Szenenphoto aus Daredevil, © Production Company
Szenenphoto aus Daredevil, © Production Companymit dem blinden Anwalt durchstehen, der sich nachts zum maskierten Rächer der ì
Gerechtigkeit in den dunklen Strassen von New York macht. Selten war ein ì
fetter gelackter Bösewicht so langweilig und nichtsagend wie in diesem Film, ì
auch wenn sich Ben Affleck und Jennifer Garner alle Mühe geben, der Streifen ì
bleibt durch und durch ein lahmer Abklatsch eines Spyderman oder Batman." ì
(lhg)
"The screen treatment of the classic Marvel superhero, directed by Mark ì
Steven Johnson (Jack Frost, Simon Birch), ranks up there with Batman and ì
X-Men for its melancholy, dark wit, meticulous eye for detail, baroque ì
mise-en-scène, and crackling energy. It opens with a seemingly dying man ì
telling his tale: Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck), a/k/a Daredevil, relates his ì
cornball origins. A tough kid growing up in Hell's Kitchen, he's blinded by ì
some of those pesky toxic chemicals, which also increase his remaining senses ì
to near-unbearable intensity. Driven by a never-say-die fearlessness, he ì
hones these skills into superpowers and, after witnessing his palooka dad ì
getting bumped off by the mob, vows to fight injustice: blind lawyer by day, ì
red-leather-clad whirligig by night.
Johnson renders the action scenes with kaleidoscopic drive pulsed by a ì
terrific soundtrack and weakened by sometimes geeky CGI effects. Jennifer ì
Garner makes a porcelain ninja as Elektra, DD's squeeze/nemesis, but is not ì
as appealing as Jon Favreau as his wisecracking buddy. Colin Farrell belches ì
beautifully as the lethal Irish-pub rat Bullseye. And oversize teddy bear ì
Michael Clarke Duncan, playing the monolithic Kingpin, brings a chill to ì
lines like "No one is innocent." Things get a little busy and silly toward ì
the end; my advice: save some for the sequel." (PETER KEOUGH in The Boston ì
Phoenix)
"'DAREDEVIL," the blind hero of this poor man's "Batman" played by Ben ì
Affleck in autopilot mode and a red leather suit, has had his other senses so ì
heightened he has to sleep in a sensory deprivation tank.
Alas, you may feel like you've spent an hour and half soaking in such a ì
device after sitting through Mark Steven Johnson's mind-numbing, would-be ì
comic-book franchise, which often seems as blind as its hero - not to mention ì
deaf and dumb.
Someone's lack of confidence in writer-director Johnson's storytelling is ì
betrayed by the lengthy voice-over narration that opens the movie.
A seemingly dying Daredevil relates a lengthy series of flashbacks recalling ì
how Matt Murdock (Scott Terra), a bullied Hell's Kitchen teenager, was ì
blinded by an accident - which somehow enhanced his hearing so much it now ì
functions as a kind of sonar.
Later his father, dockworker Jack "The Devil" Murdock (David Keith), a ì
washed-up boxer trying to make a comeback, is killed by the mob when he ì
refuses to take a dive.
It's fun to imagine how many times Affleck, an Oscar-winning screenwriter ì
(for "Good Will Hunting"), had to read corny lines like "I waited outside for ì
my father. In some sense, I'm still waiting" without breaking up.
As the grown-up Matt, a pro bono lawyer who likes to proclaim "justice is ì
blind," Affleck dons Daredevil's ridiculous horned suit to go on vigilante ì
patrol - and our first impulse is to wonder if he has a Daredevil-mobile with ì
matching red upholstery.
Nearly half the film is over before the story gets rolling - and we finally ì
see Elektra (Jennifer Garner), a Greek-American heiress whom Matt meets cute ì
in a playground martial arts duel.
Unfortunately, Affleck and Garner, the star of TV's "Alias," exhibit no ì
chemistry together after this first encounter - even though the film pays ì
homage to "Spider-Man" with a soggy love scene set in the rain.
After Elektra's tycoon father (Eric Avari, a fixture in Adam Sandler films) ì
is killed in a mob hit that Daredevil is unfairly blamed for, she turns into ì
an avenger herself - but, in this case, mourning definitely doesn't become ì
Elektra.
Hong Kong's Cheung Yan Yuen was brought in to choreograph the "Matrix"-style ì
fights, but they're so badly lit, choppily edited and digitally enhanced that ì
they don't have a whole lot of impact.
Director Johnson ("Simon Birch") wastes a good cast, including Michael Clarke ì
Duncan as chief baddie Kingpin, who turns out to be about as menacing as the ì
Jolly Green Giant.
Also on board with little to do are Jon Favreau, as Matt's lawyer partner, ì
and Joe Pantoliano as a remarkably mild-mannered reporter for The Post. (This ì
newspaper is also represented by numerous front pages and an accident ì
involving a Post truck on what is unmistakably a Los Angeles street ì
unconvincingly being passed off as Manhattan.)
Affleck, who can be a fine actor in small, character-based films like ì
"Changing Lanes," reverts to the condescending, frat-boy smirk he usually ì
reserves for his work in big-budget blockbusters.
Not so Colin Farrell, who delivers some much-needed pizazz in his tiny role ì
as Kingpin's multi-pierced henchman, Bullseye, who can turn paper clips, ì
pencils and even shards of stained glass into deadly weapons.
It's Farrell's gleeful villainy - delivered, for once, in his native Irish ì
brogue rather than his usual fake-American accent - and his climactic battle ì
with our red-clad hero in a church (that literally has bats in the belfry) ì
that keeps "Daredevil" from being a total snooze.
The flick misses the bull's-eye by such a length that nobody except hard-core ì
fanboys and leather fetishists will be panting for the sequel promised at the ì
end." (New York Post)
Szenenphoto aus Daredevil, © Production Company
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