Sizzle Saves Daredevil

Why does Hollywood insist on turning tried and true comic book successes into films? Because they’re greedy. And chicken. They hope to grow their audience by starting from a fan base of the comic book readers. Sometimes that works, as with the original Batman movie and last year’s blockbuster “Spiderman.” But will “Daredevil” have enough of a fan base to give this film the financial jumpstart? It’s never been as popular as the “Spiderman” series, which turns a potentially sure thing into a big fat “maybe.”

This means that “Daredevil” might just have to be a good enough movie on its own to make a profit for its producers. As a comic book to big screen conversion, the film has a few good things on its side. Unfortunately, a compelling script isn’t one of them. Written by director Mark Steven Johnson (“Simon Birch”), who was brought to the project by his boyhood love of the character, the script fails to ask a central, compelling dramatic question.

What is this movie about? Is it finding out who was responsible for the murder of the Daredevil’s dad, down and out boxer, Jack Murdock (David Keith)? This seems to happen more by convenient coincidence then by determined design. Perhaps the film is really a romance, after all, aren’t we all dying to know if two people with secret identities can find love?

The two people in question are Ben Affleck’s Matt Murdock and Jennifer Garner’s Electra Natchios. Matt Murdock’s secret I.D. is of course the big DD. But what the heck is Elektra playing at with her marvelous martial art moves and her nasty looking knives? In the original Marvel comic book, Elektra was Matt’s childhood sweetheart turned assassin. In the screen version, it’s not clear what she is (other than the daughter of a billionaire bad guy).

Time that should have been devoted to giving us a dynamic plot was spent telling us how Matt became blind. In the original comic book, it was a good deed that backfired. In the film version, Matt is running from something bad rather than doing something good. Does it work? Marginally. Is it better than the original in this regard? Nope.

Enough about the bad stuff. The film does have some redeeming qualities. Ben Affleck for one. Buff Ben makes the transition from blind man to super hero rather convincingly. While he does pour the angst on a little thick in places, he carries off the role with remarkable charm.

Jennifer Garner is equal to Ben in the buff department and their fight scenes are the highlight of the film. Colin Farrell, as the bad guy Bullseye, is over the top but gets away with it. Jon Favreau as Matt’s law partner is perhaps the most sincere and believable character in the film.

There are two other things I liked about this film. One is the way they showed Matt’s special powers. Because he’s blind, he lives in a world where objects are outlined by sound and it looked pretty nifty—similar to what happens for Frodo when he puts on the ring. I also like Matt Murdock’s desire for revenge. He’s not always a nice guy. That makes for an interesting conflicted character. If you’re willing to forgive a few not so minor faults for the sake of some sizzle, you’ll have a fairly good time.

Rated PG-13 for action/violence and some sensuality.