Daredevil: The Man Without Fear

Uncanny Antman has done something I never thought possible: gotten me to watch Daredevil again. I have always considered this particular Superhero movie to be an unsalvageable garbage film; then I read halfway down the cutlist for this edit and decided to give it another shot. So much has been done that the finished product is almost unrecognizable. And that is a very, very good thing. This is some seriously professional editing work, flawless in-scene cutting, perfect transitions, lots of subtle tweaks that didn't give themselves away even on second viewing, and some really well-thought-out and effective repurposing of footage. The new structure works great, the new songs were all terrific additions, and that Marvel Knights logo at the beginning was killer. The only thing that didn't really work for me was Elektra. Without the atrocious playground fight, there's nothing to suggest that she's a martial arts master, so when that Evanescence song kicks in and she starts doing her crazy training routine, it comes out of nowhere. Between this sudden shift and the song (oh, that song), I couldn't take it at all seriously. That's my only real issue, though.

All of this is not to say that I consider Daredevil: The Man Without Fear a good movie. I do not. There are far too many thinly written characters and loose threads when the credits roll. I wouldn't change anything though, and here's why: Daredevil is NEVER going to be turned into a decent movie; the script and the direction are just not good. However, this does feel like successful feature-length pilot for a Daredevil television show, and an above-average one at that. Were this meant only to introduce the main players and set the tone for an upcoming series, the fact that many of the characters (Urich, Bullseye, Elektra, Kingpin) don't have fully formed arcs wouldn't be a problem at all. The only character we would really need to understand would be Daredevil, and by the time the end credits roll, I feel like we do. Another factor that led to this conclusion is the way it looks. The director , Mark Steven Johnson, lifted his style whole-sale from Alex Proyas, but he has neither the skill nor the budget to pull it off effectively, leaving Uncanny Antman to tone town these stylistic choices whenever possible. Divorced from the zany angles and poorly-rendered special effects, the remaining film has a rather flat, low-budget look that wouldn't be uncommon on television. And if that is the first place we saw Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, I believe we would be looking back fondly on a decent (but likely short-lived) Daredevil series instead of one of the worst superhero movies ever made.

I highly recommend this fanedit, if only to marvel at the editing skill on display. I watched the SD AVI file, which looked and sounded just fine for what it was. It came with a trailer for an imaginary sequel which Uncanny Antman has put together out of completely unused footage, which was also great.

Certainly the best way to watch Daredevil. The editing was smooth as butter on both the video and audio side. Had I not known it was a fan edit or already seen the original I wouldn't have suspected a thing.

The main plot points were all hit, and there were only a couple of areas that were VERY slightly jarring due to cut footage, and it was so minor that I'm not sure I would have really noticed had I not known something had been skipped.

I loved pretty much all of the rearrangements and stylistic edits (no cheese-ball narration!).

All in all a mediocre flick was transformed into something I actually enjoyed watching quite a bit. Well played, sir. Well played.

I've been anticipating this edit ever since it was announced, and it did not disappoint. Uncanny Antman has turned what I originally thought a 3/10 film into a much more decent 6/10 film. Much of the cheesiness and poor CGI of the original is gone, resulting in a leaner, more serious superhero movie. Spoilers follow…

A/V Quality – 10/10 – I won’t comment here, because I compressed the DL down to an SL before watching.

Editing – 10/10 – Completely smooth. No complaints whatsoever. The color correction, soundtrack changes, and new credit sequence were all top-notch.

Narrative – 9/10 – For the most part, I absolutely loved the plot re-structuring. I didn't notice any prominent plot holes created by the rearrangement. In my opinion, there are a few flaws though: the pacing, while generally solid, is a bit too fast at both the beginning and the end. The removal of the Bullseye fight probably had something to do with the pacing at the end – it seemed odd that Daredevil never had a showdown with the primary villain. I call him the primary villain because, while Kingpin was behind it all, Bullseye had much more development as the antagonist and was directly responsible for the deaths of both Elektra and her father. It seemed incomplete when he wasn't brought to justice. A hint that Daredevil would hunt him down or something probably would have remedied this problem. Also, the sequence where Daredevil beats up everyone at the bar lost a lot of its meaning because we never see Quesada’s fate. It almost seemed like Daredevil was beating up all the patrons of a bar just for the heck of it, despite the further information we receive later. Finally, the after-credits sequence was a bit too direct in implying – or rather, confirming – Elektra’s survival.

Entertainment – 9/10 – Although I do have a few complaints about the narrative, this is overall a fantastic edit. Many of the original film’s myriad problems have been excised, from the painfully corny playground fight to the moments of laughably bad CGI. Plenty of cliché lines remain, but I doubt much can be done about it. Bullseye’s self-conscious “cool” factor always bugged the heck out of me, and it’s been toned down some here. The new musical choices result in some brilliant scenes. The plot alterations are inspired and are executed seamlessly. There’s even some surprising emotional depth made deeper by the editing decisions. DAREDEVIL can only be improved so far, and I think Uncanny Antman has done just about the best job possible of it. Bravo!

Very solid edit. Watched this a few years ago, I still remember the excellent intro credits and music. Pretty much all of the weak parts of this film were taken out, although I have a certain nostalgia for Daredevil so I was disappointed to not see the final fight between Daredevil & Bullseye included. I understand its exclusion though as it was unnecessary.

Thank you Uncanny Antman! :]X