DAREDEVIL - 'Daredevil' collected a tidy $43.5 million at the box office over the weekend, despite being almost universally panned by critics -- Rotten Tomatoes shows a 50% freshness rating, which isn't terrible, except that most of the positive reviews are from small-time newspaper critics and fringe Internet folks like myself; the only big-name critic to give it a positive review was Roger Ebert and all he can say about it is, "The movie is actually pretty good." Such a box office triumph would seem to lend credence to the notion that critics are not only powerless, but completely out of touch with the average moviegoer. However, as I've always said, the fact that a movie makes a ton of money doesn't necessarily mean audiences enjoyed it any more than critics, especially when we're just looking at opening weekend totals. Even 'Godzilla' made over $100 million and have you ever met anyone who liked it? Last weekend was an extended one for some because of President's Day and it was also Valentine's weekend, which had to help 'Daredevil' tremendously because it's an obvious date movie. Guys like superheroes, action and Jennifer Garner, while chicks like Ben Affleck in spandex -- a perfect compromise. But how big will the drop-off be next weekend when the word gets out that this movie is a borderline stinker? I remember reading a feature somewhere in which writer/director Mark Steven Johnson explained how he loved the comic as a kid and had to push hard to get the studio to allow him to direct their big-budget-franchise-to-be; of course, they wanted a bigger name director like Ridley Scott. The story warmed my heart until I thought about the fact that this is the same guy who ruined one of the greatest books of all-time, John Irving's 'A Prayer For Owen Meany,' in the form of the mostly dreadful 'Simon Birch.' The story behind 'Daredevil' has all the makings of a great comic-to-screen transfer. Instead of an all-powerful do-gooder like Superman or, to some extent, Spider-Man, Daredevil is set apart by his disabilty, having been blinded as a kid. He fights crime amidst the grime of Hells Kitchen and does so with a vigilante mentality, dispensing justice as he sees (no pun intended) fit. It's the kind of dark, psychological stuff Tim Burton had a ball with in 'Batman.' But Johnson is no Burton, nor is he Ridley Scott or Bryan Singer, who successfully made a comic-book film ('X-Men') that never felt like a cartoon and managed to be serious and thoughtful without being (overly) pretentious. Everything about 'Daredevil' -- from the dialogue, to the music, to the shot selections -- is painfully obvious. The narration consistently tells us what we've already been shown in a previous shot, and the music selection is so literal and corny it's laughable. I wish I had taken notes just so I could recount the number of times the lyrics to various songs verbalized exactly what was taking place on screen. The visual effects and fight sequences were also lame because it's impossible to shake that been-there-done-that feeling when you are watching the same tiresome, high-flying kung fu moves popularized by 'The Matrix' and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.' What's worse is that there is no legit explanation for any of the characters in 'Daredevil' to have such abilities. As Movie Poop Shoot's Jeffrey Wells so nicely put it: "...Murdock is still just a blind guy who, not being from Krypton or any other planet outside our solar system, should be bound by the laws of physics. How, then, does he get to jump from building to building like a human grasshopper? The answer, of course, is because Batman, Spider-Man, Superman and the X-Men are all gravity-defying bipeds with super powers or appearances of same, and therefore Matt Murdock -- the star of a movie competing with all these previous super-hero flicks -- has to match them stunt for stunt." The action stuff aside, I can't help but wonder what a better writer and director could have done with this material. Instead of spending any time showing how the corrupt, insufficient justice system is what forces Murdock, a lawyer by day, to don his maroon outfit and play judge and jury at night, Johnson gives us one measly and ridiculously unrealistic courtroom scene where Murdock unsuccessfully prosecutes a rapist. Instead of having any sympathy for Murdock's endeavor to seek justice, I couldn't help but wonder if Matt just isnt a very good lawyer.

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