"Daredevil: Director's Cut"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Ben Affleck as MATT MURDOCK/DAREDEVIL Jennifer Garner as ELECKTRA NATCHIOS Michael Clark Duncan as KINGPIN Colin Farrell as BULLSEYE Jon Favreau as FRANKLIN NELSON Joe Pantoliano as BEN URICH David Keith as JACK MURDOCK Rated R Studio: 20th CENTURY FOX Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson Back to DVD Review Home |
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When the film “Daredevil” came out two years ago, I was not very kind in my review. In fact, I was pretty critical of several points, making several jabs at Jennifer Garner’s performance. I even received hate mail from a die-hard Jennifer Garner fan about it.
So, keeping that in mind, the Director’s Cut of “Daredevil” is a vast improvement.
That doesn’t mean it’s a great movie. There are still a lot of problems. You can’t fix Garner’s performance with any amount of editing. And Ben Affleck still gave off the sensation that he was just collecting a paycheck for this film. However, this version of “Daredevil” is at least coherent.
This new cut contains more than 30 minutes of deleted scenes from the theatrical version. Entire plot lines are reinstated, including some courtroom time with Matt Murdock and Franklin Nelson. They are defending a murder suspect, played by Coolio. Of course, the murder ties in with the Kingpin’s plan and eventually leads to his downfall.
The best part of these new scenes is that they fill in holes that were in the theatrical plot. That doesn’t mean the scenes were great feats of cinema, but by losing them in the theatrical version left too many questions unanswered.
The reinstated scenes also give us deeper insight into the live and mind of Matt Murdock. We see more of the tortured soul and have a greater understanding of just how hard it would be to declare yourself a superhero.
The DVD includes a featurette “Giving the Devil His Due,” which is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Director’s Cut. This feature, taken with the audio commentary by writer/director Mark Steven Johnson and producer Avi Arad, is a must-see for any would-be filmmaker out there.
This Director’s Cut story reminds me of something I heard on the commentary for “Armageddon.” While I think that Michael Bay is the cinematic equivalent of the antichrist, he had an incredible observation about the production of a film. He said that making a film is like going to battle and when it is finished, if you have something good, it’s like winning a war.
If you look at filmmaking - at least big-budget studio filmmaking - in this light, the “Daredevil” Director’s Cut is superb because it points out where the battle lines were drawn. Even though the film itself isn’t spectacular, it is a great presentation of the struggles that plague every studio film.
The DVD itself is thin compared to the double-disc release of the original “Daredevil” (which had special features that were more worthy of seeing than the film itself). However, the information that a fan or wannabe filmmaker can glean from the process is invaluable. I’d put the commentary on my list of the top 20 commentary tracks of all time.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (2.35:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. French language track. Spanish subtitles. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
