: Daredevil
Spoiler alert: in order to comment on this I’m going to reveal key plot points, so if you don’t want to know, don’t read this. First, this is a well-done film. The look is excellent (the “radarvision” is something we haven’t seen before and well done), the action amazing, the acting above average. The barely-there plot’s not even too dumb by comic book film standards. However, there are a couple key flaws that really ruined the film for me.
The story begins with a hero’s backstory, how he was blinded as a kid and developed super senses as a result, including a kind of radar. He builds himself up physically and mentally, and when his father is murdered, vows to seek justice for those who can’t afford it. He grows up to become a lawyer by day and the vigilante Daredevil at night. So far, everything’s great. Then, as the lawyer, he meets the beautiful Elektra. They have an oddly confrontational initial meeting, which blossoms into true love. She’s a strong character that matches his strength, and we know it’s destiny that they be together. Then the bad guys kill her father and then her, and the movie goes downhill from there. When Daredevil finally confronts the killer of his girl and his father (of course they’re the same bad guy), he doesn’t kill him. How lame is that? Even worse, a hospital room scene that shows up during the credits reveals that the bad guys’ associate didn’t die when Daredevil threw him from the church tower. Now I know the filmmakers would tell me they didn’t want to go with the cliche happy ending with the girl surviving the attempt on her left, but they turned right around and a did an even stupider cliche by having the hero not take his vengeance and kill the murderer. What’s up with that? The result is bizarre: no bad guys die in the film. They murder dozens of good people, and though Daredevil defeats them in the end, they all live and he goes on with life alone. That’s better than having the girl survive? Lame! First, Elektra’s character was one of the strongest in the film: you’re stupid to kill her off. Second, by letting all the bad guys survive while all the good die you’ve sent a horrible message to audiences. Finally, the whole film becomes a downer. Nothing about the ending makes it any less depressing.
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