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Daredevil (Ben Affleck) is a blind superhero gifted with bat-like radar, heightened senses and incredible acrobatic skills.  A lawyer by day, he is a vigilante by night in Hells Kitchen (my hood).  Jennifer Garner plays Electra, the love interest with semi-special powers of her own.  The bad guys are Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who “never misses,” and the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan), the boss of the criminal underworld.  As for the plot, the bad guys are being bad (and power hungry), Daredevil kicks ass to deliver his own justice and pretty girl gets caught in the middle and kicks some ass too.

Daredevil managed to keep my interest throughout and was, at least for the first 2/3rds, much darker than I expected (in a good way).  The plot was solid and did not have any obvious holes.  I also give Davedevil props for not succumbing to the current trend of dragging out every action scene until it is completely over the top and boring.  However, Daredevil has a few downsides that result in it just being an “ok,” rather than “good,” movie.

First of all, Ben Affleck is a horrible actor, an even worse fighter (watching him run when he was supposed to be this incredibly acrobatic superhero was quite amusing) and the love scene between him and Jennifer Garner was particularly painful to watch.  Second, none of the bad guys were particularly interesting.  Bullseye just throws things and Kingpin, who I remember from Spiderman comics, was underdeveloped and underutilized.  Third, while the plot is fine, it is basic and there is very little development of any character other than Daredevil.  Also, while the movie is dark in the beginning and middle, it does not have the guts to take that darkness all the way to the end, which feels like a sell-out. 

All-in-all, not a bad movie to catch on T.V., but that is about it.

One little oddity that I have to comment on.  In the opening scene, Ben Affleck is prosecuting a guy for rape, but in the next “laywer” scene he and his partner are discussing not getting clients who pay.  Nice that no one producing this movie caught that “prosecuters” work for the city and don’t have private law practices.

Regarding the Hi-Definition HBO movie experience (on the wide screen plasma with surround sound), it is pretty sweet, but does not match a good DVD.  However, I think a large part of that is simply because the Hi-Def movie feed fills the whole screen, which results in an obviously wider viewing angle than your typical T.V. movie because it truly utilizes the 16:9 aspect ratio, but you can still tell that you are not getting the entire screen.  Daredevil teased me by starting out letterbox and then shifting after the credits were over.  I wish they would just show the movies in letterbox, but I am not going to hold my breath on that one.  Bottom line, the Hi-Def movie experience is pretty good, especially when you are just flipping channels and stumble across a movie to watch, but if you have invested in the wide screen home theater system, get the DVD for movies you really want to see but missed in the theater.

Daredevil (Ben Affleck) is a blind superhero gifted with bat-like radar, heightened senses and incredible acrobatic skills.  A lawyer by day, he is a vigilante by night in Hells Kitchen (my hood).  Jennifer Garner plays Electra, the love interest with semi-special powers of her own.  The bad guys are Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who “never misses,” and the Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan), the boss of the criminal underworld.  As for the plot, the bad guys are being bad (and power hungry), Daredevil kicks ass to deliver his own justice and pretty girl gets caught in the middle and kicks some ass too.

Daredevil managed to keep my interest throughout and was, at least for the first 2/3rds, much darker than I expected (in a good way).  The plot was solid and did not have any obvious holes.  I also give Davedevil props for not succumbing to the current trend of dragging out every action scene until it is completely over the top and boring.  However, Daredevil has a few downsides that result in it just being an “ok,” rather than “good,” movie.

First of all, Ben Affleck is a horrible actor, an even worse fighter (watching him run when he was supposed to be this incredibly acrobatic superhero was quite amusing) and the love scene between him and Jennifer Garner was particularly painful to watch.  Second, none of the bad guys were particularly interesting.  Bullseye just throws things and Kingpin, who I remember from Spiderman comics, was underdeveloped and underutilized.  Third, while the plot is fine, it is basic and there is very little development of any character other than Daredevil.  Also, while the movie is dark in the beginning and middle, it does not have the guts to take that darkness all the way to the end, which feels like a sell-out. 

All-in-all, not a bad movie to catch on T.V., but that is about it.

One little oddity that I have to comment on.  In the opening scene, Ben Affleck is prosecuting a guy for rape, but in the next “laywer” scene he and his partner are discussing not getting clients who pay.  Nice that no one producing this movie caught that “prosecuters” work for the city and don’t have private law practices.

Regarding the Hi-Definition HBO movie experience (on the wide screen plasma with surround sound), it is pretty sweet, but does not match a good DVD.  However, I think a large part of that is simply because the Hi-Def movie feed fills the whole screen, which results in an obviously wider viewing angle than your typical T.V. movie because it truly utilizes the 16:9 aspect ratio, but you can still tell that you are not getting the entire screen.  Daredevil teased me by starting out letterbox and then shifting after the credits were over.  I wish they would just show the movies in letterbox, but I am not going to hold my breath on that one.  Bottom line, the Hi-Def movie experience is pretty good, especially when you are just flipping channels and stumble across a movie to watch, but if you have invested in the wide screen home theater system, get the DVD for movies you really want to see but missed in the theater.