Daredevil

Starring: Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau

Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson

RS: 1of 4 Stars

2003 Action

The only thing remarkable about the drool that is Daredevil is how it scammed audiences out of $103 million. When the flick debuted in February, we were all curious. But word got out fast that the Marvel Comic created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett in 1964 had lost its darkness in Mark Steven Johnson's limp screen adaptation. On DVD, the film is a wan thing indeed. Ben Affleck seems even more lightweight and lost as Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer by day, a daredevil crusader by night. It helps that Jennifer Garner looks hot kicking butt in leather and that Colin Farrell gets in a few nasty laughs as a villain. But they're not worth a nearly-thirty-buck two-disc set with bonus features -- including a hype-driven HBO special -- that you wouldn't want to see anyway. Of course, the DVD lets you view a few scenes from multiple angles. Neat trick. But no matter how you look at Daredevil, it's still a bloody bore.

PETER TRAVERS
(July 16, 2003)