Daredevil
© James C. Hess
When you are young and naive, foolish and without good graces or manners, the odds are good you will sit through a given film or movie once. Twice, maybe. Three times, perhaps.
Why not? After all, time is on your side.
Or so it would seem.
But as you age, mature, and become more sophisticated, you find the truth to this to be otherwise: Time is not your friend and whatever time you might have to yourself is increasingly less and less. So this means that whatever time you might give over to entertainment must be measured out. This means you must discriminate, making choices carefully (and presumably), wisely.
Of course it is logical and reasoned you will do this: To do otherwise is to, most certainly, be feebleminded: We don't go through life reading the same books again and again. It is a given our tastes for the popular culture change.
Which poses a certain problem: For whom should films and movies--standard fare in the pop culture--be made? Those who have seen them a hundred times before in a dozen variations or for those who want--demand, actually--something more, much more?
I would suggest the latter, but to do so is to admit that I am old in many ways and that I don't 'get' much of the pop culture nowadays.
Of course, by suggesting the latter I am also suggesting radical behavior and action on the part of the Hollywood Machine, for doing so would require premeditated thought in the matters of screenplays, casting decisions, and, yes, the hiring of the hired gun otherwise known as 'the director'.
Now. In all fairness, the Hollywood Machine does seem, of late, to be making a sincere effort to produce films and movies that do not cause brain damage in the viewer, that are worth the price of ever-increasing admission, and are actually enjoyable entertainment, with a shining example being "Daredevil".
Superficially, "Daredevil" comes across as hyped-up and hopped-up high-priced cinematic pulp for anyone with the price of a ticket. It is, but give it a moment or two and find there is actually more to this flick that one might think: The basics are known: A traumatic event somewhere in childhood--the loss of parents, the loss of friends, the loss of SOMETHING--that scars a future superhero in such a way he has no choice but to find and fight the forces of Evil so as to bring about resolution, albeit temporarily. (Because, if said effort is commercially viable, a sequel, nowadays, is a must, a given, an absolute, all but carved in Onyx Marble.)
