Daredevil (English) Review

Jenny's Benny tries to sidle into the empty parking spot left by last summer's swinging sensation Spiderman. But what Daredevil really does is dare stretch the limits of your imagination in a way that can be found only in a comic book.

Another one of Marvel's creations gets transformed into celluloid, and quite simply, for all those of us who thought Spiderman was tops and that Batman had a sinister sex appeal - somehow Daredevil doesn't have our knees rattling out the national anthem. Anyway, let's just cut to the chase and make up on the lost time.

1. Daredevil (Ben Affleck): Well, might as well admit it, this is the reason that you actually came to watch the flick. Daredevil is the 'man who knows no fear' (simply because he's passed it all on to the audience who have to watch him)! Well, this superhero, in a childhood act of Good Samaritanism, gets accidentally blinded by some radioactive toxic stuff, resulting in the hyper-development of all his other senses. And in keeping with the rule number 35 of the Superheroes' Manual, leads a dual existence - he's a slickly gelled lawyer defending the innocent by day and a swinging hero in maroon spandex whacking the 'e' out of 'evil' by night. Shucks, talk about an oxymoronic existance. Anyway, as he is swinging in and about, nose-diving all across upper and lower Manhattan, all you're thinking is what those two horns on his head are for. An intelligent (hee hee!) guess - one to hang his underwear to dry on and the other to tag on Elektra's phone number?

2. Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner): Hah! I sight you lads straighten up, oye? Electra does stuff to Wonderbras what Wonderbras did to bras... lifts them out of the ordinary! A butt-kicking martial arts expert with a name that has Mexicans licking their chops in glee has a chance meeting with Daredevil. This leads to more sparks than the patent leather can handle.
3. Quintessential baddie Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan): Well, this is the guy who spends all his time focusing his bulk and gaze out of the window and plotting never before seen types evil.
4. And the piece -de-resistance - Bullseye (Colin Farrell): The actual villain that this flick has. With a name like that, you can bet your bottom dollar where his talents lie! This man or whatever can aim his ass off. But with a bullseye stamped across his forehead, you don't want him to wander alone near a firing range!

And now for the lowdown. Daredevil has several things jotted on his lawyer's memo - getting top priority is the avenging of his Pop's death. Things take an Electric (pun intended) turn when, in a case of mistaken identity, Elektra gets hyper and gets set to get a piece of his ass, when the actual troublemakers are in fact Kingpin and Bullseye.

Blah-di-blah and the corniest lover's spat in cinematic history for a while, and you're through with Daredevil. What is with this flick anyway? It's too bad to be good but just awful enough to be fairly fun! The director seems to set out to make a Superhero shtick but ends up with what seems to be a do-it-yourself version of The Matrix. And looks like the stunt co-ordinator stumbled across some pirated DVDs of Crouching Tiger (can we cut the chords and get some new stunts in place, please?).

The characterization too is too campy for comfort. For instance, Affleck seems to have his act together as the lawyer Matt Murdock, but the moment he slips into them maroon thingies, seems to lose his ability to act. In the end he just ends up looking like some propped up supermonkey.

The movie has elements of Batman peppering it now and then, but that is about the only saving grace. Kingpin is fabulous in his bulky, gravelly, cigar-chomping way, but fails to radiate enough raw evil. And so it is only the devious Colin Farrell that really makes the mark.

And as for Ben Affleck? With hair that seems to be running away from his face, I think he's better off unstring-ing the thongs off J Lo. Well, Daredevil doesn't really knock the elastic off your socks, but is well worth an afternoon away from the sun.