My interest in Daredevil was pretty much sunk by all the reviews ripping it to pieces (I really shouldn’t give so much about other people’s thoughts is the obvious lesson I take from that), because after watching it I can’t say were all the animosity came from. It’s not the greatest superhero movie of all time, but it’s certainly not the worst, not even one of the weaker ones. It does a good job of introducing the character, setting the story up and then getting on with the action. The way they depicted Daredevil’s superhuman senses was also really brilliantly realized and showed the unique strengths of the film medium.
Plot-wise it’s starts with a condensed origin that is actually fun to watch, then follows in the present with Daredevil in his lawyer persona trying to win a case and later using his vigilante persona to get some justice done (because he obviously lost the case). Various plot-threads are taken up: Matt Murdock and love interest Elektra meet for the first time, Matt and his partner have to win a case, a journalist who tries to get information on both the Daredevil and the Kingpin, Daredevil gets into the way of the Kingpin’s interests and Kingpin’s longtime associate (Elektra’s father) wants to get out. The plots begin to intertwine until they lead into a big fight between Bullsey and Daredevil and a short but climatic fight between Daredevil and the Kingpin.
There is a certain done by the number-plotting style present in the movie, but that actually works in its favor. We know when the semi-villain fight is coming, we know we the good-vs-good fight arrives and all those moments you expect actually turn up and never disappoint. The biggest letdown of the movie are mostly the villains. Bullseye is hard to take seriously because he’s played too cartoony by the actor while the actor for the Kingpin has a tremendous presence but doesn’t convey the Machiavellian characteristics I was expecting.
Still, if you want a fun, enjoyable superhero movie in a relatively lowkey setting, Daredevil is pretty much the go-to movie. There’s also none of the sentimentality present that took the fun out of the Spider-Man movies, who in there best moments where much better than Daredevil, but in their worst completely unwatchable, unlike Daredevil.
