Daredevil Review
Mar. 7th, 2003 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amezriBefore I start, let me just say - I missed the X2 Trailer! Not that I haven't seen it already, but big screen is so much nicer. My ride was running late, so we got there just as the end of the trailer played. I was thinking I'd just see "Daredevil" again, but.. screw that.
Spoilers forDullDaredevil
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I felt cheated. After watching this movie, I felt really, really cheated. I was actually cringing in my seat and thinking "oh god, I can't believe they wrote this/shot this/edited this. It was just. Ugh. There was so much potential squandered here. I couldn't even tell you. It was poor pacing, scripting, and editing.
Who edited this tripe? Dear lord, I think I could have done better. I don't know who was in charge or put the most "work" into it, but Armen Minasian and Dennis Virkler ("Batman & Robin" and "Rocky & Bullwinkle") should be required to go through 4 years of intensive study before they're even allowed near raw footage again.
Oh. It was directed by Mark Steven Johnson, theidiot genius that brought us such works as "Jack Frost," "Big Bully," and "Grumpy Old Men." ::smacks him::
The pseudo-death of Elektra was... interesting. Someone told me that she'd died and hell, her heart stopped beating after getting stabbed pretty badly with her own sai, so I thought, "wow, they really did kill Elektra." But.. not, because she leaves him a pendant (Quick, get that to merchandising!) and he had the silly vision/memory thing during the fight with Kingpin.
One good point - the music on the soundtrack is actually music they play in the movie. Not all of them were used effectively, but Evanescence has a special place in my collection right now.
Ben Affleck: Action Star. I just don't buy it. It didn't work. When he was in Matt Murdock gear, he was fine - looked great in the suit. However, the S&M red leather outfit... ugh. It was probably better than spandex, but still - I expect better from the "Spider-Man" costume designer. It fit funny and.. I dunno. It was just ugly. Was hopeing the "fatal wound" Elektra gave him would actually, you know, be fatal. Bring back Scott Terra (young Matt) - he was a much better actor.
My GOD, I don't even want to talk about the beginning of the school yard fight. What the hell kind of cheesy pose did they have Ben doing?
Jennifer Garner as Elektra Nachios (did someone say nachos?). I love Jen. She kicks ass and takes names. I'm not sure what was up with the green contacts (did Elektra have green eyes?), but they were a little distracting. The outfit rocked. Her moves were awesome. The only problems I had were the rooftop jumps - she's human, i.e. there should be some kind of impact reflex. I think she did all she could with what she was given, poor girl. When the Elektra movie comes out, I'm going to go see it - no matter what monkey scripts and directs it. Must support my girl.
Someone was effects happy. I'm just saying. The supersonic hearing/radar effect is cool, but a bit over used.
Who was in-charge of makeup? He's got scars, he doesn't have scars. Make up your minds.
The funeral scene was nice. I really do love the effect they used with sound of rain creating the image of her face.
Bullseye was dumb in the comic and he's actually worse on screen. His lines were horrible. Colin Farrell is a horrible actor and a horrible villain. I was hoping someone would take him out sooner. Speaking of, this is one of the few superhero movies where people actually die.
This movie rocked because of the following people: Jennifer Garner, Jon Favreau, Joe "Joey Pants" Pantoliano, Leland Oser, Paul Ben-Victor, plus special apearances by Stan Lee and Kevin Smith. Everyone else... pfft.
I left this thinking "what the hell did I just watch?" and was actually hoping that maybe this was an intermission and then we would come back to have the whole load of bull explained to us.
And now, a review from IMDB.com:
Spoilers for
*
*
I felt cheated. After watching this movie, I felt really, really cheated. I was actually cringing in my seat and thinking "oh god, I can't believe they wrote this/shot this/edited this. It was just. Ugh. There was so much potential squandered here. I couldn't even tell you. It was poor pacing, scripting, and editing.
Who edited this tripe? Dear lord, I think I could have done better. I don't know who was in charge or put the most "work" into it, but Armen Minasian and Dennis Virkler ("Batman & Robin" and "Rocky & Bullwinkle") should be required to go through 4 years of intensive study before they're even allowed near raw footage again.
Oh. It was directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the
The pseudo-death of Elektra was... interesting. Someone told me that she'd died and hell, her heart stopped beating after getting stabbed pretty badly with her own sai, so I thought, "wow, they really did kill Elektra." But.. not, because she leaves him a pendant (Quick, get that to merchandising!) and he had the silly vision/memory thing during the fight with Kingpin.
One good point - the music on the soundtrack is actually music they play in the movie. Not all of them were used effectively, but Evanescence has a special place in my collection right now.
Ben Affleck: Action Star. I just don't buy it. It didn't work. When he was in Matt Murdock gear, he was fine - looked great in the suit. However, the S&M red leather outfit... ugh. It was probably better than spandex, but still - I expect better from the "Spider-Man" costume designer. It fit funny and.. I dunno. It was just ugly. Was hopeing the "fatal wound" Elektra gave him would actually, you know, be fatal. Bring back Scott Terra (young Matt) - he was a much better actor.
My GOD, I don't even want to talk about the beginning of the school yard fight. What the hell kind of cheesy pose did they have Ben doing?
Jennifer Garner as Elektra Nachios (did someone say nachos?). I love Jen. She kicks ass and takes names. I'm not sure what was up with the green contacts (did Elektra have green eyes?), but they were a little distracting. The outfit rocked. Her moves were awesome. The only problems I had were the rooftop jumps - she's human, i.e. there should be some kind of impact reflex. I think she did all she could with what she was given, poor girl. When the Elektra movie comes out, I'm going to go see it - no matter what monkey scripts and directs it. Must support my girl.
Someone was effects happy. I'm just saying. The supersonic hearing/radar effect is cool, but a bit over used.
Who was in-charge of makeup? He's got scars, he doesn't have scars. Make up your minds.
The funeral scene was nice. I really do love the effect they used with sound of rain creating the image of her face.
Bullseye was dumb in the comic and he's actually worse on screen. His lines were horrible. Colin Farrell is a horrible actor and a horrible villain. I was hoping someone would take him out sooner. Speaking of, this is one of the few superhero movies where people actually die.
This movie rocked because of the following people: Jennifer Garner, Jon Favreau, Joe "Joey Pants" Pantoliano, Leland Oser, Paul Ben-Victor, plus special apearances by Stan Lee and Kevin Smith. Everyone else... pfft.
I left this thinking "what the hell did I just watch?" and was actually hoping that maybe this was an intermission and then we would come back to have the whole load of bull explained to us.
And now, a review from IMDB.com:
Agent10
Tucson, AZ
Date: 12 February 2003
Summary: Should have been "Dulldevil"
Every once in a while, an incredibly lame movie is released, yet magically rakes in 100 million in the box even though it has a bad script, a terrible lead actor, and rather listless action. This movie is Daredevil.
The current renaissance of turning comic books into movies has taken a turn for the worse (as if it was ever on the right track) with this sad collection of images made out to be daring and exciting, yet is remarkably typical of "straight-to-video" movies. I half expected someone like Ja Rule or Jean-Claude Van Damme to pop into this movie as some cameo performer. Which reminds me, how could a movie like this lack so much character depth? I see plenty of actors in the credits, but it felt remarkably empty and devoid of anyone but Ben Affleck. I see the likes of Joey Pants and Jennifer Garner in the credits, but they are mostly hyped, not seen. I mean, it was like the first ten minutes of "Mission Impossible" where all of the supporting characters are killed off in the first ten minutes. The only difference: the producers managed to stretch out that limited life span through the space of an entire movie. I was even disappointed in Leland Orser, who manages to steal every scene in most of his films, who pulled one of the most invisible performances in a movie full of them.
And did Colin Farrell shoot all of his scenes in one day? How long did it take to film this movie? 20 days? 30? This film was so shoddily put together, one has to wonder if they went any further than the first take. Not even the music could save this movie. The soundtrack was subpar at best, and the collection of "pseudo-hip" hard rock songs and pop beats were so out of place in this film, it was like someone was trying to mix and match for the fun of it. This film was like a bad rewrite, only they decided to run with it. Yet sadly, producers, critics, and hundreds of IMDB users will most likely see brilliance in this cluttered and mishapen pile of film and sound effects.
