This isn't easy for me to say. I want so badly for the following statement to be false, though I know it in my heart to be true:
The Daredevil movie is going to suck.
Man...
It should be really easy to make a good Daredevil movie. He doesn't fly, he isn't a teenager and he doesn't shoot lasers from his eyes. Suspension of disbelief for Daredevil's character is easy to achieve. He's one of the most believable, most human characters in all of comics.
Matt Murdock is a reserved, blind, Irish-Catholic attorney at law who is pained by the brutal truth of the human condition. He purges his guilt by donning a costume and cleaning up the streets. Sounds like an Oscar-winning story in the making, right?
Well, it would be, if Hollywood would have found a director who had any sort of respect for the source material. Instead of an intelligent director like Bryan Singer or Ang Lee, they chose to go with Mark Steven Johnson. Not heard of him before? That is because he is the man who wrote and directed "Jack Frost."
One look at the "Daredevil" trailer speaks volumes for how far-off base this movie will be. One might think "The Matrix" inspired the action sequences. Something far worse is the case.
Ben Affleck on making the movie: "Mark showed me a bunch of different movies, and one of the heaviest influences on the look is Anime, the Japanese animation look."
Anime? Frank Miller will shoot himself when he hears this. The Daredevil comics' greatest attribute is their stripped-down, bare-bones style of writing and art. There are four basic colors in Daredevil comics: red, brown, gray and black. "Anime" is the antithesis of everything Daredevil comics stand for.
Even if we forgive that grave travesty, there are still contentions to be made with the Daredevil costume used in the movie. It's reflective! Daredevil is a creature of the night; he is not going to wear a super-shiny, red, leather condom for a costume. Too much flash, this movie is going to have too much flash!
This movie is also going to have too many villains. Three, to be exact: Kingpin, Bullseye and Elektra. One only needs to watch a Joel Schumacher Batman flick to understand why any more than one or two villains is a mistake. Johnson is blowing all of his usable material in one film.
Michael Clarke Duncan is playing the Kingpin.
In the comics, the Kingpin is a large, white man who wears a large, white suit and smokes a big, fat cigar. He is the kingpin of all crime in Hell's Kitchen. The symbolism should not escape you. A large, white man Michael Clarke Duncan is not.
The Kingpin should parallel Joseph Conrad's Dr. Kurtz in "The Heart of Darkness." He is a paper Mephistopheles, the "white devil" who corrupts from behind the scenes.
By casting a black actor, Johnson has chosen to strip the character of any symbolism and pass on any chance of making a real statement with this movie.
This movie is going to be a disservice to one of the finest comic book characters ever created. Respecting the source material is key to making a good super-hero movie. Apparently, Hollywood doesn't get that.
Write to Mouse at bbmcshane@bsu.edu
Visit www.classicalgeektheatre.com
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