Daredevil

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell

Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson

Running Time: 96 minutes

Rated PG-13

2 Gus heads

Sometimes things can some so close to gelling yet not make it.

It can be frustrating for moviegoers, as it is no doubt for the people making the movies. You secure solid source material, corral some high-profile talent and unleash some killer stunts and effects, but the end product just never comes together as anything more than a cheap way to blow a few bucks.

This is "Daredevil" in a nutshell. Taken from the Marvel Comics title, "Daredevil" sears with some of the crowning elements that made "Batman" and "Spiderman" classics of the genre, but this film never really finds its own cinematic groove, and, as a result, it stagnates.

Don't blame it on any one element. Ben Affleck, as lawyer Matt Murdock, a blind man whose elevated other senses enable him to become Daredevil, is comfortable in the role and breathes in life in all the right places. The same goes for Jennifer Garner, who shows poise in leaping from the small screen into a role as a vengeance-filled heroine who falls for a brooding hero.

Even Mark Steven Johnson's directing shows some serious style.

What exactly is the problem, then?

The problem is that "Daredevil" presents the same general product as other recent action flicks such as "XXX" - all style and stunt, too little story and substance. Beginning with the all-too-common origin story of Murdock, who was blinded by radioactive chemicals as a child and furthermore lost his father as a result of a crime, "Daredevil" shows some initial energy.

Then it tries to tell a story. Murdock's Daredevil is "the man without fear," a melancholy anti-hero who hangs with the gargoyles like Batman and swoops down to the city streets below much like Spiderman. While he spends much of the film fighting random, arbitrary crime, he soon finds himself pitted against the Kingpin (an eclectic yet well-cast Michael Clarke Duncan), who appears to be a one-man crime empire in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York City. Teaming up with a spirited Jennifer Garner, Daredevil takes to the streets to take down this criminal genius.

Probably not the most original story of the year, and, granted, it makes what should be a fun popcorn movie a tedious chore to watch. But despite the primary shortcomings of the script, they string together a series of spectacular set pieces that, at times, imitate "The Matrix" and at other times sizzle all on their own merits.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the whole package is Colin Farrell as the Kingpin's hired gun Bullseye, whose razor-sharp aim and sadistic grins at all the right moments tend to steal the show from Affleck. Colin, you're fun to watch. Especially when you go over the top.

However, it's not quite enough to save a film that allows itself to get too bogged down too quickly. Praise goes to Hollywood for bringing one of comics' more interesting characters to life.

Something about it, though, doesn't feel quite right.

And, in the end, it just gets frustrating trying to figure out why.