Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

Marvel Comics has seemingly been mining the archives of their world of comics and bringing just about every character they ever inked to the big screen, be they major or tertiary. In 2003, after seeing huge box office successes with Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man films, Marvel licensed out Daredevil to Hollywood and Ben Affleck was cast in the lead role.

The original theatrical cut of Daredevil was bewildering at best. Writer/director Mark Steven Johnson's final cut ended up as a bad mixture of a love story and a revenge story and the whole thing was put together in a way that made it all feel pointless -- the film was bad. Now, the Director's Cut arrives on Blu-ray and, it's not a masterpiece by any means, but it is a far more palatable film. Daredevil Director's Cut makes Daredevil edgier and, though still a violent vigilante, the blind superhero is now motivated by something more noble than a desire to avenge the death of his father and girlfriend, he is motivated by the need to keep his neighborhood, New York City's Hell's Kitchen, free from the corrupting influence of the crime boss Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and to keep innocent people from going to prison.

The fight scenes in the Director's Cut are longer and more fleshed out, and the general order and flow of events feels more natural. The love scene between Daredevil and Elektra (Jennifer Garner) has been excised, thereby removing most of the love story elements from the film.  Still, even with the extra 30-minutes of added footage it is difficult to find any sort of cohesive plot in this film. Apart from Daredevil's exploits as a vigilante, his fight scene against Elektra who wrongfully believes he assassinated her father, and his desire to take down the Kingpin, there is no story here.

The question has to be asked, why do studios continue to green-light films with screenplays that are no more than outlines? There are so many projects deserving funding that could be put into production that would yield far more satisfactory results; projects tackling subjects more weighty and urgent than comic book characters. That isn't to say that comic books cannot be turned into quality movies, because it has been done; a graphic novel such as Sin City is a prime example of that as is Batman Begins. Unfortunately, Daredevil has always felt like a weak story trying to be profound, and although its numerous action sequences, filled with brilliant choreography and artistically rendered visual effects, are often entertaining, the film on the whole never goes beyond being more than a foundation for a better movie to be built upon.

The Picture

Daredevil's picture is the story of two looks. One is the darkly lit nighttime with obsidian blacks and richly saturated colors and the other are the bright, hard contrast scenes with glowing, earthy mid-tones. The Blu-ray's 1080/24p AVC/MPEG-4 video transfer does well to preserve the look of the film and its fine level of grain structure with neither compression artifacts nor post-processing effects such as edge enhancement.  

A high level of detail is apparent in skin texture and clothing -- every crease on Daredevil's leather costume can be picked out. The colors in the dark scenes are rich with a deep luster, but blacks sometimes crush. Flesh tones in darker scenes are natural, but in the bright scenes where an emphasis is placed on earth tones, they are far more tan than realistic. Other than these few peculiarities that are most likely a result of filmmaker's intent, the transfer is quite superb.

The Sound

Fox always provides at least one lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track on their BD releases and Daredevil is no exception. In addition to the English 5.1 lossless track, there are French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 options to choose from as well. The DTS-HD MA mix is just what you would expect from a Marvel Comics soundtrack -- the soundstage is expansive with aggressive use of the surround channels and extensive low frequency extension. Making it all even better is the always-intelligible dialogue in the center channel, which is never drowned by the action.

The scene in Chapter 4 when young Matt awakens in the hospital after the accident that has blinded him displays an amazing amount of directionality and thunderous use of the LFE as sound effects quickly swing around the room and touch every speaker.  Chapter 8, as Daredevil goes after Quesada in the bar, offers another example of rumbling low frequency extension and discrete use of the surround channels. Throughout the film, in fact, whenever Daredevil's abilities present themselves the mix comes alive as heartbeats pulsate from what sounds like the inside of your head, or voices slowly make their ways from the corner of the room over your head in front of you.  The special effects never become fatiguing either, as equalization is relaxed and natural, and wide dynamics allow the sound to breathe.

The Extras

As has become the norm for home video releases of Marvel Comics films, this Blu-ray release of Daredevil comes with a plethora of supplemental materials that delve into the creation and evolution of the character over the years through a series of interviews with the artists and writers who have been involved with the comic at various times over the years.  There's also an exhaustive amount of behind-the-scenes information on the production and filmmaking process of Daredevil.

Most of the extras are ported over from the previous DVD releases and are still only in standard definition, but some BD-Java interactive features have been added to this BD in the form of an "Enhanced Viewing Mode" which adds some behind-the-scenes featurettes and commentaries that can be selected during the film's playback.

The extras available on this release are:

• Enhanced Viewing Mode -- Select specially prepared multi-layered sequences, behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring the animatics, green screen visual effects and more with commentary by visual effects producer John Kilkenny.
• Commentary by Mark Steven Johnson and Avi Arad -- This is your typical audio commentary with the director and producer pointing out the details of how the set up and shot certain scenes and how certain scenes differed from how they originally wanted them, etc.
• Fact and Fiction Feature -- Detailed notes relating to he production of the film, Marvel Comics, and the film's characters display during the film's playback.
• Beyond Hell's Kitchen: Making Daredevil with optional enhanced viewing mode (1.78:/standard definition) -- This making-of featurette focuses on the design of the Daredevil costume and sets.
• Jennifer Garner Screen Tests (4:3/standard definition)
• Featured Villain: Kingpin (1.78:1/standard definition) -- In an interview segment actor Michael Clark Duncan speaks about his role as Kingpin.
• Daredevil: HBO First Look Special (4:3/standard definition) - This is the pre-release television special taken directly from HBO.
• Moving Through Space: A Day in the Life of Tom Sullivan (1.78:1/standard definition)
• Giving the Devil His Due (1.78:1/standard definition) -- Marvel producer/CEO and writer/director Mark Steven Johnson discuss the differences between the theatrical and director's cut and bringing the director's cut to home video.
• Multi-Angle Dailies (4:3/standard definition) -- Raw dailies of the Elektra/Bullseye and Daredevil/Kingpin action sequences.
• Trailers (4:3/windowboxed/standard definition) -- The original theatrical teaser and two original theatrical trailers for Daredevil.
• Music Videos (standard definition) -- Fuel: "Won't Back Down"; The Calling: "For You"; Evanescence: "Bring Me to Life"; Music Promotion Spot.
• Still Galleries -- Slideshows of storyboards, costume designs, set designs, production stills, and props.
• The Comic Book (1.78:1/standard definition) -- This series of featurettes puts the focus squarely on the Daredevil comic book and its creators:
  • Men Without Fear: Creating Daredevil -- The various artists and writers for the Daredevil comic book discuss the evolution of the character and their differing styles to creating Daredevil.
  • Shadow World -- Daredevil's ability to experience the world through his heightened senses of touch, smell, and hearing is examined.
  • Modeling Sheets -- A slide show of character profiles for the heroes and villains from the film.

Final Thoughts

Daredevil is not one of the better Marvel comics to be adapted to film; people seem to either love it or hate it. Although the film does display wonderful visual and sound effects in its action sequences, the lack of any kind of a coherent plot keeps even the Director's Cut with its additional 30 minutes of footage from being anything more than mediocre. Despite the film's deficits, however, the BD release is yet another reference quality release from Fox with an abundance of supplemental materials and excellent sound and picture quality that will push the limits of your home theater setup, making it a fine addition to a Marvel fan's collection and a worthy weekend rental for the rest of us, if nothing more.

Where to Buy

• Daredevil: Director's Cut (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau
• Director: Mark Steven Johnson
• Audio/Languages: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French & Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Region: A
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: September 30, 2008
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• List Price: $39.98
• Extras:
  • Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Mark Steven Johnson and Producer Avi Arad
  • Enhanced Viewing Mode -- Takes you behind-the-scenes as you watch the film
  • Beyond Hell's Kitchen: Making Daredevil Documentary
  • Men Without Fear: Creating Daredevil Documentary
  • Daredevil: HBO First Look TV Special
  • Jennifer Garner Screen Tests
  • Featured Villain: Kingpin Featurette
  • Moving Through Space: A Day with Tom Sullivan Featurette
  • Giving the Devil His Due Featurette
  • 3 Music Videos, 5 Photo Galleries, and More!