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Daredevil (2003)

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A man blinded by toxic waste which also enhanced his remaining senses fights crime as an acrobatic martial arts superhero.

Writer:

Mark Steven Johnson (screenplay)
Popularity
1,735 ( 321)
5 wins & 17 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Affleck ... Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Jennifer Garner ... Elektra Natchios
Colin Farrell ... Bullseye
Michael Clarke Duncan ... Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin
Jon Favreau ... Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson
Scott Terra ... Young Matt
Ellen Pompeo ... Karen Page
Joe Pantoliano ... Ben Urich
Leland Orser ... Wesley Owen Welch
Lennie Loftin ... Nick Manolis
Erick Avari ... Nikolas Natchios
Derrick O'Connor ... Father Everett
Paul Ben-Victor ... Jose Quesada
David Keith ... Jack Murdock
Frankie J. Allison Frankie J. Allison ... Abusive Father (as Frankie Jay Allison)
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Storyline

Fate deals young orphan Matt Murdock a strange hand when he is doused with hazardous waste. The accident leaves Matt blind but also gives him a heightened "radar sense" that allows him to "see" far better than any man. Years later Murdock has grown into a man and becomes a respected criminal attorney. But after he's done his "day job" Matt takes on a secret identity as "The Man Without Fear," Daredevil, the masked avenger that patrols the neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen and New York City to combat the injustice that he cannot tackle in the courtroom. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Justice is blind. So is he. See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for action/violence and some sensuality | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Greek | Italian

Release Date:

14 February 2003 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

Daredevil: A Daring New Vision See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$78,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$45,033,454, 16 February 2003, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$102,543,520, 13 July 2003

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$179,179,718, 6 June 2013
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

Show more on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See full technical specs »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Composer Graeme Revell incorporated sounds to use as motifs for certain characters. For instance Bullseye has guitar undertones, while Kingpin has bass beats. See more »

Goofs

The scars on Daredevil's back disappear at various other points in the movie (e.g. when in bed with Elektra in the theatrical version). See more »

Quotes

Matt Murdock: I had set out to save the city. But with Elektra's help, I saved myself instead. Now I have faith that anything is possible. And some days, faith is all you need.
See more »

Crazy Credits

The opening credits are seen in a sequence of dark skyscrapers. There are lit windows in the skyscrapers, which turn into Braille letters which then become English letters spelling out the main cast - later on, the supporting cast and production crew are directly formed in English from the window. See more »

Alternate Versions

The R-rated director's cut contains 30 minutes of extra footage. In addition to the added material, some footage was removed. The following is a list of the changes between the PG-13 and R rated versions:
  • The confession booth scenes between Father Steven and Matt Murdock have been removed.
  • The love scene between Elektra and Matt Murdock has also been removed.
  • A flashback scene where young Matt is seen with his adopted mother featured in the comic books.
  • There are more scenes involving The Kingpin at his most vicious, at point killing two of his own bodyguards by breaking their necks.
  • The introduction of Bullseye arriving at the airport and going through a metal detector.
  • The fight scene in the playground with Matt and Elektra is longer.
  • The scene in the bar where Daredevil takes out the bikers is longer and more violent.
  • An exchange during the Natchios' party where Foggy and Wesley have a verbal exchange, that ends by Foggy saying "What a dick."
  • The scene where Matt returns from his battle in the opening of the film, he is seen in his apartment pouring Epsom salt into the water of his coffin and as he is about to lay down he starts to hear noises and sounds from the outside world as far as seeing a woman crawling on the floor and ends by him laying down inside the coffin and the top sealing.
  • The subplot involving the character of Daunte Jackson (Coolio) who is accused of a murder is reintroduced in it's entirety with Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson defending him.
  • Matt and Foggy break into the apartment of Lisa Tazio, the murder victim in the Daunte Jackson trial and finding a clue.
  • A late night scene where Foggy is working at the office trying to figure out the clue found in Tazio's apartment in which Karen (Ellen Pompeo) discovers the answer.
  • The scene in the morgue with Ben Urich and Kirby is longer in which Foggy ends up calling him on his cell phone and telling him about who murdered his informant from the clue that Matt had found in the murder victim's apartment.
  • More scenes between Matt and Ben discussing some personal issues.
  • Matt interrogating a corrupt police officer played by Jude Cicolella by smashing his car in a parking lot.
  • The scene where Bullseye demands his own costume is restored to "I want a fucking costume" as opposed to the theatrical version where he says "I want a bloody costume"
  • The fight between Elektra and Bullseye is longer and ends with Bullseye giving her a kiss before he throws her onto the roof of the adjacent building.
  • The final confrontation between Daredevil and The Kingpin is longer and more brutal.
  • During the finale, Daunte Jackson celebrates his acquittal by hugging Foggy on the steps of the courthouse as Matt looks on and the scene shifts with Matt walking by the church where he sees father Steven after the afternoon mass had ended.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Honest Trailers: Pearl Harbor (2016) See more »

Soundtracks

Stay Up
Written by Ali Dee & Lordikim (as Lordikim Allah)
Performed by Boogle
Courtesy of Deetown Entertainment
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

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User Reviews

Better than Spiderman, in my opinion...
19 February 2003 | by perniSee all my reviews

Where Spiderman was colorful and almost cartoonish, Daredevil is gritty and merciless. Whatever you thought couldn't happen in Peter Parker's world will more than likely happen in Matt Murdock's neck of the woods. Because people die here. Sometimes they die slowly and painfully. The superheroes go home with scars on their backs, broken teeth, and more than a few gruesome images that need to be repressed. For all of these reasons I liked Daredevil, because it takes chances by offering a hero that is by no means invincible or conventional.

The origin story of the character Daredevil is pretty complicated, but, as the helpful gentleman in the theater so aptly put it, "He's blind, but he can see stuff blind." Let's just leave it at this: As a kid, Matt Murdock was blinded by radioactive material in a freak accident. This caused his other senses to become phenomenally acute, to the point where Matt can track criminals by their scent and use sound waves as a sort of radar. He uses his newfound abilities to protect those who will not be protected by the justice system, all the while hoping that one day he will find the person who killed his father.

If you're a fan of the first two Batman movies, you'll find a lot to love in Daredevil. There are still some comic book elements that require some suspension of disbelief, like the fact that Matt could construct an entire high-tech lair beneath a church while working as a pro-bono lawyer, but the movie is not fantasy-driven. The fight scenes will make you wince at their realism, the love story is not corny or forced (as opposed to a certain flick called Just Married), and the characters are complex, uncertain people who just happen to don masks and fight on rooftops.

Do you remember the parts in the old Christopher Reeve Superman movies where Clark would hear someone crying for help in the distance? He would always be having dinner with Lois Lane at the time, and had to make up some dumb excuse for ditching the scene like, "Oh! I just forgot. I have a book due at the library." Then he would dash off to save the day, leaving Lois high and dry. Well, in today's feature, Matt hears someone crying for help, but when his love interest, Elektra, asks him to stay, he actually does. With out-of-left-field scenes like this, I couldn't help but enjoy Daredevil.

Some might be surprised at how little screen time the villains get in this movie. Kingpin, a Don Giovini mobster type, and Bullseye, an Irish nut with a couple of loose screws, are important parts of our story, but they don't steal the show. Going back to the Batman comparison, many movie buffs think that Jack Nicholson's role as the joker actually become more interesting than the winged knight himself. Not so in this movie, as Daredevil is the guy whom the role shebang revolves around. By deciding to focus on the hero more than the villain, the audience can get into his head and root for him to the last battle. Matt is a cool guy because he's not a wealthy playboy or Kryptonian who can smash through walls. Other than his heightened senses and combat skills, he's just a regular guy who happens to like read leather.

After X-Men and Spiderman became huge hits, it was expected that Hollywood would start churning out more superhero flicks as fast as they could make them. Thankfully, Daredevil doesn't seem recycled or rushed and actually brings something new to the table.


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