by the hero’s rod. That last bit is so dirty and yet not dirty at all. Ah, the awesome power of entendre. Bullseye and Daredevil make their escapes, leaving Elektra to shoot at no one in particular and break down over the corpse of her father.

At the crime scene, the cops take the magic stick as evidence while then berating Joey Pants for his insufferable curiosity. At his apartment, Matt freaks out and then breaks down . . . and then he goes to confession. Forgive him father, he got it on with a HOT CHICK and then indirectly had a hand in her father’s death. I’d say that’s worth about ten Hail Marys. Later, Elektra’s dad gets buried and Wilson Fisk is there, mainly because he’s a classy corporate type. Matt, probably because he’s the least busy lawyer in New York, is there too. He chats with Elektra, who’s not in the mood for romance . . . but for (oh yeah, you knew it had to happen!) REVENGE! Matt, because he’s dopey in the presence of a strong woman, offers to let her stay with him . . . and then it starts raining. Elektra, her mind set on one thing, spurns his offer, mainly because it doesn’t involve REVENGE!

Meanwhile, in the city forensics lab, Joey Pants visits Kevin Smith, who stars as investigator/comic book legend Jack Kirby. Big Kev shows off Daredevil’s magic stick to Joey Pants and then we learn that Elektra’s dad has been set up as the “Kingpin” of crime in the city. Speaking of the Kingpin, Bullseye goes to visit our friend Wilson at the virtuous executive’s office. Along the way, he seems to have killed a guy with some pencils, just to add to the cheekiness of the situation. Note to self: if ever in a feud with Bullseye, stay out of Office Max. Our two villains have a pitch meeting where Fisk requests Elektra’s demise; Bullseye agrees to take care of Daredevil as well in exchange for a “bloody costume.” Umm . . . wouldn’t he want a clean costume? I think a bloody costume would just be icky. Anyway, there’ll be more on this “bloody costume” later.

Sometime later, Joey Pants catches up with Matt on the street; the crafty journalist is onto the Kingpin connection as well as the lawyer’s relationship with Elektra. Speaking of Elektra, she goes into psycho ninja training in her mansion or penthouse or wherever. As a counterpoint for the martial arts exhibition, Daredevil just gets dressed. That night, on a random rooftop, Bullseye does a villainous pirouette just to show off his new costume . . . which looks remarkably like what he was wearing earlier in the film. Wow. How original. You know, if I had unlimited resources to make myself a supervillain costume, I don’t think I would choose something that looked exactly like my normal clothes. Or maybe I would . . . it’s sneakier that way. Anyway, our three costumed figures run around in the night which leads to Elektra and Daredevil fighting on a rooftop because she, like most others clouded by the mad haze of REVENGE, thinks that our hero is responsible for her father’s death. Our heroic protagonist attempts to explain the situation to the enraged HOT CHICK, but she instead channels Donald O’Connor and then stabs Daredevil in the shoulder. With her intended target now subdued, she takes off his mask to reveal the face behind . . . and she realizes the error of her ways. It always sucks when you think your boyfriend killed your father and then you mistakenly stab him in the shoulder. I hate it when that happens.

Her remorse is all for naught as the evil Bullseye arrives on the scene for the inevitable showdown with Elektra. She tosses a sai his way, but he does the logical thing and tosses it back . . . in such a way that it horrifically impales her hand. Ugh. That had to hurt. After she stoically removes the offending blade, Elektra fights Bullseye while Daredevil rolls around on the ground pathetically. Wow, what a hero. After a few short moments of fisticuffs, Bullseye cuts Elektra’s throat with a playing card . . . wait! That’s gimmick infringement! I know this might be my comic-book dork talking, but I always thought that card tossing was clearly in the realm of the X-Man named Gambit. Boo to you, movie. Anyway, before I start ranting uncontrollably, Bullseye stabs Elektra with one of her daggers; you know, it’s really sad when your weapon of choice does more damage to you than your opponent, even if he is the MAN WHO NEVER misses. After besting the HOT CHICK, Bullseye escapes, leaving Daredevil to console her. It doesn’t do much good as she dies anyway. Yeah, I know, “spoiler” and all that. Like I said, if you’re at all familiar with the comic, you’d know exactly what’s going to happen. So there.

Daredevil, not sticking around to get himself shot or arrested by the NYPD, flees the scene and we catch up to the beginning of the film. Wow . . . that was one GIANT flashback. Whew. I hate time travel movies. Bullseye finds Daredevil in the church and Daredevil tells our helpful priest to scram. Bullseye, somewhat comedically (at least to me), brains Daredevil with a collection plate. Moments later, through a convoluted series of events, they end up fighting on the cathedral’s massive pipe organ, which leads to them fighting while suspended in midair and then getting attacked by a swarm of bats. You know, I think that’s just Batman sending a message: he doesn’t like blind vigilantes muscling in on his turf. Outside the church, the cops show up; inside the church, the cheesiness regarding Bullseye’s choices of weapon goes up to eleven as he breaks a stained glass window and rapidly flings hunks of it at Daredevil. Yeah, the villainous hitman threw shards of shattered glass at the hero. You know what else happened? He missed! Methinks that Bullseye’s claim of being the MAN WHO NEVER MISSES is dubious at best at this point, if not outright false advertising. Bullseye, finally sensing that Daredevil’s greatest weakness is his heightened senses, channels Quasimodo and starts ringing the churchbell; he then bangs on stuff to confuse our hero. It’s at this point that Bullseye makes his greatest fatal error (other than referring to himself by his erroneous moniker): he makes the “gloating villain speech.” You know, nothing says to a fallen hero “recover and defeat me” like the “gloating villain speech.” Ask for it by name! Just before Bullseye lands the deathblow, Daredevil senses a sniper’s bullet quickly closing on them; the hero deftly maneuvers himself so that Bullseye gets the bullet through the hands and then infers the stigmata. So he’s St. Bullseye now? Well, if not, he’s definitely a martyr, as Daredevil callously throws the hitman out the rose window and onto Joey Pants’ car.

Sometime later, Fisk looks out on the city from the sanctity of his office. He instinctively knows what happened to Bullseye and he also knows Daredevil is coming for REVENGE! Wow, how could he have guessed? Then, for no particular reason, he starts getting undressed. I really hope he doesn’t bring out the Gimp as well. Luckily for all of us, Daredevil arrives to interrupt the frightening strip show. Fisk, because he’s JACKED, beats up our hero to the point where he can unmask Daredevil . . . and then he cracks up. Daredevil, because he’s been through this before not much earlier, actually requests the “gloating villain speech”; I guess he knows what we know regarding that particular monologue. And it seems that I’m right, as, during the speech, Daredevil smashes the lights in the office, which somehow causes the sprinklers to come on. Daredevil uses the distraction to bust Fisk’s kneecaps but he stops short of killing the Kingpin and he instead goes into the “merciful protector” speech. OK, so let me get this straight: he has no problem with killing everyone to get to this point but, when faced with his true arch-nemesis, he ends up sparing the rod. Eh, whatever. I guess it’s all a setup for the sequel that will never come anyway. In the aftermath, Wilson cracks up.

As a denouement, Foggy reads the paper to Matt at the café from earlier in the film. They bicker about Daredevil and alligators and then Matt gets sad and regretful. He goes out to get some air, which, oddly enough, leads him onto the rooftop from earlier in the film. His internal monologue kicks in and he finds Elektra’s necklace up there as well. While the soliloquy goes on in the background, Joey Pants writes his story about Daredevil and almost prints the hero’s secret identity as well . . . but he deletes the startling revelation simply to show that he’s cool with Daredevil. Wasn’t that nice of him? Wasn’t it?

You know something? After watching this movie, the first thought in my head was “Wow . . . that was disposable.” To be honest, nothing really happens in the movie; it just follows all the clichés set forth by the genre and that’s that. There’s no emotional involvement with the characters like in Spider-Man; there’s also no ideological underpinnings like in X-Men. It’s almost as if the makers of this picture thrust Daredevil’s greatest hits upon us and that’s that. Daredevil is an underwhelming hero who’s neither just nor merciful, we all know Elektra is going to die so there’s no reason to connect with her, Bullseye has one gimmick that he can’t even do right anyway, and Kingpin is barely a force in the movie. It’s like they took what could’ve been an excellent little flick and castrated it by not taking any chances. Then again, in a few weeks we’ll see just what happens when you take all the wrong chances . . . but there’s another film between now and then.

Join me here next week where we shall look into what happens when comic-book clichés are amplified to the nth degree. See you then!