I've just come back from Daredevil, a movie I've been awaiting since November as regular readers will know. I'm a huge fan of Marvel's Daredevil, which tells the story of Matt Murdock, the Hell's Kitchen lawyer blinded as a child brought up by the mystical sensei Stick (who, i've just realised is almost certainly the template for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's Splinter. TMNT was at first conceived as a pisstake of the comic culture you see), and becomes the urban hero Daredevil.
I've been into comics since I was 7 reading Buster, Whizzer and Chips, Dandy and Beano, then moved onto the hardvore stuff when I turned 12, taking up DCs Batman and Superman. i gave up Supes as he was a bit too indestructible for my liking, but Batmans street detective always held me in awe. I collected all the Batman titles and spinoffs, the complete Knightfall series (which was possibly the most gripping thing I have ever read anywhere, from Sword of Azrael through Detective 500 to the defeat of the new Batman - woah), but needed more. I looked into Marvel and, like many before me started with Spidey, which is always a good bet.
But it was Daredevil who really hit the spot. Here was the classic superhero, successfully leading a double life as a crimefighter in a suit and a crimefighter in a costume. His control of the law in court was as decisive as it was on the street against every level of criminal. But he was human too, like Bruce Wayne. Daredevil was the most likely hero to ever have rivalled Batman for screen presence.
But what the hell did they do to my hero?! Set upon a background of Nu-metal again, like the Spiderman movie, I realised just how vital a well thought out, atmospheric soundtrack actually is to a movie. Take Batman for example. Under Tim Burtons direction, you could taste Gotham city and Danny Elfman's score provieded the ideal backdrop. It was grimey and claustrophobic, dark and dangerous. And Batman was the hero that cut swathes through the dirt.
Current movie-makers seem so obsessed with trying to look hip and to make the film appeal to "the kids" that modern adaptions of comics suffer the wrong atmosphere that these tunes induce. Spidey was not by any means a Chad Kroger fan in the comics. He is a nerd with quick wit. The actual Spidey film got the comic feel pretty close but was ruined by the score which just felt completely wrong.
Daredevil, got the atmosphere almost right, although I feel that the comics veer more towards the atmosphere in The Crow, much darker and much dirtier. The streets of Hells Kitchen in DD were just too clean. But the music was completely wrong. They don't listen to much Linkin Park in Hells Kitchen. And Matt Murdock is very very unlikely to be listening to Nu-metal in as long as I've been reading his adventures.
Overall not a great film for real fans of the comic due to all the holes in the plot (they forgot to include Stick for a start and I could list a LOT more) and not a great introduction to Daredevil for beginners, because the characters were not really developed enough.
Someone please tell those bloody directors to smash all their Linkin Park CDs and go back to the sounding board though. That is now 2 comic legends (I haven't seen X-men yet) slaughtered by the axe of Nu-metal and I dread to think of who's next. Hulk I think. Dear God I don't want to see Doctor Bruce Banner ripping out of his trousers and shirt (saying "Hulk Smash!") set against a nu-metal soundtrack. Some things are just wrong.
