Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Great DIrector's Cut!

I’ve never really been big in purchasing the “Director’s Cut” of movies when I already own a copy of the original movie. Typically, there are only a few deleted scenes added to the special “Director’s Cut.” Huge rip off!!! This time around though, I heard the Director’s Cut of Daredevil was different… not only were some deleted scenes placed back into the movie, but some scenes from the theatrical version were taken out… the story actually changed a bit! So, I bought it yesterday (along with Revenge of the Sith of course) and I just finished watching it.

(Side note for those of you who know me quite well… I have not yet watched my new and legal copy of Revenge of the Sith. Why? Simple… I was stuck at work all day yesterday and watched it over and over again for 18 hours… my brain can’t take anymore Star Wars right now!)

Anyway… now from the start, I’ve always thought that Daredevil got an unfair rap… Yes, the comic books for Daredevil always sucked… and yes, the film had its problems and it was far from perfect… but the fact that many critics placed the film on their "Worst Of" lists for 2003 is simply ludicrous. This was clearly a case of critics jumping onto the hate bandwagon for a large scale film (Ron does this all the time now! Heh!) And, unfortunately for Ben Affleck, he is constantly the target of critic hatefests… sorry dude, Gigli didn’t help matters! LOL!

The Director’s Cut of Daredevil is a huge improvement over the original. It fleshes out many aspects that were glossed over in the 90 minute theatrical release. From what I can remember of the comics, this version is also far more loyal to the feel of the comic book Daredevil world… but again, I was never a really big Daredevil fan (long story)… but I did always relate to the tortured soul of Matt Murdock.

The best part is that the film is now darker overall, more violent and just plain grittier. The fights, particularly those near the end with Bullseye and Kingpen, are more extensive. They are bloodier and more intense and they work better in the context of this new cut. I noticed that this version is now rated R!

The most significant aspect of this new cut might be that the story of Elektra now takes a distant backseat to Daredevil. This may actually explain the choice to go with the more streamlined original theatrical cut, in which Elektra is almost as big a character as Daredevil himself… which I found absolutely ridiculous!

Now, with a longer and more extensive backstory, Elektra is only a marginal character and her part on the whole is reduced. Parts of the love story from the theatrical cut have also been taken out, which shifts the focus from a romantic action story to a dark origin film.

This version makes Daredevil's story and his struggles a whole lot more engaging. I now would be very interested to see a second Daredevil film!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Daredevil always reminds me of a friend of mine attended my last 21st birthday party dressed as Matt Murdoch, and left his white stick behind when he went home!

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Frank said...

LOL! He left the most important part behind... without the stick, he's just someone walking around in a suit! :-P

Frank said...

Yes! :-P

Anonymous said...

without the stick, he's just someone walking around in a suit!

He was wearing dark glasses as well.

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Frank said...

He could have also been dressed up as Neo (Keanu Reeves, Matrix)! Just a thought... well after he left without the stick! :-P

Mad Munkey said...

Have you seen the director's cut of Blade Runner? Such a better movie... The voice over was taken off. That alone makes the movie. Check it out.

Frank said...

I haven't seen the director's cut of Blade Runner. It fell into that category of DVD's I already own, so why get the director's cut... but if you think that the director's cut makes that big a difference, then I'll need to check that one out! :-D

Frank said...

No J-Lo... thank God! :-P