| Daredevil Posted: A marked improvement over the previous version of the film, "Daredevil" (Director's Cut) allows director and co-writer Mark Steven Johnson to adjust his film to the darker aspects he originally wanted to portray on screen. I won't be reviewing the previous edition in this review at all (since amazon.com inadvertently combines all editions into one pool this may end up under the previous theatrical DVD release), but will focus on what makes the "Director's Cut" unique and worth picking up for fans of the movie and the comic book.
Sometimes "Director's Cuts" are a mere attempt by the studio to make more money or the director to create something successful out of a disaster. That isn't the case with "Daredevil"(Director's Cut). Director Johnson originally intended to focus as much on Daredevil as he did on Matt Murdock and his career as a crusading lawyer fighting for the underdogs. The 30 minutes of additional footage adds an important subplot about the murder of a hooker which is pinned on street thug (Coolio). The fight sequence at the end between Kingpin and Daredevil is longer and more involved. Many of the fight sequences are cut with an "R" rating movie in mind (and that's what this DVD version received as its rating). Some of the love story between Elektra and Daredevil gets shortened here as well in favor of developing Murdock's character and for some truly interesting (and occasionally funny) courtroom scenes.
Johnson was required by his contract to provide a PG-13 movie and, as a result, he had to reshuffle the movie a bit cutting out much of the subplot as well as trimming down the more intense fight sequences of the film. There's also a number scenes related to character development that got lost along the way most notably the reporter that follows the Daredevil and Murdock himself. Restoring these sequences improve the film and add strength to a narrative that had a number of holes in it and was too simply resolved. Additionally, it gives more substance to Matt Murdock's character creating a much more complex person. We also see much more about Kingpin and scenes that demonstrate how dangerous he can be.
The transfer here actually looks a bit sharper and with slightly better clarity the the original DVD. Like the previous edition, this one has been transferred in the anamorphic widescreen format which translates to better image quality than a standard widescreen transfer. The sound is also top notch with nice use of the surround sound format.
This "Director's Cut" doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the previous edition (in fact it is a single disc release). The only extras are Johnson and producer Avi Arad's commentary track for this edition (which was in preparation for DVD before the movie was even released to theaters) and a 15 minute featurette on the director's intension in creating this edition. While it lacks the extras on the previous edition, it more than makes up for them with a stronger film. My only complaint is that this should have been released at the same time as the original DVD and/or in place of it with a second disc of extras. Unfortunately, Fox has participated in the old double dip.
Overall, "Daredevil" is much improved with this special edition. It's a pity it came out so long after the original (much like the "Lord of the Rings" movies). Johnson points out in the featurette that he considers "Daredevil" to still be flawed movie and while he may be right, restoring the first R rated version certainly makes this film stronger. The "Director's Cut" is far closer to Frank Miller's comic book vision of "Daredevil" than the previous edition. Fans of the movie will definitely want to pick this up. |
![Daredevil (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZdoM7xn1L._SL160_SS160_.jpg)
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