Went and saw “Daredevil” Friday night. I liked it quite a lot, it’s worth seeing if you’re into the action/comic-book-adaption movie thing. I was especially interested as Daredevil, the comic book, has been the one comic I’ve consistently collected for, oh, the past 15 years or more. I’ll try not to spoil any critical parts of it.
What I liked:
- The realistic costume. No more of those 80 pound stiff rubber batsuits!
- The realistic portrayal of a blind man going about his daily routine— folding various denominations of money in different ways to distinguish them, dark rooms (if you’re blind, why use lights?), all the braille.
- The way they depicted DD’s “radar sense” was well done. Likewise, the fact that he spent nights in a sensory deprivation tank to give his ultra-senses a break was an excellent touch.
- Depicting the physical strain and toll it must be to do what Daredevil does, night after night, by the scars all over his back in the shower, and pulling out a tooth (in a scene lifted neatly from “Fight Club”) in the same scene.
- Colin Farrell as Bullseye.
- Jon Favreau as Foggy Nelson.
- A lot of nods/tributes to the original comic, and Marvel comics in general, like: the sports center sign featuring the boxing match of Jack Murdock vs. John Romita; cops named Miller, Mack and Bendis; Kevin Smith playing a bit part as a crime lab worker named Kirby.
What I didn’t like:
- A few of the action/acrobat sequences had an unnatural Matrix-quality to them. I really don’t think people can jump that far, or that high…
- Where was Stick? Or any martial arts instructor? It’s kind of hard to buy that a young Matt Murdock could have taught himself how to fight and do acrobatics so quickly…
- Hm…. I guess there wasn’t much I didn’t like.
Go see the movie. It’s worth it.
And for any comic geeks reading, Frank Miller is the definitive Daredevil writer. For artists, I’m partial to David Mazzucchelli and John Romita, Jr. Following that, it pretty much goes without saying that I think the two definitive runs on Daredevil are Born Again and The Man Without Fear.