A Guardian Devil? Sooooo, today I went and saw …

A Guardian Devil?

Sooooo, today I went and saw Daredevil, the latest adaptation of a Marvel comic book superhero to hit the screen and I must say that I am more than suitably impressed.

It was good. Admittedly, it’s not as good as Spider-man was, but then Daredevil has never been the mass-market hot property of the Marvel universe that Spidey and the X-Men have been and comparing the two as similar would be a disservice to both. So I won’t.

Spider-man was good and enjoyable for it’s “feel-good, underdog does the right thing and gets the girl” spirit and message. Daredevil on the other hand, has always been darker, grittier and much less “comic book-ish” than most of the Marvel universe. A mature hero with both emotional ghosts and physical disability, without all the costumed trappings of the goofy, golden age of comics to clutter the landscape. He is, in essense, the Marvel universe’s version of “Batman”.

Now I’m not a Daredevil afficionado by any means, but after working in and owning a comic store, I’ve learned more than a few things about the character through osmosis and whatnot. I know the basic backstory and most of the ambiant characters well enough to go in to the movie with a general idea of what’s going to happen. I wasn’t dissapointed. All of the major character developments and historical landmarks were there for all to see. Sure there were a few liberties taken here and there — The Kingpin being a bigass black mofo rather than the chubby/obese white guy he is in the comic being the most obvious — but overall they didn’t change my enjoyment of the movie one bit. In fact they probably increased it because the way they were incorporated, fit the storyline seamlessly.

The effects were much better than I was expecting and the trailers don’t even hint at what you see in the film. This was a more than pleasant surprise and for once a trailer didn’t give away the whole movie in 30 seconds.

And for all those who are hardcore Daredevil, or at least comic book, fans, there are more than a few inside references and homages to the Daredevil franchise, it’s writers and artists that are fun to watch (and listen) for.

Overall a very enjoyable movie and a good waste of a couple of hours. If nothing else though, you’ll get to see a really decent trailer for X-Men 2 that has some new footage. Plus if you’re lucky you’ll also glimpse a trailer for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which looks good and is something I have high hopes for, based on the original and masterful Alan Moore comic book.Though… I am a tad worried that it’s become very “hollywood-ized” as it’s apparently being referred to as LXG which both baffles and offends me to no end. And another thing… I’ve also always pronounced it EXTRA-ordinary rather than extraordinary. It just seemed a little more proper when referring to these characters.

I should stop before I start ranting here.