Chad Kroeger and Joey Scott belt out “Hero,” power rock ballad style… “Now that the world isn’t ending, it’s love that I’m sending to you. It isn’t the love of a hero, and that’s why I fear it won’t do. And they say that a hero could save us. I’m not gonna stand here and wait…”
I finally got around to watching Daredevil, courtesy of an early edition screener DVD. Overall, an OK movie but lacked something that would have made it a really good movie. It had some really nice bits between Daredevil and his love interest Electra. There were some good ideas being thrown around but it lacked probably the second most important ingredient in any crime story: good villains. Although the performances were really good, the super villains just seemed lame because well, they didn’t do much. Kingpin was essentially a really big and strong crime lord. Bullseye was just a wise cracking guy with good aim. The film made the classical error of having two interesting superheroes and two supervillains you couldn’t care less about. Here’s a free piece of advice from me to scriptwriters: If you make your villains crack jokes, you have to make them really evil and stop them from resembling your sharp-thinking wiseguy friend who gets perfect scores on those arcade games with lightguns. For further notes, take a look at the evil Green Goblin in Spiderman or the sadistic Magneto from X-Men. Looking mean just isn’t enough.
I know a lot of people liked Daredevil and I am sure my friends who are big Daredevil fans loved it as much as I loved Superman when it came out (but we were kids back then, ah). What a superhero film should try not to do is just cater for the fans. The good thing about Spiderman and X-Men is that it could be watched by both fans and non-fans and be fully understood and enjoyed. I was particularly impressed with X-Men because it was really well written from the perspective of an amnesiac, who finds out more about himself at the same pace the audience does.
I guess the recent success of the superhero genre in the film industry will push the bigwigs to throw their money at the comic-book industry to turn the popular paper heroes into celluloid heroes. I guess the film industry itself is dominated by fans of DC, Dark Horse and Marvel (comic publishing companies) because the most popular ones have already been made into films. So once the people’s favourites have been done, where to next? The remake of Superman has been forever delayed and I also heard they were going to make a Ghost Rider film. But who’s heard of Ghost Rider? I don’t know anything about him besides how he looks (a guy with a flaming skull for a head, who rides a motorbike). I didn’t really know about Daredevil either, other than he was a blind man with no fear.
My favourite comic-book-to-movie adaptation has still got to be James O’Barr’s The Crow even though it’s not so much a superhero story as it is a supernatural story. Love is always a theme touched upon in comic-books and The Crow is no exception and in fact makes love its central theme. The characters and story are allegorical and came about from the author’s own experience with love and loss. Drawing on the pain he felt, O’Barr was inspired to create The Crow; a character who remains immortal and thus stuck on Earth unable to be reunited with his deceased wife in the afterlife. In a way, this mirrored the author’s own life as he waits to be in the arms of his wife again.
I am aware of the big names in the comic book world because I used to read a lot of them when I was younger. Like most people, I had the same favourites: Spiderman, Superman, Batman and X-Men (notice how all these have been made into films now). I also liked The Incredible Hulk too, but not so much the comic as the live-action TV show they had with Bill Bixby. I remember I used to be so scared when Bruce Banner would turn into the Incredible Hulk that I used to crawl under the dining table and wait there till I could hear he had changed into him. For some reason, the Hulk himself didn’t scare me as much as the metamorphosis of Bruce into the Hulk. Maybe it was the thought of growing large and being suffocated by your own clothes because back then I used to have infrequent bouts of claustrophobia. That wouldn’t explain why I went to hide under the dining table though. And no, I’m not afraid of the Hulk anymore. I’m not claustrophobic anymore either.
When I was younger I used to have several phobias. At times I felt really claustrophobic and at times I’d pass through the narrow foot-wide alley behind the shed of one of my childhood homes. I remember the nasty uncomfortable feeling of claustrophobia too; the feeling that you’re unable to breathe, like there was a huge unmovable weight residing on your chest. Then shortly after that the panic would set in. I also used to be afraid of snakes, spiders and heights too, but those disappeared with age as well. I’m still not too fond of snakes, but I wouldn’t say I am scared of them. I just would feel uncomfortable sharing a cubicle with one. Spiders don’t bother me much anymore either. I only sometimes jump when I see one scurry up the wall right in front of me, but now I’ll attack them with the palm of my hand as opposed to a magazine. When I was younger you never would have made me touch one. As for heights, I’m fine with those and sometimes even like them. No vertigo on me.
Fear is largely psychological and this is the basis by which hypnotists can cure a person of their phobias. I was just able to push mind over matter. I just asked myself why I was afraid of something that would not cause me any harm and from there I decided to just stop reacting to it. I would say I am fearless to most things but luckily I am ruled by a practical and sensible conscience that would prevent me from picking up any Darwin Awards. With a lot of fears and emotions I’m able to just turn them off like I have some sort of internal switch. This basically means that I’m unable to stay scared or unhappy for long. Sure, this ability is really tested with the more intense emotions, but those are the types of emotions worth feeling and reminding yourself of again. Why live in fear when there is so much beauty to be brave about in this world?
OK, back to Superheroes. They’re a strange breed indeed. Their super powers aside, the one very strikingly strange thing about them is that no one seems to be able to guess their real identities, not even their friends. Granted, with those who wear costumes like Spiderman, it would be near impossible to guess their identity. But with those whose face is only partially covered, like Batman and Daredevil, it wouldn’t take a detective to work out who it was. It’s not like their real-life personas are hidden away from the world, because everyone knows Bruce Wayne who is a millionaire and everyone knows Matt Murdoch, who is the only blind lawyer in town. Why, if any of my friends were superheroes and wore a mask that only covered their eyes and head, I’m sure d be able to guess who it was easily! Even when I had never heard of the Daredevil movie and saw publicity stills, I could tell it was Ben Affleck in the costume, which just proves my point.
The most baffling thing is how Clark Kent gets away with it. All he does to change into Superman with regards to his face is remove his glasses and change his hairstyle slightly and suddenly no one knows who he is. No mask, no makeup, nothing. Then there’s me, who looks exactly the same with or without glasses, with or without the same hairstyle. If I tried the same stunt, I’d have reporters and journalists knocking on my door within hours of saving pensioners from a fire at the old people’s home. It seems that every superhero has that additional power on top of their trademark one: the ability to elude friends, family and the public, because in Superhero land, you’d never suspect the clumsy journalist in your office or the blind lawyer who seems able to see better than most people. I guess with superheroes, you really have to suspend disbelief, even moreso than you normally would at the movies.
I recently started reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, which is the Haruki Murakami book I’d been recommended to read next. It’s just over 600 pages long, making it similar in dimensions to a (not so) pocket dictionary, so it’s going to take a while! Well, at least I’ll feel safer going out knowing that I have a heavy deadly object with me to beat away any overzealous fans and muggers. Anyway, I noticed that the picture of the man on the cover closely resembles Ben Affleck. Yes, Ben Affleck of Daredevil and Phantoms fame. Everything from the Affleck eyebrows, to the Affleck nose and ears, to the Affleck pursed lips and cleft chin. What’s that? You don’t believe me? OK…
[Left to Right: Dude from The Wind-up Bird Chronicle cover; Dude from Daredevil on the cover of a book]
[Left to Right: Ben Affleck as Daredevil; Ben Affleck as Daredevil]
The defense rests.
