DAREDEVIL (2003)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *cosmological, psychological*

Moviemaking is such a complex process that almost every film ever made represents at least one "road not taken." The 2003 DAREDEVIL, written and directed by Mark Stephen Johnson, probably never had any commercial alternative but to emulate the celebrated run of Frank Miller on the Marvel comic. But, as I'll note at review's end, the biggest road not taken was not so much Johnson's strategy of adaptation as the way his approach became sidelined in the 21st century's development of big-budget superhero films.

When I saw the film in theatrical release, I found that it compromised the Miller material by trying to cram too many developments into a movie of about 100 minutes. (A later-released "director's cut" was no improvement since it became bogged down in a side-plot, and so my review is only of the theatrical release.) On my recent re-watch, though, I found that Johnson had managed to give his version into a basic "hero's journey" structure, which, if not blindingly original, showed a better grasp of superheroes than many later productions.

In this film, the journey of blind lawyer Matt Murdock, a.k.a. the athletic Daredevil (Ben Affleck), progresses from the state of an unhappy, lonely vigilante to the ethos of a protective "guardian devil" of New York City. The psychology of the principal characters is never as elaborate as that of Miller, but Johnson does appreciate some of the darker undercurrents of the hero. Like Bruce Wayne reacting to the deaths of his parents, Daredevil fights crime in order to master the environment of evil which brought about the death of his boxer-father. To be sure, Johnson sets up his hero with the possibility of finding a specific killer, but this approach is dropped in favor of a more generalized crusade against crime. (This wouldn't be so much of a problem had the movie not ended with a showdown between the hero and the killer of his father.) Nevertheless, the blind lawyer-- who is capable of amazing athletic feats thanks to his super-senses-- doesn't get much satisfaction out of his crusade. The audience doesn't know how long Daredevil has been pursuing vengeance in the city, where most residents consider him a myth. However, the hero is seen as willing to kill for justice, or at least to let evildoers be slain by circumstance, as when he fails to rescue a rapist from the path of a subway train.

Murdock's conversations with his priest (with a name like Murdock, could the hero be other than Irish Catholic?) and his lawyer-partner Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau) reveal his guilty feelings about continuing his campaign. He wants to avenge his father's death, but he seems to have no future, particularly with women in his life.

Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) changes that. In the comics this somewhat murky heroine has an involved Freudian character arc that barely exists in Johnson's script, and she and Matt Murdock meet in college, Johnson understandably brings Elektra-- the martially trained daughter of a rich Greek businessman-- into Murdock's life at a time when he needs a breath of fresh air. Murdock and Elektra "meet violent" by having an impromptu hand-to-hand martial match on a kids' playground, but in no time they've graduated to passionate lovers after one or two dates. 

In the comics Elektra's father is a diplomat, which has some impact on her becoming skilled in martial arts. But here Dad is doing dirty business with the Kingpin of Crime (Michael Clarke Duncan), thus drawing a rough parallel to Murdock's father, who became entangled in criminal enterprises. When Natchios tries to withdraw, Kingpin decides-- rather vindictively for a crime-boss supposedly motivated by "business"-- to terminate both Natchios and his daughter. The crime-lord calls in the services of Bullseye (Colin Farrell), an assassin who kills his prey with the use of skillfully thrown objects, such as shurkiens and razor-edged cards.

Bullseye's assassination attempt succeeds with the elder Natchios, but Elektra survives. The bereaved woman doesn't see Bullseye, only Daredevil, who attempted to block Bullseye's murderous intentions. As a result of this rather chock-a-block encounter, Elektra wants to kill the red-suited adventurer for having slain her father, while Bullseye wants Daredevil dead for having caused him to "miss." This leads to a triptych of climactic battles: Elektra against Daredevil, Bullseye against Elektra (with fatal results for the latter), and Daredevil against Bullseye. For a cherry on top, Bullseye also subdues the Kingpin but doesn't kill the crime-lord when he has the chance, which is clearly meant to signal a newfound devotion to higher justice over vengeance. Thus, even though Daredevil has loved and lost, he's a more complete person than he was before.

Johnson plays up romance more than the comics did, and so that character-arc becomes rushed due to time constraints. Still, both the playground-fight and an evocative moment where Murdock "sees" Elektra through the medium of falling rain are nicely executed. Because Elektra's arc is so adumbrated, there doesn't seem much of a reason for her to dress up in a costume to attack the hero, nor is there any explanation as to why she wields a pair of sais as her chosen weapons. The fight-scenes in general are good but never quite great.

Additionally, Garner does the athletic performance well, but her take on the character is mixed at best. Bullseye in contrast is both well conceived and well acted. Instead of being an ice-cold killer as in the comics, Bullseye is amusingly twitchy in his ability to be annoyed by any small grievance, and Farrell, employing his own Irish accent, makes the character memorable even without a standard costume. Duncan is physically imposing but his character is underwritten. Favreau supplies excellent comic relief, and allegedly he later got the job of directing the 2008 IRON MAN thanks to making contact here with co-producer Kevin Feige. (The latter, prior to his regular status with the MCU, seems to have been something of a jobber with a specialty in superhero-films throughout the early 21st century.) Finally, Affleck has many good moments as the guilt-obsessed crusader, though there are also some scenes where the actor seems to be phoning things in. 

Though DAREDEVIL is far from a great superhero film, it shows a strong concern for capturing the essence of the comic-character's appeal and translating it into film. Feige defended the film in its day, but once IRON MAN took off, he evidently decided that his "road" from then on would be to follow a much lighter, less substantive view of superhero dynamics-- to say nothing of his increasing tendency for political virtue signaling. Since DAREDEVIL was only a modest success, making back just twice its budget, it's understandable that it didn't offer filmmakers a formula for financial success. But I still prefer the film to many of those that followed.