Daredevil - Director's Cut

If there was one Marvel comic that didn't need to be a movie, it's Daredevil (yes, we DID need a Howard The Duck movie!). I mean, who the hell has heard of this guy? Don't get me wrong. Comics can have small readerships and still be great. But the way this movie was assembled is total Hollywood conveyer belt.

They cast Ben Affleck in the title role for the love of all that is good and pure. Ben Affleck! The most arrogant actor in the world! The man who stars in 80 billion inevitable flops in a row because he has no star power and merely coasted his way into fame on the back of his infinitely more talented pal Matt Damon.

The original theatrical cut of Daredevil was a complete whogivesadamn affair. The movie was 90 minutes of nothing. In fact the only damn thing that happened was the love affair between Affleck and Jennifer Garner. This new Director's Cut fleshes everything out a lot more and is a much stronger movie. But it will never be a great movie, no matter how many bells and whistles you add to it.

For the unfamiliar, Daredevil is actually Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who's remaining four senses work to such supernatural perfection that he can tell if you're lying. He and his business partner (the once lean but now incredibly bloated John Favreau) use this trick to fish out innocent clients and only accept payment in the form of free stuff from that client's particular trade, such as loads of cheese, or fish. How he lives in a million dollar apartment is anyone's guess. At night, however, he dresses up in this really gay red leather suit and fights crime (badly, check out his scars) with his super-toned reflexes and agility.

The Kingpin of all crime in New York (that would be Michael Clarke Duncan playing what is mostly a Spider-Man villain) marks for death the dad of pretty Elektra Nachos, the girl Matt has fallen in love with. Cue revenge and misunderstandings leading to complications. First time around this wasn't so involving, but with a new sub-plot the Director's Cut ought to be the version you check out if you haven't seen the film yet, are a fan of the comic-book or (shudder) the original theatrical version. In addition to this, there are more nasty deaths and the fight scenes are bit more brutal, although still done in that family friendly blur that hides actual gritty realism.

However harder this version may be, The Punisher would burn Daredevil at the stake and put him out before he dies to make him suffer a little bit longer. By that I mean, if you're looking for a comic book movie, then Daredevil should be at the bottom of your priorities. It's anonymously directed, mechanical and unsurprising and is aimed at the indiscriminate lowest common denominator. Why they didn't get Frank Miller (who wrote many Daredevil comics, created Elektra and also gave us Robocop 2) to write the script instead of Mark Steven Johnson (who?) is beyond me.

At least, it's better than Hulk.