DAREDEVIL

[MARCBLEE]

Just saw this movie at 9pm tonite.

DAREDEVIL

The new X-MEN trailer before this movie is amazing!!!!!

Synopsis: Attorney and martial arts enthusiast Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck) is blinded in an accident, but his other senses become heightened. He decides to live a double life as Daredevil, battling evil and criminals. Among the adversaries he faces are Elektra (Jennifer Garner), his girlfriend out to avenge her father’s murder, the crime lord Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and his partner in crime Bullseye (Colin Farrell).

Who is that up there, swinging and swooping above the city?

Spider-Man? No. Spidey's mask doesn't have little horns.

Batman, then? Not him, either. Batman has horns -- or, at least, little peaks -- but he has never been seen in red leather.

Not in the line of duty, anyway.

The new kid on the block -- above the block, really -- is Daredevil, a k a the "Man Without Fear." Hero of the dark-toned action picture of the same name, he's swinging into theaters today, clad in crimson, sporting those devil's horns and played by People's "sexiest man alive," the buff, square-jawed Ben Affleck.

The Daredevil comic book was co-created in the early 1960s for Marvel Comics by writer-honcho Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett. Although derivative of both Marvel's Spider-Man and DC's Batman, Daredevil has a distinctive gimmick:

He’s blind.

This doesn't slow him down as much as you would think. The accident that takes the sight of a kid named Matt Murdock also leaves his other senses heightened and gives him a special "radar sense." As he grows up to become Daredevil by night and an attorney by day, he finds he's able to sense the presence of objects around him.

All of this is laid out very early in the film, in a brisk origin tale that centers on young Matt (Scott Terra) and his father (David Keith), a prizefighter with mob problems.

As we move into the present, we find our hero up against a crime boss called Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and Kingpin's top assassin, Bullseye (Colin Farrell), a marksman with near-perfect aim. Also in the mix is Elektra (Jennifer Garner of TV's Alias), an ace martial artist whose feelings for the "Man Without Fear" might be called love-hate.

Director-writer Mark Steven Johnson (Simon Birch), a self-described "comic-book geek," has come up with an effective visual style to present the ghostly, blue-and-black radar-sense world through which Daredevil deftly maneuvers.

Even more important, Johnson keeps the momentum going all the way through this movie. The action almost never stops, which is Daredevil's biggest asset.

That action is excitingly staged and well-paced

These include the idea of the daring devil as a sort of justice-obsessed avenging angel. There's also more than a dash of vampire-cum-Christian mythology.

In addition to Daredevil and his trio of adversaries, we also meet Matt's jovial law partner (Jon Favreau of Swingers) and the intrepid tabloid reporter (Joe Pantoliano) on Daredevil's trail.

All of this is reasonably imaginative. And it seems fitting that the movie's ebony mood is closer to that of the 1989 Batman than to the more light-hearted spirit of last year's Spider-Man.

Grinning at his own villainy, Duncan (The Green Mile), as the king-sized Kingpin, breaks though the tumult. So does Farrell (The Recruit), as Bullseye, although he has the help of the target on his forehead to focus our attention.

If you are up on American Super Hero comics, you’ll know that Stan Lee was the man behind a lot of the current super-hero films released so far and in the much near future.  Here’s a small spoiler: Look for him in a cameo role as a guy saved from being run over by traffic when he’s trying to cross the street.  It’s the Matt Murdock as the 12 year old who does this.

Since ALIAS is one of my all-time favorite shows right now, it was great, and logical to have Jennifer (my love) in the role of Elektra.  She carried it out with so much style and grace, I almost leaped into the movie.  Hell! I've decided to make my own costume and fly out to Hollywood to show her.  :angry:

Uh oh.....they have laws against that sort of thing don't they?  Oh well.....it was a great thought while it lasted.

This movie kept my attention.  It wasn’t a SPIDER-MAN or a BATMAN or a SUPERMAN but it sort of stands alone as a dark movie with exciting visuals.  I think I actually liked it.  Yep, I think I actually did.

Don’t get up and leave the theater when the credits start to roll.  STAY IN YOUR SEAT. YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE SOMETHING PRETTY COOL AND INTERESTING.

Here are some interesting facts I found out from the official web site:

Cast:

Ben Affleck  

Michael Clarke Duncan  

Colin Farrell  

Jon Favreau  

Jennifer Garner  

Joe Pantoliano  

Director:

Mark Steven Johnson

Release date:

February 14, 2003

Year:

2003

Release:

Wide

Buzz:

Based on the Marvel comic book character of the same name.

Ben Affleck's Matt Murdoch is technically blind, but not completely. "Because he's able to cobble together a sort of mosaic impress of everything around him based on his heightened other senses, he is able to navigate the world," Affleck tells Zap2it of the character.

Jennifer Garner beat out Jolene Blalock, Rhona Mitra and Mia Maestro to play Elektra, Daredevil's ex-girlfriend turned assassin-for-hire.

Director Mark Steven Johnson had an assistant on the set filming everything going on so he would have plenty of behind-the-scenes material for the DVD release of the film.

Filming completed in mid-July 2002 in Los Angeles.

Comic book enthusiast and director Kevin Smith ("Clerks") makes a cameo in the film as a morgue attendant named "Jack Kirby" -- based on the famed comic book illustrator who created some of the best known characters, including Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and The Silver Surfer.

My Score: 7.75 out of 10    

[Tolayon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Kingpin originally a bad-guy character from the Spiderman comics and animated series? Are these two Kingpins the very same person?

[MARCBLEE]

KINGPIN has been in a number of Marvel comics.  Yes he is a bad guy but has been a bad guy to a number of heros.  Played as a white guy in the comics, he is well done as performed by Michael Clark Duncan.

[Raziel]

But Kingpin is Daredevil's traditional arch-enemy, as the Goblin is to Spiderman, The Joker to batman, Magneto to the X-Men .. and so on.

And Jennifer Garner ... Alias is one of my alltime-favorite shows, too. She's so ...  :smlove: