Daredevil

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA)

for action/violence and some sensuality.

Reviewed by: Adam Gendrom
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating:	Somewhat Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Mature Teen to Adult
Genre:	Superhero Sci-Fi Fantasy
Length:	1 hr. 42 min.
Year of Release:	2003
USA Release:

Featuring	Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Jon Favreau
Director	Mark Steven Johnson
Producer	Arnon Milchan, Gary Foster, Avi Arad
Distributor	20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

I attended this movie with expectations of an action-packed and captivating story in the Marvel tradition. I wasn’t disappointed, and actually found “Daredevil” pretty entertaining.

The hype of this movie played off the huge fanfare that “Spiderman” received. However, such parallels are bit misleading as “Daredevil” is a much darker film than “Spiderman”, though still uniquely Marvel-esque in its style.

The plot revolves around Matthew Murdock (Ben Affleck), a lawyer and son of a boxer who vows to uphold justice after his father is murdered for failing to take a dive in a match. Another interesting thing about Murdock—he was struck blind as a child and, as a result, has developed superhuman levels of his remaining four senses, allowing him to deal out justice even without the use of his vision.

But Murdock’s ideas of justice are a long way from Spidey’s as he chooses not to turn a lawbreaker into the proper authorities. In fact, these types of actions, combined with his vigilante attitude, give quite a questionable moral essence to this film.

As far as action was concerned, the scripted battles were extremely engaging, especially those between Murdock and Elektra. The dialogue felt forced in certain scenes, but overall the tone managed to stay interesting and lightly humorous.There was far more gratuitous violence in “Daredevil” than was present in “Spiderman”, and many more innocents met untimely deaths at the hand of the main villain, Bullseye (Colin Farrell). Also, there was a far more physical relationship between Murdock and the female star of the movie, Elektra (Jennifer Garner), leading to an explicit scene of sensuality, shown from the shoulders-up. This was in addition to Elektra’s increasingly more revealing attire through the film.

As far as a Biblical perspective is concerned, the film is relatively objectionable, having strong points of violence, as well as adult dialogue and situations. I would be cautious about taking youngsters to this movie. Though some might be able to handle it, younger children would need to have certain plot points discussed, such as justice, heroism, and extramarital relationships.

Read our review of the 2005 sequel to this film, ELEKTRA.

Positive—This was an absolutely stunning movie. The special effects and stunts were spectacular! However, “Daredevil” is different from most of the comic book movies. “Daredevil”, at first, isn’t all about saving the city. He’s bent on revenge for most of the movie, but changes towards the end. The violence can be graphic and there is an unnecessary brief sex scene that could have easily been taken out. The foul language was minimal, and there were not that many redemptive morals in it, like the previous comic book movie “Spiderman”. But, this movie is a must-see for all teenage guys who like action, martial arts and great stunts.
My Ratings: [Somewhat Offensive / 4]

Nate, age 14

Negative—This was a very shallow movie. If you are expecting a good story such as “Spiderman”, you will be disappointed. However, the most disappointing part of this movie, along with most other secular media mediums today, was the perversion of what love is. So many times it is reduced to single act of pre-marital intimacy, as is the case in “Daredevil”. Love is so much more and because it is, I can’t encourage anyone to see it.
My Ratings: [Somewhat Offensive / 3]

Mark, age 28

Negative—This is definitely not “Spiderman”. This movie has a lot more fighting (more characters are killed than in “Spiderman”) and is much darker. There is a love scene that it seems is in all movies nowadays. Two unmarried characters rolling around in bed (you only see bare shoulders). I thought it was just an average movie. Having said that, from my kids point of view (13-15) they enjoyed it. They like the action and the story line.
My Ratings: [Somewhat Offensive / 3]

BB, age 43

Negative—While some movies require a viewer to “suspend” his/her critical judgment, this movie has actors doing the ridiculous. I would say it is worth seeing if you pay less than a buck and have absolutely nothing else to do with your time. Conclusion. Poor script, stunts, and a fairly long (although decently unrevealing) bedroom scene that was tossed in almost as an afterthought.
My Ratings: [Somewhat Offensive / 1]

Alex, age 23

Negative—I knew this stinker was going to be one of the worst films I’ve seen in a long time as soon as the recently-blinded Matt Murdock beat up three bullies because well, I’m not really sure. It seems that the radioactive waste that led to his loss of sight also made his remaining four senses acutely sensitive—yet how that explains young Matt suddenly turning into a lean, mean fighting machine who can’t back up three steps without performing a backward somersault with the grace of Baryshnikov and the range of “SpiderMan” is beyond me.
My Ratings: [Somewhat Offensive / 1]

Anthony Brnjac, age 11