"DAREDEVIL"
(2003) (Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Heavy	Extreme	*Moderate	Extreme
Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Heavy	None	Mild	*Mild	Mild
Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Extreme

---

QUICK TAKE:

Action/Adventure: A blind lawyer moonlights as a vengeful superhero whose heightened senses allow him to battle crime and various villains.

PLOT:

Matt Murdock (BEN AFFLECK) is a blind lawyer who, with his legal partner, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson (JON FAVREAU), helps the innocent in New York City's Hell's Kitchen by day and seeks vengeance on those who've eluded justice by night. He does so in the form of his alter-ego, the mysterious and acrobatic Daredevil, a figure who's drawn the attention of newspaper reporter Ben Ulrich (JOE PANTOLIANO).

Long ago, 12-year-old Matt (SCOTT TERRA) was accidentally blinded by a chemical spill. It left his remaining senses, however, super-enhanced, including the ability to "see" with something akin to radar vision. When his pugilist father, Jack (DAVID KEITH), was murdered by his crime boss for not throwing a fight, Matt vowed to fight for the little guy and right all of the wrongs that he could.

Yet, his vigilantism has created mixed feelings in him, resulting in him often spending time in a church's confessional. That is, when he's not pursuing Elektra Natchios (JENNIFER GARNER), a beautiful young woman who's just as proficient at martial arts as he is. The fact that her father, Nikolas (ERICK AVARI), has business dealings with Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin (MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN), and wants to get out of them soon puts all of them in danger.

That's because Kingpin has sent his highly proficient assassin, Bullseye (COLIN FARRELL), to kill Nikolas. Soon, Elektra's life is in danger as well and it's up to Daredevil to save her. From that point on, the masked avenger must contend with all of that, his possibly outing by Ben, and all of his pent-up and conflicting emotions about what he does and who he is.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

If they're fans of comic book adaptations or anyone in the cast, it's a good bet they probably will.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13

For action/violence and some sensuality.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

BEN AFFLECK plays a blind lawyer who moonlights as a vengeful superhero and doles out his own form of vigilante justice. He sleeps with Elektra and grapples with his conflicting feelings about his actions.

JENNIFER GARNER plays the daughter of a wealthy but corrupt businessman who finds herself on Bullseye's hit list. Proficient in martial arts, she's quite capable of defending herself. She sleeps with Matt.

MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN plays the crime figure who runs the city and orders various people to be killed. He also smokes.

COLIN FARRELL plays his hitman who is proficient at turning anything he can throw into a deadly projectile. He murders various people.

JOE PANTOLIANO plays a newspaper reporter who smokes and tries to get the scoop on Daredevil.

JON FAVREAU plays Matt's lawyer partner who always wants clients who can actually pay them in money. He uses some profanity.

DAVID KEITH plays young Matt's father, a boxer who works for a crime boss but wants the best for his son.

SCOTT TERRA plays young Matt Murdock who must deal with the loss of his sight but the gain of other heightened senses.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

---

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

---

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

Here's a quick look at the content found in this action/adventure film that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of several uses of the "s" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also present. Some brief and non-explicit sexually related dialogue is heard, while a couple has sex (mostly seen in a head and shoulders shot with no explicit nudity). A woman shows varying amounts of cleavage throughout the film, while a man unknowingly caresses a statue's bare breast (played for laughs).

Violence consists of various people killing others in various fashions (including the hero dispatching villains and criminals), with enough resultant and cumulative bloodletting to warrant a heavy rating. Other non-lethal, but brutal fighting is also present. Those scenes and others may be unsettling or suspenseful to viewers, while many of the participants and others have varying degrees of bad attitudes (including the hero who acts as a vigilante).

All of that fighting and stunt work might be enticing for some kids to try to imitate, while various characters drink and/or smoke. Meanwhile, some tense family material has various people (young and adult) seeing their parents murdered in front of them.

If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, some of that briefly occurs in various scenes during the movie.

---

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

Young Matt picks up two empty beer bottles from his father's lap as the latter sleeps or is passed out.

A defendant claims that he stopped at a place and had some drinks (not seen) and a comment is made about a woman having drug and alcohol problems.

Foggy tells Matt, "Let's get drunk," but Matt says he has work to do.

A man drinks a shot of liquor in a bar where others drink.

We see that Matt has all sorts of heavy-duty prescription pain killers in his medicine cabinet (and he takes some after a fight).

Bullseye downs a mug of beer in one gulp (while blindly throwing darts into a dartboard).

We see some unopened bottles of champagne in an office.

Various people have champagne at a ball where Ben has a beer.

Fisk has a drink.

BLOOD/GORE

We see a small stream of blood running down a piece of stained glass.

Young Matt has a little bit of blood on his lip.

We see a brief (and slightly gory) visualized trip inside a boy's eye and then down the meaty and red-looking optic nerve (in a special effects shot).

Jack spits out some blood and has some on his face during a boxing match.

A man's face is somewhat bloody after being beaten by others.

We see photographs of a woman with bruises on her face.

A man has a little bit of blood on his neck.

We see many old scars on Matt's back.

Following a fight, Matt pulls a loosened tooth from his mouth (we hear the sound of it coming out).

A man has some blood on his face after Daredevil beats him.

A person falls to the ground dead, with something sticking out of their forehead (with a little bit of blood around it).

Elektra has blood on her hands when tending to a man who's just been killed.

We see a dead man with several pencils sticking out of his throat (courtesy of Bullseye and with a tiny bit of blood around them).

Blood smears down a window after a person has been stabbed through the shoulder/chest.

A sword impales a woman through her hand (seen, but without blood, and she then slowly pulls it out).

A man has a slightly bloody slice across his face.

A person throws a playing card that slightly cuts another person's throat (a little bit of blood).

A police sniper's shot goes through a man's two hands (we see the slightly bloody holes in his palms).

Daredevil has a little bit of blood from his mouth during a fight.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

Some bullies physically and verbally pick on young Matt (and then do so again when he's blind).

Young Matt spots his father roughing up some guy in an alley (for his boss).

Jack's crime boss wants him to take a fall during a boxing match. When Jack refuses, the man has him killed.

A defendant during a trial claims that his female victim enjoyed him beating her (we don't see the beating). Later, he and others try to kill Daredevil via gunfire.

Kingpin, Bullseye and various other thugs have bad attitudes for ordering to have others killed or committing the crimes themselves.

A bartender calls Bullseye an "Irish piece of trash."

A woman talks badly about a mulatto (he's not there) who has some "cream in his coffee."

FRIGHTENING SCENES

Scenes listed under "Violence" might also be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers (mostly younger ones or those with low tolerance levels for such mayhem).

Young Matt freaks out in his hospital room when his newly heightened senses overwhelm him with too much sensory data.

GUNS/WEAPONS

Handguns/Machine guns/Throwing stars/Small swords: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or kill others. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "Bullsh*t," "Your dad's a bum," "Punk," "What, are you nuts?" "Kick his ass," "Scumbag" and "Sure as hell."

All of the fighting and stunts (such as jumping off or from building to building) might be enticing for some kids to try to imitate, as might Bullseye's penchant for throwing potentially deadly objects at others.

We see young Matt training to become Daredevil and doing a handstand on the edge of a roof (many stories above the street) as well as sliding down some metal on his feet (at a 45-degree angle) from one rooftop to another.

Jack has a tattoo on his arm.

For fun (and since Matt is blind), Foggy substitutes mustard for another squeeze bottle that Matt's going to squeeze into his coffee or other beverage (Mat then switches his with Foggy's when Foggy is not looking).

Bullseye loudly belches.

Bullseye wildly swerves through traffic on his motorcycle and then stands on top of it as it goes down the road.

JUMP SCENES

None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

A mild amount of suspenseful music plays in several scenes.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

We hear what sounded like 1 "s" word in one song, while others had lyrics that couldn't be understood, thus offering the possibility of potentially objectionable lyrics being in them.

PROFANITY

At least 4 "s" words, 4 asses, 2 hells, 3 uses of "Oh God," 2 of "Oh my God" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "Jesus" and "My God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY

We hear a message that Matt's girlfriend leaves on his answering machine. In it, she breaks up with him, but not before explaining that one reason for that is "Every time we sleep together, I wake up alone."

Elektra shows varying amounts of cleavage (sometimes a great deal) in various outfits throughout the movie.

Matt and Elektra passionately kiss in the rain. Moments later, we see a head and shoulders shot of them passionately kissing (both are shirtless, but no nudity is seen) with her apparently sitting on his lap. We then see him lie down on top of her (in another head and shoulders shot) and she then gets on top of him (but nothing more than her bare back is seen) with implied sex.

A classic statue shows various characters, one of which has its hand around a woman's breast from behind (seen as the above sex scene begins).

Foggy unknowingly caresses a bare breast on a statue while at a ball (and then stops when he realizes what he's doing).

SMOKING

Ben smokes around 4 times, Fisk smokes cigars several times, and some miscellaneous people smoke.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

Young Matt spots his father roughing up some guy in an alley (for his boss). Later, he "sees" some thugs kill his father.

A young boy sees Daredevil beat his thug father.

We hear that Elektra's mother was killed sometime in the past and that it happened in front of Elektra.

A woman sees her father murdered and we later briefly see a funeral scene.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

Being blind.

Seeking justice and/or vengeance.

A priest tells Matt that a man without fear is a man without hope.

There's a brief reference to a defendant being a rapist, but no such related material is seen.

VIOLENCE

We see brief flashes of violence and then see Daredevil fall hard to a church floor (and he appears rather hurt and is slow to move).

Some bullies physically and verbally pick on young Matt. One repeatedly pushes Matt backwards and then down to the ground.

We see some boxing violence during a match.

Young Matt spots his father roughing up some guy in an alley (for his boss). Matt then runs off, only to have toxic chemicals spill onto his face (and blind him) when a truck nearly hits him but instead pierces some canisters that spill the liquid.

The above bullies decide to pick on young Matt again, but this time around he's been training and has his heightened sensory abilities (despite being blind). He then proceeds to hit or trip them with his cane and kicks one to the ground.

We see more boxing violence during a match.

A man repeatedly punches Jack in an alley and then hits him one last time, resulting in his death.

Daredevil throws something that appears to hit a man in his mouth and various people then shoot at him (he kicks and knocks them aside). This goes on for a bit and is filmed in a highly stylized and quickly edited fashion (thus, everything's only briefly seen and it's sometimes hard to tell what's happening). The shooting and hitting continues, with Daredevil apparently breaking one man's bones (we hear the sound). At the end of that scene, we see many unconscious or dead people on the floor.

A bad man falls down some stairs into a subway station into which Daredevil pursues him. Daredevil eventually wraps some sort of metal cord around the man's neck and a subway pillar. When Daredevil reacts in pain from the sound of a passing subway train, the man prepares to shoot Daredevil in the head, but Daredevil blocks the shot and knocks the man over onto the subway tracks. A train then runs over that man and kills him (but we don't see the impact).

Matt and Elektra get into something of a flirtatious martial arts battle in a playground where the intent isn't really to harm the other, but to show off their skills. Accordingly, both ward off the punches and kicks from the other. During this, she stomps down on his foot and knocks him backwards.

Bullseye throws small metal pieces of a paperclip into a man's throat, apparently killing him.

To take care of a blabbermouth who's seated next to him on a plane, Bullseye bounces a peanut off the seat in front of her and into her mouth, causing her to choke to death.

A thug punches and pushes a guy around in an alley and Daredevil then shows up to help. That thug flees, but Daredevil bursts through a window and then proceeds to pummel the man. He then hits him one last time, knocking him out or killing him.

A person falls to the ground dead, with something sticking out of their forehead (with a little bit of blood around it).

Elektra punches one of her father's bodyguards (to let her into a car).

Bullseye throws two throwing stars that hit two men in the front of a limo, killing them and causing the limo to crash into a truck. He then throws another star at Daredevil but misses. Daredevil then races at him and flips through the air, kicking Bullseye on the head and off his motorcycle.

Bullseye throws Daredevil's cane through the air and it impales a man in the chest, killing him. A woman then repeatedly shoots at Daredevil (missing him), thinking he's the killer.

Daredevil thrashes his own place in anger.

We see a dead man with several pencils sticking out of his throat (courtesy of Bullseye).

Thinking that he killed her father, Elektra comes at Daredevil with two small swords and he must fend off such attacks (including kicks, etc.). After some moments of that, she stabs clear through his shoulder/chest with one of those swords, severely wounding him.

Elektra throws a sword at Bullseye who catches it and throws it back at her. She appears to catch it, but we then see that it has impaled her hand. The two then get into a rough martial arts fight. He throws a playing card that slightly cuts her throat (a little bit of blood) and then grabs her by the throat.

A person stabs another person (not graphically seen), mortally wounding them and throws them down to another building.

Bullseye throws a throwing star at a priest as a warning. He then gets into a fight with a wounded Daredevil and throws a collection plate that hits Daredevil in the throat. They end up fighting on and among the huge pipes of a church organ (with punches and smashing each other into the pipes, etc.). After using up his last throwing stars (and missing Daredevil), Bullseye breaks a window and then throws many shards of glass at Daredevil (who somersaults out of the way). Bullseye then hits Daredevil across the face and then with a large pipe.

A police sniper's shot goes through a man's two hands (we see the slightly bloody holes in his palms).

A person throws another person through a stained glass window and the second man falls many stories toward the ground below where he slams into a car windshield.

Daredevil fights another man who grabs his cable and slams him back into a large window. That man then head-butts Daredevil, picks up him and slams him into the ceiling, and then throws him across the room and into a wall.

Daredevil repeatedly hits a man and then kicks him in the knees, possibly breaking them (and causing that man a great deal of pain). He then seems to strike that man, but we then see that he didn't.

Reviewed February 11, 2003 / Posted February 14, 2003

Other new and recent reviews include:

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2022 Screen It, Inc.