Daredevil

This topic contains:

• details about Daredevil's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Daredevil completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 11th of March, 2003.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Daredevil contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references, nudity, substance abuse and coarse language
• the movie's message
• overall comments

A synopsis of the story

Daredevil is based upon the legendary 1960s comic character The Marvel. The film opens with Daredevil as a young boy (Matt Murdock) growing up in a run down neighbourhood referred to as 'Hell's Kitchen'. Matt is cared for by his father Jack, who is soon murdered by local gangsters.

Following a freak accident, which leaves him blind, the young Matt discovers that he has superhuman sensory perception, which allows him to see through the vibrations made by sound. As an adult, Matt works by day as a lawyer representing the downtrodden of Hell's Kitchen, and by night he becomes the vigilante crime fighter Daredevil, who uses his superhuman abilities to avenge injustice.

Part way into the film Matt Murdock develops a relationship with Elektra Natchios, the daughter of a Greek billionaire who is in deep with the local crime boss Fisk, referred to as 'Kingpin'. Kingpin arranges for Bullseye, a deadly assassin who never misses, to murder Elektra's father. Following the death of her father, Elektra, who has martial arts abilities equal to that of Daredevil, sets out to avenge her father.

However all does not go well; Daredevil is stabbed through the torso, and Elektra, after being impaled on a sword by Bullseye, dies in the arms of an unmasked Daredevil. Although badly wounded, Daredevil manages to escape to the sanctuary of a local church with Bullseye in close pursuit. A battle erupts in the church ending in Daredevil propelling Bullseye through the church's stained glass windows and onto a passing car where he remained motionless but not dead. Daredevil, now untroubled by his wounded torso, races to confront Kingpin, and a brutal fight develops with Kingpin throwing Daredevil around his office like a rag doll. In the end Daredevil wins the day, leaving a knee-capped Kingpin kneeling on the floor shouting threats of revenge.

The movie finishes with Kingpin and Bullseye incarcerated and Daredevil keeping vigilance over the city.

Use of violence

The use of violence throughout the film is presented as acceptable and necessary to achieve justice. Courtrooms are seen as incapable of serving justice. However, Daredevil sometimes uses violence for his own personal satisfaction rather than serving justice. Males are presented as the dominant and controlling sex in all affairs, and with the exception of than Electra, women are not represented in the film, accept as visual objects to attract males, or as victims of crime.

• The violence in Daredevil is portrayed as good against evil, or righteous against injustice.
• At times the violence is employed in an unrealistic manner; at other times it is very graphic. There are real life consequences for the villains, the victims of villains and Elektra, but few or short lived real life consequences for the hero of the film, who fully recovers from being stabbed through the torso in a matter of minutes.
• Violence by villains is presented as an injustice and a crime, while the hero and heroine's use of violence is viewed as justifiable as long as the bad guys are on the receiving end. Violence by Daredevil and Elektra is glamorised with the good guys presented as clean, smart, talented, righteous and beautiful, while the bad guys appear as mean, nasty, evil thugs. Violence is the only choice for resolving issues and presented as righteous when driven by revenge, or failure of the justice system.

Material that may scare children

Children under 15

Daredevil from start to finish is full of scary and threatening images that may be of concern to children under fifteen years of age including:

• Matt Murdock, as a young boy is threatened and bashed by neighbourhood bullies.
• Matt, as a young boy witnesses his father using violence and intimidation against a man who owes money to the local crime boss.
• Matt as a young boy is splashed in the eyes with chemicals and blinded as a result.
• Matt sees ghostly visual images after he is blinded.
• There is a violent boxing match where Matt's father blood repeatedly spits blood from his mouth.
• Matt witnesses his father being bashed to death.
• During a court scene photographs are shown of a woman who has been bashed and raped.
• A man is stabbed repeatedly in the throat with steel pins.
• A man is stabbed several times in the throat with pencils.
• Throats are slashed by projectile martial arts weapons.
• There are brutal fights with the sounds of bones breaking.
• A pool room is shown with a burning pool table and broken bodies lying everywhere.
• A man is cut in half by a train.
• Daredevil uses his fists to brutally bash a thug to unconsciousness; a young boy witnesses this and is left crying and shaking in a corner.
• Elektra's father is impaled by a stake.
• Elektra's hand is impaled by a sword.
• Elektra is impaled through the torso by a sword and then lifted off the ground.
• Daredevil is savagely beaten and thrown against walls.

Children over the age of 15

All of the violent scenes described above are capable of making teenage children fearful with some scenes such as Electra being impaled having a greater impact than others.

Sexual references, nudity, substance abuse and coarse language

Sexual references are kept to a minimum. Elektra wears a variety of low cut dresses, and there is a scene where Matt and Elektra are in bed supposedly naked, but only the tops of the shoulders are visible, and a kiss on the mouth is as provocative as it gets.

There is also very little substance use. Kingpin continuously smokes a rather large fat cigar, and there are two bar room scenes, however there are no images or intoxicated people. At one stage Matt consumes a number of tablets from the bathroom cabinet, but no reference is given as to what the tables are or why he is taking them.

The only coarse language used is 'scumbag', 'bullshit' and 'weird shit'.

The movie's message

The main two themes presented throughout the film is that of good winning over evil or justice triumphing over injustice, and that violence is acceptable when used to fight injustice.

The only value in the movie that parents may by happy to encourage is Matt's perseverance over adversity as a child. In contrast, parents may wish to discuss the acceptability of using violence to fight injustice and what vigilante justice is like in reality. Parents may also wish to discourage the idea that bad guys who look beautiful are less bad than bad guys who look evil.

Overall comments

Adults who enjoy films full of vengeance, violence, and fast paced martial arts stunts, will enjoy Daredevil. The stunt scenes and special effects presented throughout Daredevil are stunning and realistic. The storyline is an old one of vengeance and vigilante justice. There is no real development of relationships between individuals, and the film is largely dominated by male characters.