Plot
The movie opens with a wounded Daredevil falling to the floor of a church. He's bleeding and the priest come to his aid. That, somehow, leads us to a flashback. A young Matt Murdock and his father, growing up. His father was The Devil Murdock, an out-of-work boxer. He works for a crime syndicate, even though he doesn't want to. Young Matt witnesses him doing some tough work, and runs. This leads to Matt being sprayed with toxic goo in the eyes. He goes blind, but somehow develops the ability to use sound like sonar and 'see' things.
His father becomes a boxer again, and when he refuses to throw a fight, is killed by a killer who drops a rose as his calling card. Fast-forward twenty years, and Matt is a lawyer, defending cases pro-bono, much to the chagrin of his partner, Nelson. At night, Matt becomes Daredevil, the man without fear. He doles out justice, often deadly justice, to those he cannot put away in the courtroom.
One fateful day, he meets a hottie named Elektra. They play, and fight, and romance. Her father is an associate of the Kingpin, who rules crime in the city. In an effort to rid himself of Daredevil, he hires Bullseye, a crazy Irishman who can kill by throwing things at incredible accuracy and speed.
Kingpin also needs Bullseye to kill Elektra's father, who wants out of the game. Daredevil is there, and nearly stops the Irishman. But, he uses Daredevil's weapon to kill the father, and Elektra goes after Daredevil.
She wounds Daredevil, and is mortally wounded herself by Bullseye. Daredevil and Bullseye duke it out in the aforementioned church, and the blind man wins. He then goes after Kingpin himself, who was the man who killed Matt's father. In the end, Kingpin goes to jail, Bullseye is hospitalized, and Elektra dissapears.
My Thoughts
This movie came out months before the summer rush, and it performed better than most movies did at the time. In terms of the movie itself, I enjoyed it immensly. it has great action, a decent romance, and just enough over-the-top campy-ness to keep me entertained. Colin Farrell seemed to be having the most fun, playing the dastardly Bullseye, hurting everything he could.
The heros, Murdock and Elektra, are completly fleshed out, while the villians, Kingpin and Bullseye, are only caricatures of what they could have been. It was uneven, but the rest of the positive attributes outweighed those. The soundtrack is probably the best of the year, introducing us to the best new artists of the year, Evanescence.
This movie began the superhero summer, although it came out in the dead of winter. It gets those stars deservedly, and only whetted my appetite for the blockbusters of the summer.
And, sorry to break it to you, but Elektra has her own movie coming out in a year or so. Yeah, she lives.
