Bullseye: Colin Farrell’s most underrated performance
It’s easy to ridicule any Marvel movie released before 2008, incredibly easy, in fact. Early efforts to reach box office supremacy resulted in such curious oddities as 1986’s Howard the Duck, 2004’s The Punisher and 2005’s Elektra, with each movie doing little to elevate the superhero genre beyond being spandex-wearing corny action flicks that tied into a multitude of extra merchandise, from video games to lunch boxes.
Still, not each and every movie is worthy of utter mockery. Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk movie is an underrated whack-em-bash-em action flick, and we have a soft spot for the cheesy family-friendly affair of 2005’s Fantastic Four and Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil is still surprisingly watchable. A wild and bombastic action thriller, Daredevil may be the greatest Marvel release pre-2008, if you ignore the superior efforts of the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises.
Following in line with countless other superhero origin tales, Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck) is a man whose life has been hindered by toxic waste; the lawyer finds himself blinded by the incident but takes to fighting crime after he finds his senses considerably elevated. His adventures lead him to a vigilante named Elektra (Jennifer Garner) and a sinister criminal plot headed up by a mysterious criminal named Wilson Fisk (Michael Clarke Duncan).
Brimming with a charming goofiness which reminds modern audiences just how far superhero movies have come in two decades, Daredevil moves with the same breezy pace as any other 2000’s action movie, taking cues from 1999’s The Matrix as Hollywood desperately tried to replicate the freneticism of the revolutionary blockbuster. As watchable as it may be, it is considerably elevated by the film’s villain, Bullseye, a sinister and mischievous criminal who has the ability to hit the perfect shot every time.
Seemingly ripped from the pages of the Marvel comic books, Bullseye is perfectly brought to life in style and performance, sporting a bullseye carved into his forehead, an airy leather jacket and the punk aesthetic of a disgruntled teenager. A psychotic character who is playful in his maliciousness, the character is the perfect villain, with actor Colin Farrell giving him so much charm that we’re unsure whether to love him or loathe him.
Channelling the same comedic apathy that he channels in Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Farrell commands the screen in Daredevil, giving more personality to the action flick than anybody else in the lead cast. Where Affleck plays the titular hero on autopilot, and Garner acts as if she’s playing a mascot version of her character at a children’s birthday party, Farrell creates one of the most memorable superhero villains of all time.
Granted, the tone of Mark Steven Johnson’s script is a little off, making Bullseye a little too malevolent at times, but Farrell helps to ground the character in his comic-book roots, extracting the comedy from the surreal character thanks to a number of marvellous set pieces. A telling example of this contrast occurs when he flicks a peanut into the throat of an old lady, annoying him on a flight, with the somewhat disturbing moment being perfectly played by the Irish actor, giving sardonic allure to the villain.
Where so many villains depart from superhero movies with a pathetic whimper, Bullseye leaves us with one more moment of perfectly-placed comedy, flicking a syringe through the body of a pesky fly in his hospital bed. Lying stiff in bed with various wires and pulleys coming off his injured body, for some reason, Bullseye has never recovered enough to make a reappearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though his return would be celebrated.
